FLANNELED FOOL

A Slice of a Life in the Thirties

This is the self-portrait of a case of arrested development, and of the ill-effects of that 'innocence' which used to be highly prized in the young. Where did this innocence come from? From a mother who identified herself with suffering Jesus? From a father whose story is so improbable that fiction could hardly make him credible? From the games-orientated education of the period?

It was as an assistant master at a well-known Public School that the author began to substitute for the passion for games which had dominated his boyhood an interest in the intellectual and political life of the times. This brought him into violent conflict with the forces of reaction which at that time dominated the school.

This is not just the usual anti-public school tract, however, and it deals with many other things besides school life. The author was on the edge of the Cambridge cricket XI; he went to Spain and wrote a memorable book about the Civil War; he served in the RAF; and he became Literary Editor of the New Statesman. These experiences all form part of his story.

The portraits of the participants and the anecdotes which develop the action in all these instances are funny as well as sharp; and the whole makes a very frank and truthful picture of growing up on the thirties.