Life and Death of Rochester Sneath

by Humphry Berkeley

H. Rochester Sneath no longer exists. And if you wished to put your son's name on the waiting list for Selhurst School, near Petworth, Sussex, you might have a little difficulty. It doesn't exist either. But, as this collection of Sneath's letters, and the replies, proves, you can fool most of the people most of the time. Particularly, it seems, if the people happen to be the head masters of those most English private institutions - public schools. In early 1948 Sneath began his brief and glorious career. Letters, like canes, mortarboards and jaundiced rugger balls, began to appear in headmasters' offices, whose occupants, with two notable exceptions, appeared to find nothing strange in Sneath's requests or his exhortations. Pompous, indignant, eccentric, pushing, toadying, or just plain dotty, the letters were answered with a seriousness which is barely credible. For he wrote - infestations of rats - the possibility of 'engineering' Royal visits - how to hire a private detective - junior masters with club feet and warty noses - ghosts, cricket, statues, new buildings, 'monster' reunions George Bernard Shaw was puzzled, Sir Giles Gilbert Scott was booked up, as was Sir Adrian Boult. Sir William Reid Dick was eager. After four or five letters the Master of Marlborough became exasperated, while the head master of St Benedict's was livid. A certain master displayed a cupidity not normally associated with men of the cloth; the new Master of Rugby was grateful for some wise advice; the head master of Stowe could not have been more helpful about sex. There was talk of Sneath succeeding the headmaster of Eton. One head master was so drawn to Sneath that he recommended Selhurst to a prospective parent, who promptly applied for a place on behalf of her son. His name was placed on 'the waiting list for the Waiting List'. Sneath's letters comprise a gentle and unmalicious, but devastatingly accurate parody of the public school system - a collection so intelligently absurd that it defies adequate description.

Genres: Fiction

104 pages, Paperback

First published October 28, 1974

Reviews

[Stuart Lutzenhiser · Rating 3 out of 5]

Odd little volume. A prankster undergraduate at Cambridge impersonates a fictional headmaster at a fictional school and writes letters to various other headmasters and leaders basically yanking their chains in 1948 until he is exposed by a newspaper reporter. Funny in that it really happened.

[Calum Orr · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this brief book on a train. Quite droll. Teeth didn't really get sunk in until the final couple of letters.

[Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm partial to a peculiar genre of comic writing, which I term "faux memoirs." This book belongs to that genre, and while it's not my favorite (that honor goes to the Topsy books), it's a worthy addition to my collection.

Rochester Sneath is in the vein of Henry Root -- in other words, he sends letters to real people (harasses them, if you will), in this case in the guise of a nonexistent headmaster of an equally nonexistent public (American=private) school.

The book consists of a collection of those letters and the various (real) responses received. The joke wears a bit thin at times, but there are definite moments of brilliance. Many notable British figures, such as George Bernard Shaw and Sir Andrian Boult, sent replies to Sneath's importunate letters, which asked them to speak at an annual celebration (Shaw) and conduct the school orchestra (Boult). Both men, need I say, declined the honor.

[Pat Theo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I dipped into this whilst waiting for a bus..the queue gave me a wide berth as I tried to stifle my laughter but gave up, in virtual hysteria. It helps if you have had dealings with headmasters but its funny for those who havent.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

aarghh - my uncle wrote this .. there it is .. it is not Waugh but v handsome for a 21 year old