Nigel Ratburn

Do-Gooder
Full Name	Nigel Charles Ratburn
Alias(es)	Mr. Ratburn Mr. Ragworm (by D.W.) Mr. Ratbite (by D.W.) Mr. Ropeburns (by D.W.) Mr. Rathead (by D.W.) Mr. Ragburp (by D.W.)
Origin	Arthur and the True Francine (1981)
Occupation	Elementary school teacher Basketball coach Worker for the Lakewood Elementary newspaper Member of the rock band "The Lost Teachers"
Powers / Skills	Teaching Mastery rock music Genius-level intellect Puppetry
Hobby	Performing magic tricks. Performing puppetry. Camping. Watching the cartoon Spooky Poo Birdwatching. Eating desserts (particularly cake). Playing rock music.
Goals	Teach his students.
Family	Rodentia Ratburn (sister) Patty Ratburn (sister) Lisa Ratburn (mother) Otto Ratburn (father) Rodentia's child (nibling) Olga Ratburn (paternal grandmother) Hans Ratburn (paternal grandfather) Patrick Ratburn (husband)
Friends / Allies	David Read Jane Read Vladimir and Estragon (pet goldfish) Mister Rogers
Enemies	None
Type of Hero	School Official

“	Oh, are you having cake?	„
	~ Mr. Ratburn's most famous quote.

Nigel Charles Ratburn is a character from the Arthur picture books and TV series. He is Arthur's 3rd grade and later 4th grade teacher.

Appearance

Nigel is an anthropomorphic rat with tan skin, a pink nose, trimmed whiskers, and a small amount of black hair. He most commonly wears a green jacket with a yellow shirt underneath, a red tie, and greenish-yellow pants. In the books, he has clumpy brown hair instead.

In the first few seasons of the TV series, his skin was brown, but was later changed to orange. However, it became brown again from season 16 onward.

Personality

Nigel is known among his students as a very strict teacher, and often gives them a lot of homework or other out-of-school projects to do. Early on in the TV series, his students believed scary things about him, such as him supposedly eating nails for breakfast, but none of those were true. Despite his strictness, he does care about his students.

In his free time, he partakes in various hobbies, such as birdwatching, puppetry, or playing in his rock band named "The Lost Teachers". He is also a fan of a fictional television series named Spooky Poo (a parody of Scooby Doo).

He is often shown to be inept with modern technology, such as getting scammed multiple times when using the Internet for the first time. But in some situations, he becomes more adept with certain forms of technology, such as tablets and online stores.

Background

As a kid, Ratburn attended a private school named Glenbrook Academy, where he was taught by a teacher named Mr. Pryce Jones, whose strict teaching style, according to Ratburn himself, pushed him and the other students to their limits, and made Ratburn, when he later became a teacher himself, consider himself to not be a tough teacher in comparison.

During his high school years, he is known to have been classmates with Arthur's father and Muffy's butler Bailey (who was also with him in college), and to have been on his high school's football team.

Not much else is known about his college years, except that he was a member of a band named "Ratburn Rats".

Role

Mr. Ratburn is a third grade teacher at Lakewood Elementary who is known to be strict and give his students lots of homework, which his students fear and hate him for, though he is still fundamentally a good person, and gives advice to his students on both academic and non-academic subjects. He is also one of the only employees of Lakewood Elementary who is actually good at his job. In addition to being a teacher, Mr. Ratburn is the coach of the Lakewood Elementary Basketball Team and a member of the school's newspaper staff.

Gallery

Images

Videos

Arthur👨‍🏫✍📚 Mr. Ratburn's Best Moments! 📚

Trivia

• His pet goldfish, Vladimir and Estragon, are named after the main characters of Samuel Beckett's play, Waiting for Godot.
• In the season 12 episode "On This Spot", a character named Sitting Bull makes a comment that implies that Ratburn may be part Cheyenne, as he apparently looks like a Cheyenne he knew in the past.
• In the season 1 episode "Arthur's Baby" and the season season 3 episode "Background Blues", his forename was "Emil" for an unknown reason.
• Mr. Ratburn is the first known LGBT character in Arthur, as he is married to Patrick in "Mr. Ratburn and the Special Someone".

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Heroes

Read Family Arthur Read | D.W. Read | Kate Read | David Read | Jane Read | Grandpa Dave | Thora Read | Pal | Theodore Read | Ryder Read Children Buster Baxter | Alan Powers (The Brain) | Francine Frensky | Muffy Crosswire | Sue Ellen Armstrong | Fern Walters | Prunella Deegan | Jenna Morgan | George Lungren | Carl Gould | Alex Davidson | Vicita Molina | Emily Leduc | Molly MacDonald | James MacDonald | Binky Barnes | Mei Lin Barnes | Rattles | Nadine Flumbershast | Ladonna Compson | Bud Compson | Lydia Fox | Cheikh Diouf | Timmy & Tommy Tibble | Los Dedos | B.W. | Samir Chopra Teenagers Catherine Frensky | Rubella Deegan | Alberto Molina Adults Nigel Ratburn | Rodentia Ratburn | Bo Baxter | Bitzi Baxter | Oliver Frensky | Laverne Frensky | Ed Crosswire | Millicent Crosswire | Bailey | Wanda Deegan | Francis Haney | Leah MacGrady | Paige Turner | Mrs. Gould | Ramón Molina Pets Nemo | Amigo | General Higgings | Spanky | Toady Objects Wally In-universe fictional characters Bionic Bunny | Dark Bunny | Supernova | Starchild | Sirius the Super Dog Ancestors James the Squinty | Shelley Barnes Guest characters Mister Rogers | Fred | Matt Damon | Lance Armstrong | Bubby | Marc Brown | Detective Kilgore | Miles