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The Harpole Report
The Harpole Report is the third novel by J. L. Carr, published in 1972. The novel tells the story mostly in the form of a school log book kept by George Harpole, temporary Head Teacher of the Church of England primary school of "Tampling St. Nicholas". Like all of Carr's novels, it is grounded in personal experience. Carr was a Primary School teacher for almost 40 years, including 15 years spent as Head Teacher.
164 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1972
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960 people want to read
About the author
J.L. Carr
66 books176 followersCarr was born in Thirsk Junction, Carlton Miniott, Yorkshire, into a Wesleyan Methodist family. His father Joseph, the eleventh son of a farmer, went to work for the railways, eventually becoming a station master for the North Eastern Railway. Carr was given the same Christian name as his father and the middle name Lloyd, after David Lloyd George, the Liberal Chancellor of the Exchequer. He adopted the names Jim and James in adulthood. His brother Raymond, who was also a station master, called him Lloyd.
Carr's early life was shaped by failure. He attended the village school at Carlton Miniott. He failed the scholarship exam, which denied him a grammar school education, and on finishing his school career he also failed to gain admission to teacher training college. Interviewed at Goldsmiths' College, London, he was asked why he wanted to be a teacher. Carr answered: "Because it leaves so much time for other pursuits." He was not accepted. Over forty years later, after his novel The Harpole Report was a critical and popular success, he was invited to give a talk at Goldsmiths'. He replied that the college once had its chance of being addressed by him.
He worked for a year as an unqualified teacher — one of the lowest of the low in English education — at South Milford Primary School, where he became involved in a local amateur football team which was startlingly successful that year. This experience he developed into the novel How Steeple Sinderby Wanderers Won the F.A. Cup. He then successfully applied to a teacher training college in Dudley. In 1938 he took a year out from his teaching career to work as an exchange teacher in Huron, South Dakota in the Great Plains. Much of the year was a struggle to survive in what was a strangely different culture to him; his British salary converted into dollars was pitifully inadequate to meet American costs of living. This experience gave rise to his novel The Battle of Pollocks Crossing.
At the end of his year in the USA Carr continued his journey westward and found himself travelling through the Middle East and the Mediterranean as the Second World War loomed. He arrived in France in September 1939 and reached England, where he volunteered for service in the Royal Air Force. He was trained as an RAF photographer and stationed in West Africa, later serving in Britain as an intelligence officer, an experience he translated into fiction with A Season in Sinji.
At the end of the War he married Sally (Hilda Gladys Sexton) and returned to teaching. He was appointed headmaster of Highfields Primary School in Kettering, Northamptonshire, a post he filled from 1952 to 1967 in a typically idiosyncratic way which earned the devotion of staff and pupils alike. He returned to Huron, South Dakota, in 1957 to teach again on an exchange visit, when he wrote and published himself a social history of The Old Timers of Beadle County.
In 1967, having written two novels, he retired from teaching to devote himself to writing. He produced and published from his own Quince Tree Press a series of 'small books' designed to fit into a pocket: some of them selections from English poets, others brief monographs about historical events, or works of reference. In order to encourage children to read, each of the "small books" was given two prices, the lower of which applied only to children. As a result, Carr received several letters from adults in deliberately childish writing in an attempt to secure the discount.
He also carried on a single-handed campaign to preserve and restore the parish church of Saint Faith at Newton in the Willows, which had been vandalised and was threatened with redundancy. Carr, who appointed himself its guardian, came into conflict with the vicar of the benefice, and higher church authorities, in his attempts to save the church. The building was saved, but his crusade was also a failure in that redundancy was not averted and the building is now a scientific study centre.
Carr's early life was shaped by failure. He attended the village school at Carlton Miniott. He failed the scholarship exam, which denied him a grammar school education, and on finishing his school career he also failed to gain admission to teacher training college. Interviewed at Goldsmiths' College, London, he was asked why he wanted to be a teacher. Carr answered: "Because it leaves so much time for other pursuits." He was not accepted. Over forty years later, after his novel The Harpole Report was a critical and popular success, he was invited to give a talk at Goldsmiths'. He replied that the college once had its chance of being addressed by him.
He worked for a year as an unqualified teacher — one of the lowest of the low in English education — at South Milford Primary School, where he became involved in a local amateur football team which was startlingly successful that year. This experience he developed into the novel How Steeple Sinderby Wanderers Won the F.A. Cup. He then successfully applied to a teacher training college in Dudley. In 1938 he took a year out from his teaching career to work as an exchange teacher in Huron, South Dakota in the Great Plains. Much of the year was a struggle to survive in what was a strangely different culture to him; his British salary converted into dollars was pitifully inadequate to meet American costs of living. This experience gave rise to his novel The Battle of Pollocks Crossing.
