DamselJillPole wrote:I agree with coracle. Also in the book I don't remember the kids picking on Jill because of her surname being 'Pole' meaning lengthy, which slipped into the BBC series. I could be wrong though, it's been a while since I read the book. However I do see her as being 5'1-5'3. About Susan's height in LWW.
The surname "Pole" needn't refer to 'lengthy', which was the BBC interpretation of the surname. Pole is a legitimate English surname, perhaps related to the De La Pole family, some of whom could have been surviving relatives of the ancient Plantagenet dynasty which died out with Richard III.
However, in WW2, there were masses of refugees from Europe, who fled to UK, from the German Advance. Among them were many Polish and other soldiers who fought bravely on the British side to defeat the Nazis. I'm afraid that, as down here, they didn't get treated any better for that reason, and so, to fit in better, they may have well anglicized their surnames, as they did here, also. I've often wondered if Jill Pole's surname was C.S.Lewis' way of including UK's guests, and if the bullying and the BBC emphasis on her surname was also a bit of xenophobia shown by childish bullies who suspected her origins.