his class. Clotaire [Matthew]: "He's bottom of the class. " Alceste [Alec]: Nicolas' best friend, "he's fat and he eats all the time." Eudes [Eddie]: "He's very strong and likes to punch our friends on the nose." Geoffroy [Geoffrey]: "His dad is very rich and buys him everything he wants." Agnan [Cuthbert]: "He is ranked first in the class and is the teacher's pet and therefore nobody likes him, but you can't hit him as often as you'd like, because he wears glasses." Joachim [Jeremy]: He has a little brother. Maixent [Max]: He runs very fast because of his long legs. Rufus: "His father is a policeman, and he's got a cop's whistle." Marie-Edwige Courteplaque [Mary-Jane Campbell]: "She's the very nice girl." Louisette [Louise]: The daughter of a friend of the mother of Nicolas; Nicolas decides he wants to marry her because she plays football well. Rex: A lost dog that Nicolas found; his real name is Kiki. Other characters include Nicolas's parents, as well as teachers and administrators in the school. The teacher is hard-working and loves the children, although they usually exasperate her. The superintendent, Mr. Dubon (Mr Goodman), is known as "le Bouillon" ("Old Spuds"). Mr Billings (Mr Blédurt) is their next door neighbour, and likes annoying Nicholas' father. The two main characters of another comic series by Goscinny, Iznogoud, begin to take shape in the episode when Nicolas is in summer camp. He and the other children are forced to take a nap, so the counsellor tells them a story about "a caliph who was a very good man but who had a very evil vizier...", then tells how the caliph dresses as a common man to find out what people think of him, and the evil vizier takes his place. English edition An English edition with the title Young Nicolas was completed by Stella Rodway for Hutchinson & Co. in 1961. It was published in the USA by Bobbs-Merrill in 1962. The characters' names retain the French form. The title page lists the authors simply as "Sempé and Goscinny". An English edition of the series with anglicised character names was released in 1978, translated by Anthea Bell. This contained five volumes: Nicholas and the Gang at School, Nicholas and the Gang Again, Nicholas on Holiday, Nicholas and the Gang, and Nicholas at Large. The first volume was republished with more complete illustrations in 2005 by