At the end of his year in the USA Carr continued his journey westward and found himself travelling through the Middle East and the Mediterranean as the Second World War loomed. He arrived in France in September 1939 and reached England, where he volunteered for service in the Royal Air Force. He was trained as an RAF photographer and stationed in West Africa, later serving in Britain as an intelligence officer, an experience he translated into fiction with A Season in Sinji.
At the end of the War he married Sally (Hilda Gladys Sexton) and returned to teaching. He was appointed headmaster of Highfields Primary School in Kettering, Northamptonshire, a post he filled from 1952 to 1967 in a typically idiosyncratic way which earned the devotion of staff and pupils alike. He returned to Huron, South Dakota, in 1957 to teach again on an exchange visit, when he wrote and published himself a social history of The Old Timers of Beadle County.
In 1967, having written two novels, he retired from teaching to devote himself to writing. He produced and published from his own Quince Tree Press a series of 'small books' designed to fit into a pocket: some of them selections from English poets, others brief monographs about historical events, or works of reference. In order to encourage children to read, each of the "small books" was given two prices, the lower of which applied only to children. As a result, Carr received several letters from adults in deliberately childish writing in an attempt to secure the discount.
He also carried on a single-handed campaign to preserve and restore the parish church of Saint Faith at Newton in the Willows, which had been vandalised and was threatened with redundancy. Carr, who appointed himself its guardian, came into conflict with the vicar of the benefice, and higher church authorities, in his attempts to save the church. The building was saved, but his crusade was also a failure in that redundancy was not averted and the building is now a scientific study centre.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
June 30, 2025
J.L. Carr is generally thought of as a literary one hit wonder, the one hit being A Month in the Country. However, the one hit wonder appellation isn't entirely true. He may have written only one well known book, but he wrote others, including this one. And if The Harpole Report wasn't a popular success, it is certainly a very good novel and is worthy of readers' attention.
It's a novel which is a collection of journal entries, notes, memos, letters, etc., written by and about the temporary head of a U.K. state school. If that sounds like it may be a dry subject, it's anything but.
The Harpole Report is funny, charming, touching, and true, as anyone who has ever been caught up in the clutches of a bureaucracy (that includes all of us) can attest.
This one shoulda been a hit too.
A tip of the cap to my GR friend , Ryan, who tipped me off to this book. Thanks Ryan.
Here's his review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
It's a novel which is a collection of journal entries, notes, memos, letters, etc., written by and about the temporary head of a U.K. state school. If that sounds like it may be a dry subject, it's anything but.
The Harpole Report is funny, charming, touching, and true, as anyone who has ever been caught up in the clutches of a bureaucracy (that includes all of us) can attest.
This one shoulda been a hit too.
A tip of the cap to my GR friend , Ryan, who tipped me off to this book. Thanks Ryan.
Here's his review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
February 4, 2024
This is an excellent piece of satire. It's warm, humane, heartfelt, and genuinely funny. I LOLed more than once in the few hours I spent reading it.
October 31, 2019
I decided to read this book having been very impressed by A Month in the Country, also written by J.L. Carr, and which has rocketed into my list of all time favourite novels.
The Harpole Report is a very different type of book but nonetheless skilfully written and very enjoyable. It's an amusing, touching, wise tale about the UK state school system in the early 1970s.
It's written as a report on a temporary head teacher, whose story unfolds through a series of school logs, notes, letters and memos.
It's a delightful time capsule that has the unmistakable tang of authenticity as petty bureaucrats, envious colleagues, aggrieved parents, unions, outmoded attitudes, personality clashes all combine to create humour, truth and absurdity.
The authenticity is not surprising as writer J.L. Carr was a Primary School teacher for almost 40 years, including 15 years spent as Head Teacher of Highfields school in Kettering.
4/5
The Harpole Report is a very different type of book but nonetheless skilfully written and very enjoyable. It's an amusing, touching, wise tale about the UK state school system in the early 1970s.
It's written as a report on a temporary head teacher, whose story unfolds through a series of school logs, notes, letters and memos.
It's a delightful time capsule that has the unmistakable tang of authenticity as petty bureaucrats, envious colleagues, aggrieved parents, unions, outmoded attitudes, personality clashes all combine to create humour, truth and absurdity.
The authenticity is not surprising as writer J.L. Carr was a Primary School teacher for almost 40 years, including 15 years spent as Head Teacher of Highfields school in Kettering.
