Until recently, foul-mouthed ladettes and scowling bad boys were in.
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And the high profile of ladettes ignores the fact that the majority of women drink alone at home.
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The series follows a group of ladettes, who are given an old-fashioned five-week course in learning how to behave like a traditional "lady". They are sent to Eggleston Hall, a finishing school for women in Teesdale, which was specially reopened for the show. In the first series, there were ten ladettes, while the second series featured eight ladettes. Whilst on the premises they are required to wear the school's uniform: a turquoise tweed suit, a white blouse, court shoes, and a pearl necklace.
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The Library Theatre opens its new season with Duck, a hard nosed look at life through the eyes of two ladettes.
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The tour probably served the purpose of allowing lads and ladettes to say they had actually set foot in a real brewery.
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If the Aussie ladettes thought being transformed into demure young ladies would be a walk in the park, this is the week they learn how wrong they were. "We take them and we break them," says finishing school principal, Ms Harbord. In week three, the "tough love" treatment produces some unexpected results. There are tears as the ladettes' emotional defences give way to storms of emotion.
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But the tables are turned when stripper Nicole tells the story of her troubled past and even stern Ms Harbord sheds a tear. But emotion must be put aside as the ladettes face their weekly challenge: to make and serve afternoon tea to the aristocratic mothers of some of the bachelors. There's much work to be done before the ladettes have a hope of passing muster under the critical eyes of these society ladies (and prospective mother-in-laws). Girl turns on girl in this episode of the series which sees an old-fashioned English finishing school struggling to turn Australia's worst binge-drinking "ladettes" into ladies.
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Each episode sees one ladette (sometimes two) expelled till only three are left at the end of the season. Then the teachers must decide upon one winner, depending on who they think has improved the most and how the ladettes performed in the final challenge.
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Several months after series two of Ladette to Lady, all of the ladettes from both series one and series two were invited back to Eggleston Hall, along with teachers Gill Harbord, Rosemary Shrager and Liz Brewer, in order to see how the ladettes had changed and how they had progressed in their lives. During the End of Term Report we saw Clare Randall, who, during series one was a regular and heavy drinker. In the more recent gathering she revealed that she had had a baby, totally reformed her life and quit drinking alcohol altogether. There was also Michelle King from series one, who as a result of the teachings of Eggleston Hall, has become more feminine and has been able to progress further in her life with more confidence.
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With one disgraced ladette already on her way home, week two sees a chastened band of Aussie ladettes face up to a daunting challenge. They must play host to the prestigious Zetland Hunt. But it's not all sausage rolls and stirrup cups. First the girls must literally face a test of guts, and acclimatise to the unsavoury realities of country life.
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The second series of Ladette to Lady was aired in the United Kingdom in October 2006 on ITV. The show had viewing figures of 4.45 million to 5.41 million, winning its timeslot each week. A third series followed in 2008, although it was originally planned to air in 2007. Ladette to Lady was cancelled by ITV on 11 April 2008, but returned in June 2009, featuring Australian, rather than British, ladettes.
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Series Five premiered on 20 July 2010 on ITV (except STV, where it premiered on 17 August 2010). Like Series Four, this series again features ladettes from Australia. The setting was moved from Eggleston Hall in North East England to "Hereford Hall" near Wales. Hereford Hall was a country house hired specifically for the show and not a functioning school, although that is how it was presented in the show.
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The series follows a nine ladettes (i.e. loud, foul-mouthed, uncultured and unpleasant women, who resort to drinking, smoking and often sexually promiscuous behaviour), who are given an old- fashioned six-week course in learning how to behave like a real lady. In the first season they were sent to Huis 't Velde, an International Butler Academy in Warnsveld, Gelderland. In the second season they were sent to Nieuw Rande, in Diepenveen, Overijssel.
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Picking shotgun pellets from pheasants is one thing, but feeding "fallen stock" to the foxhounds is quite another. Emotions are stirred when the ladettes challenge some local lasses to a midnight steeple chase. Success goes to Nicole's head and she treats everyone to a strip tease. Sarah triumphs when chosen to ride out with the hunt, but blots her copybook, and brings the school into disgrace, when she unfurls an Aussie pennant at full tilt.
