[9] Publication of The Worst Witch finally came about, as Jill Murphy recalled, "thanks to a series of coincidences involving me spending time in Ghana, and a friend meeting Margaret Busby (Ghanaian herself, and considering starting a children's list for her imprint) at a publishers' party in London".

After Maud Spellbody and Enid Nightshade arrive, the three bump into two first-years (one of whom reminds Mildred very strongly of someone, the other with ginger frizzy hair in bunches).

Thinking she is in a state of shock, Mildred tries to douse her in freezing cold water, but the bucket slips off her broomstick and lands with a clang on Miss Hardbroom's head.

After an unfortunate flying lesson, where Tabby makes another terrified attempt to avoid sitting on the end of the broomstick, Miss Hardbroom sends Mildred to her room to calm down.

When jumping onto her bed, the frog-Mildred notices a tatty handful of weeds on her pillow, no doubt left by Ethel as a reference to her family's insult and why she turned her into the frog.

Maud and Enid, who have been worrying about their friends' disappearance, suddenly realise what has happened when Tabby shows affection towards the frog-Mildred, and take her to Ethel, who reluctantly turns her back into a human.

After crash-landing in a pile of snow and meeting up with her best friends, Maud Spellbody and Enid Nightshade, Ethel Hallow appears and tells Mildred that Miss Cackle wants to see her.

When they reach Gloom Castle, they find that it is falling apart: the armchairs have springs and stuffing sticking out and there are no proper beds (apart from one, which Ethel Hallow immediately claims) other than old sleeping-bags, piles of pillows, and what appear to be hospital trolleys.

Miss Granite is described as being very strange-looking and having "a huge cloud of orange curls" and also wearing "enormous purple-tinted glasses and a short cape with a collar turned up so high that you couldn't see much of her face at all".

In a flying lesson, Ethel steals Tabby (who has been suffering a nervous breakdown as a result of the hair incident) and hides him on the roof in front of Miss Granite's study's window.

The girls find that their new form mistress is called Miss Mould, who has a "soft and kindly" voice and "short mousy hair parted in the middle and pulled into a ponytail at her neck".

Cyril tells Mildred that Drusilla hid Einstein in the hollow pine tree outside the school gates and that he overheard several conversations about stealing projects and turning pots into snakes.

As the clock strikes midday, Mildred sprints into her room and hears Einstein speak for the last time in his raspy little voice ("I'm glad I belong to you"), before munching on his carrot and going silent forever.

Ethel, suspicious about Mildred hiding something in her holdall, reaches into it to discover Star was hidden in it and the both of them collapse into the lanterns igniting the costumes Form Five have made for the talent competition.

[9] Heading back to Miss Cackle's Academy at the start of the summer term of the fourth year, Mildred is feeling much more confident thanks to her new broomstick companion, Star the dog, new-found flying skill, and recent successes such as winning a swimming pool for the school.

She confesses to Maud that she even dreams of being selected as Head Girl for next year at the end-of-term prizegiving, though they both concede it seems incredibly unlikely; even without considering Mildred's long career of mishaps, they find it impossible to imagine anyone but Ethel Hallow taking the position.

Losing the talented Star and having to return to using the terrified Tabby as her broom companion ruins Mildred's recent flying skills, and with her confidence shattered she also sinks back to her previous position at the bottom of most of her classes.

Mildred makes a second visit on her own with the purpose of casting the animal-speaking spell she previously invented on all three animals, all of whom beg her to take them away from the circus.

Ultimately, though, Miss Cackle convinces Miss Hardbroom that using magic to find a way to free her pet and other animals from an unpleasant life of servitude could hardly be considered 'trivial', and that Mildred's inventiveness and determination to solve problems are attributes that should not be overlooked... At the final day of term's prizegiving event for Fourth Years Ethel unsurprisingly sweeps all of the academic awards, though Maud manages to win the prize for Team Spirit, which delights her and the entire school (aside from Ethel).

After prizegiving ends and the girls prepare to head home, Mildred, Maud and Enid are shocked once again when Miss Hardbroom congratulates them personally, albeit in her own acerbic manner.

The stories mainly take place within the walls of Miss Cackle's Academy for Witches, a girls-only boarding magic school that is described in the books as a stone castle on top of a mountain, surrounded by pine forest.

In 1986, the first book in the series was converted to a made-for-television film on ITV starring Fairuza Balk, Tim Curry, Diana Rigg, and Charlotte Rae.

The film followed the plot of the first book of the series, portraying the incidents of Mildred turning herself invisible and turning Ethel into a pig, Miss Cackle's evil twin sister Agatha plotting to take over the school, and the Grand Wizard viewing the Halloween Broomstick formation (sabotaged by Ethel's faulty broom she lent to Mildred).

Its opening song, "Growing Up Isn't Easy", was sung by Bonnie Langford; its music was composed by Charles Strouse and its lyrics were written by Don Black.

The Worst Witch, a TV series based on the books, starring Georgina Sherrington and Felicity Jones as Mildred Hubble and Ethel Hallow respectively, was broadcast from 1998 to 2001.

When it was no longer realistic that Mildred would still be at school, the series relocated her to a magical university in Cambridge and was retitled Weirdsister College: The Further Adventures of the Worst Witch and saw the return of Felicity Jones as a reinvented Ethel Hallow.

It centred on the adventures of Mildred's equally bungling cousin, Henrietta "Hettie" Hubble, played by Alice Connor, also set at Cackle's Academy.

A musical stage production called The Worst Witch Live, adapted by Emma Reeves from Murphy's original books,[12] was shown at the Royal & Derngate Theatre in Northampton from 27 November to 30 December 2018.

The Worst Witch Live by Kenny Wax Family Entertainment was shown at the Vaudeville Theatre in the West End from 24 July to 8 September 2019.

[13] The original cast included Danielle Bird, Polly Lister, Rachel Heaton, Rebecca Killick, Rosie Abraham, Anna Crichlow, Molly-Grace Cutler, Megan Leigh Mason, Emma Lau, and Meg Forgan.