4/5
February 25, 2010
This is a very funny satirical novel, very short, that captures what is eternal about a state-funded school system and a time that seems almost innocent in the degree to which schools were left alone to do what they were doing. The Harpole Report is brilliant on back-covering at every level, on how to write effective memos to the local authority. Read the full interview here: http://thebrowser.com/books/interview...
February 23, 2025
Every serious reader has a list of long-dead books they'd like to see rise from the grave. This comic novel has a high place on mine. Think of this as a superior Carry On... film in prose, but with 100 times the intelligence. Carr is better known for his short, perfect novel A Month in the Country. It'd be a shame if few people tried this one too.
October 15, 2020
Earlier this year, I read Carr’s excellent ‘football’ novella, How Steeple Sinderby Wanderers Won the FA Cup (1975), in which a team of plucky underdogs overcome the mighty Glasgow Rangers to scoop the much-prized trophy. It’s a book that shares something with the author’s 1972 novella, The Harpole Report, which takes another British institution – in this instance, a Church of England Primary School – as its focus for a most amusing satire. It really is a terrifically funny book, a throwback to the golden age of British comedy in the 1970s.
In essence, the book constructs a picture of a term at St Nicholas C of E, during which George Harpole – who has taught there for some time – is appointed as the school’s Temporary Headmaster. (It turns out that the previous Head, Mr Chadband, has been granted a leave of absence, supposedly for the pursuit of professional studies. However, from one or two hints revealed during the book, the exact nature of these ‘studies’ appears to be somewhat dubious.)
The story unfolds through a combination of sources, including excerpts from Harpole’s journal; entries in the official school log-book; memos between Harpole and Mr Tusker, the Assistant Education Officer at the Local Authority; letters from Harpole to his fiancée, Edith Wardle; and various other documents. Interspersed with these vignettes are observations from an unnamed individual who has been commissioned to compile an independent report on Harpole’s tenure as Acting Head. It’s a very engaging technique, one that enables a surprisingly vivid picture to be pieced together from a variety of different perspectives, especially with the benefit of reading between the lines.
As one might imagine, there are many trials and tribulations to be faced when running a school. During term-time, the well-intentioned Harpole must deal with a plethora of problems from disgruntled parents to sensitive members of staff and pupils, all set within an environment hampered by petty bureaucracy and constrained resources.
To read the rest of my review, please visit:
https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2020...
In essence, the book constructs a picture of a term at St Nicholas C of E, during which George Harpole – who has taught there for some time – is appointed as the school’s Temporary Headmaster. (It turns out that the previous Head, Mr Chadband, has been granted a leave of absence, supposedly for the pursuit of professional studies. However, from one or two hints revealed during the book, the exact nature of these ‘studies’ appears to be somewhat dubious.)
The story unfolds through a combination of sources, including excerpts from Harpole’s journal; entries in the official school log-book; memos between Harpole and Mr Tusker, the Assistant Education Officer at the Local Authority; letters from Harpole to his fiancée, Edith Wardle; and various other documents. Interspersed with these vignettes are observations from an unnamed individual who has been commissioned to compile an independent report on Harpole’s tenure as Acting Head. It’s a very engaging technique, one that enables a surprisingly vivid picture to be pieced together from a variety of different perspectives, especially with the benefit of reading between the lines.
As one might imagine, there are many trials and tribulations to be faced when running a school. During term-time, the well-intentioned Harpole must deal with a plethora of problems from disgruntled parents to sensitive members of staff and pupils, all set within an environment hampered by petty bureaucracy and constrained resources.
To read the rest of my review, please visit:
https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2020...
April 14, 2009
unutterably hilarious. required reading for anyone wishing to enter politics. AND it has a happy ending (sort of)!
August 27, 2009
Now, forty years after it was written, The Harpole Report is a delightful time capsule of England's village schools. Because it's so very British--the systems and the jargon, as well as the very dry humor, I can imagine an American publisher saying "how will this play in Peoria?" and choosing not to publish it here. As usual, it's our loss.
August 2, 2011
Very funny and with a serious moral purpose. Recreates the more generous educational world that existed at the end of the Sixties in a way that makes me quite wistful.
July 28, 2012
I loved this. It is a genuinely funny book about the experiences of Harpole the hapless headteacher, but its genius lies in somehow making it all very believeable.
November 26, 2014
A truly charming and wonderful book about teaching and being a teacher.
February 22, 2023
George Harpole, an idealistic young teacher, is promoted to acting Head of his primary school while the usual Head is on sabbatical leave. The school has been highly traditional until now, but Harpole has some progressive ideas. Mayhem ensues.