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Dispensing with niceties, the staff get to work and, as lessons begin in earnest, it soon becomes clear that the ladettes are up against formidable opposition. Before long rebellion gives way to something approaching cooperation and the painful process of change begins. By week's end they will host a cocktail party and entertain some of England's most eligible bachelors, which included young etiquette expert William Hanson.William Hanson Blog Entry At the end of Episode One, ladette Maria was expelled.
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The book is divided into 8 chapters entitled 'White slavery and the seduction of innocents', 'Unwomanly types New Women, revolting daughters and rebel girls', 'Brazen flappers, bright young things and 'Miss Modern', 'Good- time girls, baby dolls and teenage brides', 'Coming of age in the 1960s: beat girls and dolly birds', 'Taking liberties: panic over permissiveness and women's liberation', 'Body anxieties, depressives, ladettes and living dolls: what happened to girl power?' and 'Looking back'. The book is prefaced by an introduction.
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Nieuw Rande was specially re-opened to try to change the ladettes' habits. Whilst in Nieuw Rande they are required to wear the special uniform: a tweed suit including a turquoise jacket, white blouse, and turquoise skirt, high-heeled shoes and a pearl necklace. They are taught under the supervision and guidance of five instructors and are given various tasks in deportment, elocution, etiquette and cookery. However, if they can't live up to the standards of acting ladylike, they are expelled.
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In 2005 for the ladettes' final challenge they had to hold a fashion show. At the fashion show were their family, friends, eligible bachelors, the failed contestants and essentially all of the teachers from Eggleston Hall. The girls were marked on posture, grooming, elocution, floristry and cookery. The girl who was judged as the most improved would win a sports car with a value of £20,000, however, the fact that the winner would receive a car was unknown to the finalists.
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The ladettes' final challenge in the 2006 series was to pass themselves off as real ladies at a debutante ball. The Debutantes' Ball was attended by a number of eligible bachelors, Lords, Ladies, select aristocrats and all of the teachers from Eggleston Hall. They were marked on their posture, grooming, elocution, confidence and their capability to hold a conversation. The overall winner of Ladette to Lady 2006 was Victoria Jenkins, who impressed the teachers with her charm and final transformation.
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The ladettes' final challenge in the 2008 series was to be presented as debutantes to their parents, to make a speech and to dance the waltz. They were required to answer questions from select aristocrats. The overall winner of Ladette to Lady 2007 was Nicole Elouise Hart, who re-acquired her love of horses. All the contestants were given lessons in riding side-saddle; she excelled at this and was offered the opportunity to compete, after the conclusion of the series.
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Aussie Ladette to Lady is an Australian reality-based television series, based on the format of the successful British series Ladette to Lady. The premise of the series sees eight Australian women sent to Eggleston Hall Finishing School in England (the same venue as the British series), where the staff will attempt to transform them into ladies.O'Keefe, Emily: Aussie ladettes are show's 'worst ever' , ninemsn, 4 February 2009. The series debuted in Australia on 16 February 2009 on the Nine Network.
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The ladettes don't taste, they guzzle and, to add insult to injury, they steal more bottles of wine for a secret binge, right under Skye's nose. Former mistress of mayhem, Skye, does her best to cover for their appalling behaviour, but principal Ms Harbord is not taken in. With a punishment to contend with on the morning of the party, the dinner for 20 looks set for disaster. The guests are perplexed and more than a little hungry when dinner is served an hour and a half late.
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Eggleston Hall Finishing School is preparing to entertain royalty for the first time in its history, and the teachers want their girls to make a good impression on the visiting prince — a dashing Italian from Venice. There's no margin for error when, after last week's appalling lapse in standards, Ms Harbord announces a zero-tolerance policy on bad behaviour. But, when the four surviving ladettes are forced to wear a body harness to improve their deportment, one of them decides that enough is enough. Tough mine- worker, Sarah has fought hard to earn her place as an equal in a man's world, and she's not about to curtsey to anyone — not even a prince.
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Throughout, they will be judged under the exacting standards of the teachers and by others from the ranks of high society. And they will face their toughest challenge yet — to write and deliver a speech about their journey from ladette to lady. You can cut the atmosphere with a knife as the teachers retire to decide which one is this year's winner, and when Sarah makes a surprise appearance to wish all three of her fellow ladettes the very best of luck, there is relief and genuine joy. After all the deliberations, the trials and tribulations, Ms Harbord finally emerges to announce that this year's winner is Nicole and there isn't a dry eye left in the house.
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