I am old enough to have been at a primary school in the time Carr was writing about. He himself was a headteacher in Kettering, Northants, until 1967, and this book was published in 1972. This is the time that a lot of experimental education started to take over from traditional teaching of "the three Rs". The contrast is a big part of the humour of this book.
I am old enough to have been at a primary school in the time Carr was writing about. He himself was a headteacher in Kettering, Northants, until 1967, and this book was published in 1972. This is the time that a lot of experimental education started to take over from traditional teaching of "the three Rs". The contrast is a big part of the humour of this book.
January 19, 2020
Had high hopes for this one based on the rave reviews of how hilariously funny folks found it. Unfortunately, I don't share their enthusiasm. Fairly early on I realized that it would help to have been in a British school during that era to appreciate the humor. Although I am rather an Anglophile, this time it did not translate to me at all, finding the book uninteresting enough that I had to make myself keep reading, even though it's not all that long. The story is set in the 1960s; however, I got the distinct feeling of its taking place a generation earlier.
March 6, 2014
From wiki: - The novel tells the story mostly in the form of a school log book kept by George Harpole, temporary Head Teacher of the Church of England primary school of "Tampling St. Nicholas". The novel has attained a minor cult status within the teaching profession. The characters George Harpole and Emma Foxberrow reappear in Carr's eighth and final novel, Harpole & Foxberrow General Publishers and more briefly, What Hetty Did.
'bedding without wedding' haha
* This needs to be tied into http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...
I see someone has added the cover picture - thank you.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Want to read
July 12, 2016* 1000 novels everyone must read: the definitive list
Selected by the Guardian's Review team and a panel of expert judges, this list includes only novels – no memoirs, no short stories, no long poems – from any decade and in any language. Originally published in thematic supplements – love, crime, comedy, family and self, state of the nation, science fiction and fantasy, war and travel – they appear here for the first time in a single list.
Selected by the Guardian's Review team and a panel of expert judges, this list includes only novels – no memoirs, no short stories, no long poems – from any decade and in any language. Originally published in thematic supplements – love, crime, comedy, family and self, state of the nation, science fiction and fantasy, war and travel – they appear here for the first time in a single list.
December 17, 2017
Hilarious portrayal of the trials/tribulations of the headmaster of a English primary school; drawing in the relations with staff, parents, children, governors, educational authority, inspectors, caretaker etc - all characters rendered with a perfect balance of the comic/human/satirical and warmly encompassing societal issues of class, politics, educational theory etc. A joy.
October 28, 2011
Great, a report on a temporary head teacher as seen through letters, reports, journal entries etc.
Some of the children sound like horrors, and the dread of all by the arrival of the Widmerpools was well told, every school as a family like these.
Some of the children sound like horrors, and the dread of all by the arrival of the Widmerpools was well told, every school as a family like these.
January 11, 2017
Although this was reasonably diverting, I found the humour heavy-handed and a bit supercilious. Carr successfully and intricately pastiches the linguistic foibles we might expect of the characters but this annoyed me as much as it amused.
January 27, 2022
I could nitpick, but I had too much fun.
June 20, 2025
The Harpole Report by JL Carr – author of the fantastic A Season in Sinji https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20...
9 out of 10
JL Carr has written three of the comedies that I have enjoyed most, the aforementioned A Season in Sinji and A Month in the Country https://realini.blogspot.com/2018/09/... all three have been included on The 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list, the former and latter in the Comedy section
George Harpole is the temporary Head Teacher of the Church of England primary school of "Tampling St. Nicholas", and in that position, he runs into all sorts of trouble – I wonder though what he would make of the new age attitude of youngsters, pupils, for I have just had one unpleasant experience, a few hours ago…
Like every single day, I was cycling back from the gym – by the way, ‘we are what we regularly do, excellence is not an act, it is a habit’, and also from The Talmud ‘be careful with your thoughts for they become your words, pay attention to the words because they become acts, these will be habits, those form character, and character is you
There are two lanes, on The Victory Avenue, a pathetic situation, for a European capital, and ahead, there were a few boys, of maybe fourteen, say sixteen, and two were driving on the same level, blocking access, and thus I had to say ‘pardon’, a couple of times, after which the one on the right started speeding to catch up
He was keeping up (well, easy, given that they had lazed about, while I had had two and a half hours of exercise already) and shouting pardon, so as to mock me, and continued, when I crossed on a red light (my bad, yes) because there were no cars coming, he shouted after me, I mean the nerve, rudeness, to take this mature man for a ride?!
The temporary headmaster tries to push for change, but he is blocked by conservatism, retrograde attitudes, bureaucracy – he is asking the caretaker to raise a flag, and the latter responds that it is worn out, and then he insists that this is not on his list of duties and takes up the issue with the Union, and they see it as a ‘vexatious matter’
There is a back and forth with Tusker, the official that acts as some sort of supervisor from a school board, body that is out of touch, and all they do is block initiative and insist on old, sclerotic ways, paper work has to go through this Tusker, no matter what, if it makes communication harder, or impossible, so much the better
Spoiler alert, Harpole will prove so damn good that even this old-fashioned public servant will ask the temporary head master to stay on, but until then, there are a lot of incidents that appear to take the hero down, ending his career – another clash is with one father, who allows his children to suffer from malnutrition
It is not easy to deal with this, the doctor who is called to diagnose is another of those happy to just go through the motions, pretend to work, but just take the benefits of one position that is permanent, and when the severity of the situation is finally evidenced, the father – was it Widmerpool, like the character from the sublime A Dance To the Music of Time https://realini.blogspot.com/2016/07/... - comes to the school to confront, and beat the new head master, but the latter winds the dispute
Emma Foxberrow, a teacher in the school, had been less than overwhelmed by George Harpole, but with his manly, strong win over the aggressive parent, who was taken down, metaphorically and literally (incidentally, one of the latest ridiculous, pathetic claims made by Orange Jesus is that he ‘has been literally crucified’ during the trial in which he was found guilty, and he is now the first president who is also a convicted felon) the head master is now admired, and the two may even have a romantic connection, or just a sexual one
Speaking of which, there is one member of the school board who is now a widow, and she is also in awe of the beating administered by Harpole, and she wants him to be her lover, it is such a fervent attraction that she comes to his office and presses her knees against his, he ends up against the wall, in his effort to avoid embarrassment
We could wonder if he would have done better to surrender, and have sex with her – mind you, this was not yet a liberated realm, I do not think we are in the hippy years yet, and nevertheless, in that setting, there is a more rigid outlook, if not in the case of this widow, who is ready to jump on the young man careless of consequences
Our hero evades as much as he can, and eventually, he says he has classes to attend to, and they better forget about what just happened, and he will not utter a word, nobody needs to hear of it, only the rejected woman will want revenge, just as she was determined to have coitus, now she wants to punish the subject of her desire
A meeting is called, and the officials in charge of the school, vicar and all, are asked to approve by vote the dismissal of the temporary head master, because of letters from teachers and parents, which in the end prove to have been not just false claims, but the opposite is true, those mentioned support Harpole and want him to continue
Parents want him to stay and the head master he replaced for a while to be moved somewhere else, and the teachers have expressed such feelings that the way I recall it is a sort of veneration – well, short of that, but still, they are all for him
Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/u... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se
There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works
‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’
‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’
“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”
9 out of 10
JL Carr has written three of the comedies that I have enjoyed most, the aforementioned A Season in Sinji and A Month in the Country https://realini.blogspot.com/2018/09/... all three have been included on The 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list, the former and latter in the Comedy section
George Harpole is the temporary Head Teacher of the Church of England primary school of "Tampling St. Nicholas", and in that position, he runs into all sorts of trouble – I wonder though what he would make of the new age attitude of youngsters, pupils, for I have just had one unpleasant experience, a few hours ago…
Like every single day, I was cycling back from the gym – by the way, ‘we are what we regularly do, excellence is not an act, it is a habit’, and also from The Talmud ‘be careful with your thoughts for they become your words, pay attention to the words because they become acts, these will be habits, those form character, and character is you
There are two lanes, on The Victory Avenue, a pathetic situation, for a European capital, and ahead, there were a few boys, of maybe fourteen, say sixteen, and two were driving on the same level, blocking access, and thus I had to say ‘pardon’, a couple of times, after which the one on the right started speeding to catch up
He was keeping up (well, easy, given that they had lazed about, while I had had two and a half hours of exercise already) and shouting pardon, so as to mock me, and continued, when I crossed on a red light (my bad, yes) because there were no cars coming, he shouted after me, I mean the nerve, rudeness, to take this mature man for a ride?!
The temporary headmaster tries to push for change, but he is blocked by conservatism, retrograde attitudes, bureaucracy – he is asking the caretaker to raise a flag, and the latter responds that it is worn out, and then he insists that this is not on his list of duties and takes up the issue with the Union, and they see it as a ‘vexatious matter’
There is a back and forth with Tusker, the official that acts as some sort of supervisor from a school board, body that is out of touch, and all they do is block initiative and insist on old, sclerotic ways, paper work has to go through this Tusker, no matter what, if it makes communication harder, or impossible, so much the better
Spoiler alert, Harpole will prove so damn good that even this old-fashioned public servant will ask the temporary head master to stay on, but until then, there are a lot of incidents that appear to take the hero down, ending his career – another clash is with one father, who allows his children to suffer from malnutrition
It is not easy to deal with this, the doctor who is called to diagnose is another of those happy to just go through the motions, pretend to work, but just take the benefits of one position that is permanent, and when the severity of the situation is finally evidenced, the father – was it Widmerpool, like the character from the sublime A Dance To the Music of Time https://realini.blogspot.com/2016/07/... - comes to the school to confront, and beat the new head master, but the latter winds the dispute
Emma Foxberrow, a teacher in the school, had been less than overwhelmed by George Harpole, but with his manly, strong win over the aggressive parent, who was taken down, metaphorically and literally (incidentally, one of the latest ridiculous, pathetic claims made by Orange Jesus is that he ‘has been literally crucified’ during the trial in which he was found guilty, and he is now the first president who is also a convicted felon) the head master is now admired, and the two may even have a romantic connection, or just a sexual one
Speaking of which, there is one member of the school board who is now a widow, and she is also in awe of the beating administered by Harpole, and she wants him to be her lover, it is such a fervent attraction that she comes to his office and presses her knees against his, he ends up against the wall, in his effort to avoid embarrassment
We could wonder if he would have done better to surrender, and have sex with her – mind you, this was not yet a liberated realm, I do not think we are in the hippy years yet, and nevertheless, in that setting, there is a more rigid outlook, if not in the case of this widow, who is ready to jump on the young man careless of consequences
Our hero evades as much as he can, and eventually, he says he has classes to attend to, and they better forget about what just happened, and he will not utter a word, nobody needs to hear of it, only the rejected woman will want revenge, just as she was determined to have coitus, now she wants to punish the subject of her desire
A meeting is called, and the officials in charge of the school, vicar and all, are asked to approve by vote the dismissal of the temporary head master, because of letters from teachers and parents, which in the end prove to have been not just false claims, but the opposite is true, those mentioned support Harpole and want him to continue
Parents want him to stay and the head master he replaced for a while to be moved somewhere else, and the teachers have expressed such feelings that the way I recall it is a sort of veneration – well, short of that, but still, they are all for him
Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/u... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se
There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works
‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’
‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’
“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”
September 19, 2019
George Harpole sollte ein halbes Jahr lang den Direktor seiner Schule während dessen Fortbildung vertreten. Rückblickend sichtet und kommentiert Direktor Chadband in seinem Abschlussbericht, was in seiner Abwesenheit an der St. Nicholas Schule passierte. Aus persönlichen Briefen, schriftlichen Auseinandersetzungen mit der Schulbehörde, Leserberiefen und Kinderaufsätzen entsteht ein lebendiges Bild der Schlangengrube namens Schule. Mister Chadband befindet sich eindeutig in einer einfacheren Position als Harpole auf seinem beruflichen Schleudersitz, weil er dem jungen Kollegen Berufs- und Verwaltungserfahrung voraushat. Über Fehler, die einmal geschehen sind, hat man nachher leicht reden.
Dass der heimliche Direktor einer Schule der Hausmeister ist, damit hatte ich zu Beginn des Buchs gerechnet. Nicht jedoch mit dem durchaus komischen Auftritt einer engagierten Reformpädagogin und ihren Kritikern, die den Zusammenbruch der sozialen Ordnung befürchten. Die Ordnung der britischen Klassengesellschaft wurde allein schon dadurch gefährdet, dass Harpole wie ein jugendlicher Don Quichotte Rohrstock und „Dummen-Klasse“ an der Schule abschaffen will. Selbst das Christentum scheint in Gefahr, als Mrs. Foxberrow im Religionsunterricht die Frage aufwirft, ob Jesus als dunkelhäutiges Mitglied der Arbeiterklasse, das durch seinen Dialekt aufgefallen sein muss, im heutigen England eine Pfarrerstelle gefunden hätte. Ihre anschließende Auflösung gibt ein entlarvendes Bild davon, wie die britische Gesellschaft heute funktioniert. Harpole deckt auch auf, dass bei gleichen Leistungen Mädchen aus der Arbeiterschicht gegenüber Bürgertöchtern schlechtere Übertritts-Chancen auf weiterführende Schulen haben. Ein immer noch heißes Eisen.
J.L. Carr lässt in seiner Milieustudie unfreiwillig komische Kinderaufsätze auf knallharte, nicht weniger komische Auswüchse von Bürokratie prallen. Abgesehen davon, dass ich als Hobbybastler endlich gelernt habe, was ein Rollgabelschlüssel ist, habe ich mich köstlich über die St. Nicholas Schule und ihr Umfeld amüsiert. Die vielen Stimmen im Buch erfordern anfangs etwas Konzentration, dann wundert man sich als Leser nicht mehr, dass „The Harpole Report“ in England zum Kultbuch wurde.
Dass der heimliche Direktor einer Schule der Hausmeister ist, damit hatte ich zu Beginn des Buchs gerechnet. Nicht jedoch mit dem durchaus komischen Auftritt einer engagierten Reformpädagogin und ihren Kritikern, die den Zusammenbruch der sozialen Ordnung befürchten. Die Ordnung der britischen Klassengesellschaft wurde allein schon dadurch gefährdet, dass Harpole wie ein jugendlicher Don Quichotte Rohrstock und „Dummen-Klasse“ an der Schule abschaffen will. Selbst das Christentum scheint in Gefahr, als Mrs. Foxberrow im Religionsunterricht die Frage aufwirft, ob Jesus als dunkelhäutiges Mitglied der Arbeiterklasse, das durch seinen Dialekt aufgefallen sein muss, im heutigen England eine Pfarrerstelle gefunden hätte. Ihre anschließende Auflösung gibt ein entlarvendes Bild davon, wie die britische Gesellschaft heute funktioniert. Harpole deckt auch auf, dass bei gleichen Leistungen Mädchen aus der Arbeiterschicht gegenüber Bürgertöchtern schlechtere Übertritts-Chancen auf weiterführende Schulen haben. Ein immer noch heißes Eisen.
J.L. Carr lässt in seiner Milieustudie unfreiwillig komische Kinderaufsätze auf knallharte, nicht weniger komische Auswüchse von Bürokratie prallen. Abgesehen davon, dass ich als Hobbybastler endlich gelernt habe, was ein Rollgabelschlüssel ist, habe ich mich köstlich über die St. Nicholas Schule und ihr Umfeld amüsiert. Die vielen Stimmen im Buch erfordern anfangs etwas Konzentration, dann wundert man sich als Leser nicht mehr, dass „The Harpole Report“ in England zum Kultbuch wurde.
December 23, 2021
In this, the third of J. L. Carr's books that I’ve read, he takes a holiday from his more substantive material and follows the comical misadventures of George Harpole, a mid-ranks teacher who has been temporarily left in charge of a school during a few weeks’ absence of the school’s long serving headmaster. As is to be expected in such a scenario, anything that could go wrong promptly does so. He finds himself navigating stormy waters between the Charybdis of hostile colleagues on one hand and the Scylla of irate parents on the other, meanwhile having to suffer rebukes from his superiors and fend off attacks by local officials. Along the way, he is faced with the inconvenient truth that regardless of whether one is placed in a position of responsibility by election, appointment or pure chance, he is powerless to effect change: incumbent officials, bureaucrats and unionized underlings always retain the means to, at best, thwart a newly installed person’s initiatives or, at worst, make his life a living hell. Even when Harpole’s decisions seem to be prudent (not always the case, poor fellow) his plans usually go awry.
As in any organization that has been in place for some time, inertia outweighs ambition, personal privilege trumps fairness and regulations defy logic. He is surrounded by a mediocre (albeit self-satisfied) staff whose worthiness to impinge upon the welfare of children varies from passable to outright detrimental; in spite of it all, the children who are trapped in this administrative state of entropy appear to have found ways to survive — as kids usually do.
Not up to the standard set by Carr's A Month in the Country or The Battle Of Pollocks Crossing but an amusing piece of nonsense; would have been suitable material to be used as basis for the sort of film that British studios often turned out in the mid 20th century.
As in any organization that has been in place for some time, inertia outweighs ambition, personal privilege trumps fairness and regulations defy logic. He is surrounded by a mediocre (albeit self-satisfied) staff whose worthiness to impinge upon the welfare of children varies from passable to outright detrimental; in spite of it all, the children who are trapped in this administrative state of entropy appear to have found ways to survive — as kids usually do.
Not up to the standard set by Carr's A Month in the Country or The Battle Of Pollocks Crossing but an amusing piece of nonsense; would have been suitable material to be used as basis for the sort of film that British studios often turned out in the mid 20th century.
July 19, 2025
Mild mannered Gerald Harpole is appointed Acting Head of Tampling C. Of E.Primary School, and this book chronicles his year of coping with the pupils, teachers and parents. Most of the book is told through the form of Harpole’s school journal, interspersed with notes and letters from other characters, including the forceful Emma Foxberrow, a new young teacher who has very modern ideas on teaching and expresses herself frankly at every opportunity.
This is a funny book with some hilarious incidents and memorable characters. Emma Foxberrow in particular is an original thinker. Here she answers Gerald Harpole’s question about how such a small community managed to build such a magnificent church:
“You must get this one thing in your head rapidly, Mr Harpole, if your studies of the Past are to be rewarding, And that thing is that the Middle Ages were not Us in fancy dress. Their minds did not rattle along the same tram lines as our Broiler House society, To briefly answer your question - they believed in Hellfire and the Everlasting Pit and that is a great incentive to dio hands deep into pockets.”
This is a funny book with some hilarious incidents and memorable characters. Emma Foxberrow in particular is an original thinker. Here she answers Gerald Harpole’s question about how such a small community managed to build such a magnificent church:
“You must get this one thing in your head rapidly, Mr Harpole, if your studies of the Past are to be rewarding, And that thing is that the Middle Ages were not Us in fancy dress. Their minds did not rattle along the same tram lines as our Broiler House society, To briefly answer your question - they believed in Hellfire and the Everlasting Pit and that is a great incentive to dio hands deep into pockets.”
October 27, 2020
This is an unexpectedly delightful book, in the sub-genre of people with potential ultimately finding themselves, only a good deal funnier than those normally are. Presented as a series of excerpts from journals, letters, and reports (none the least bit dry), it was an unalloyed pleasure to read, and falls shy of 5 stars by dint of being not quite as funny as my favourite funny books, though it comes quite close, and because some of the secondary characters are harder to pin down and remember compared to, say, the Lucia series, where even the domestics were drawn to a T.
May 28, 2017
Simply one of the most pleasant little stories I have ever read. I had read JL Carr's "A Month in the Country" a few years ago and lived it. This is much different and equally excellent in a different way. THR is the story of a thoughtful and devoted English schoolmaster and the struggles and trials he must endure in doing the right thing. It is hilarious, heartwarming and thoroughly enjoyable. I am surprised it is out of print
August 14, 2021
George Harpole's time as temporary head of Tampling St. Nicholas primary school, as told by letters, official reports, and his journal entries. This technique proves a good tool for poking fun at the surrounding bureaucracy and at the staff and parents who take themselves too seriously.
I give it 3.5 stars - amusing, but not particularly noteworthy.
I give it 3.5 stars - amusing, but not particularly noteworthy.
March 16, 2012
From BBC Radio 4 Extra:
Idealistic young teacher, George Harpole, decides to shake things up when he becomes acting head of Tampling St Nicholas Primary School - but he encounters stiff resistance from all quarters in J.L Carr's novel.
Idealistic young teacher, George Harpole, decides to shake things up when he becomes acting head of Tampling St Nicholas Primary School - but he encounters stiff resistance from all quarters in J.L Carr's novel.
October 22, 2015
Good fun about teaching.
December 10, 2019
An amusing, if salutary tale of what it would have been like to be placed in temporary charge of a C of E primary school in early 1970's Britain. Harpole finds himself attacked from all sides with the parents, teachers, cleaner, governors, education officers and inspectors determined to assert their wills and undermine his shaky authority. The pupils all seem blameless from those in "The Backward Class" to school genius, Titus Fawcett (chronological age 10 yrs 6 mths, mental age: 15 yrs 4 1/2 mths).
His initial efforts with school trips, sports day, official inspections as well as violent parents, under-nourished pupils and amorous governors seem to backfire while he struggles to uphold his beliefs and maintain dignity. With time Harpole emerges from his rather Pooterish sensibility and regains some semblance of respect. One could imagine Peter Sellers' sardonic librarian, Mr Lewis, in the film of Kingsley Amis's "Only Two Can Play" taking the lead role.
I was immensely cheered by this book.
His initial efforts with school trips, sports day, official inspections as well as violent parents, under-nourished pupils and amorous governors seem to backfire while he struggles to uphold his beliefs and maintain dignity. With time Harpole emerges from his rather Pooterish sensibility and regains some semblance of respect. One could imagine Peter Sellers' sardonic librarian, Mr Lewis, in the film of Kingsley Amis's "Only Two Can Play" taking the lead role.
I was immensely cheered by this book.
March 19, 2025
This is an account of the activities of George Harpole, a temporary headmaster at a public primary school belonging to the Church of England. The headmaster's role is to organise not only the school board, the caretaker and other outside parties, which do not seem to differ much from those in other countries, but also the habitual teachers, and he has to take into account the families of the students, many of whom are poor and have problems. The story is told through a series of documents, including his diaries, relevant documents, reports and letters. The reader is swept up in a variety of incidents, a view similar to that in our country, but the reader is also refreshed by a moving scene at the last part of the story.
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