367. The Real Harry Potter: Magic, Empire and Beastly Bullies

Context:

The central subject of the episode, explicitly quoted at the opening and discussed throughout. The hosts analyze how this 1997 novel draws on over 150 years of British school story traditions, from Tom Brown's School Days onward. Essential reading for anyone interested in how British literary and educational traditions shaped one of the best-selling book series in history.

Context:

Mentioned as one of several books people have pointed to as influences on Harry Potter. Listed alongside other fantasy series in a rapid survey of possible Rowling inspirations.

Context:

Mentioned as one of the top four books read by British children as late as 1940.

Context:

Tom mentions reading this book aloud to his elder daughter Katie, who attended a local state school. She loved the boarding school stories so much that she burst into tears when they finished the last novel, illustrating the powerful hold school stories have on children who have no connection to that world.

Context:

Mentioned alongside The Twins at St Clare's as an example of girls' boarding school stories, referenced when discussing the tradition of girls' school fiction.

Context:

Mentioned as 'the Narnia stories' in the list of books people point to as influences on Harry Potter. The transcript incorrectly attributes them to Tolkien rather than C.S. Lewis.

Context:

Tom mentions it was cited in Dominic's book as an influence on Harry Potter. Part of the broader discussion about the literary antecedents of J.K. Rowling's work.

Context:

Mentioned as one of the books people point to as influences on Harry Potter, particularly relevant given its premise of a young girl attending a school for witches.

Context:

Referenced as 'the Crestomancy stories by Diana Wynne-Jones,' part of the list of fantasy series that influenced or prefigured Harry Potter's school-of-magic concept.

Context:

Mentioned as one of the book series that influenced Harry Potter, part of a broader list of British fantasy works that J.K. Rowling may have drawn upon.

Context:

Discussed as the series of novels that takes the bully Flashman from Tom Brown's School Days and makes him the hero. Tom mentions he had read Flashman but not Tom Brown's School Days, and had assumed from Flashman that Tom Brown would be a 'terrible wuss,' which turned out not to be the case.

Context:

Mentioned as one of the top four books read by British children as late as 1940, alongside Tom Brown's School Days and Robinson Crusoe.

Context:

Described as a 'brilliant book' by a 'great historian' that provides examples of working-class people who drew their moral code from boarding school stories. The hosts use it to cite Aneurin Bevan secretly buying copies of The Magnet and The Gem, and Robert Roberts's testimony about the influence of school stories on working-class boys.

Context:

Mentioned as C.L.R. James's 'brilliant book' when introducing him as one of the greatest intellectuals the Caribbean has produced, a Marxist historian of cricket and revolution.

Context:

Described as C.L.R. James's autobiography in which he discusses Thomas Arnold's legacy and the public school ethos. The hosts quote extensively from it: James calls Arnold's influence 'one of the most fantastic transformations in the history of education and of culture' and says the code of manliness, decency, and fair play 'became the moral framework of my existence.' A fascinating book for understanding how British school values were exported globally.

Context:

Mentioned as a book by working-class historian Robert Roberts who grew up in Salford. The hosts quote Roberts saying that the Greyfriars school became 'our true alma mater' and that Frank Richards 'had more influence on the mind and outlook of young working class England than any other single person.' A key source for understanding how elite school culture permeated all classes of British society.

Context:

Described as 'a brilliant book' by an academic. Extensively quoted on how classical study (Latin and Greek) at public schools formed identity rather than merely imparting knowledge. The hosts use it to draw a parallel between learning Latin/Greek and learning magic at Hogwarts — both serve as impenetrable codes that bind an elite community together and separate them from outsiders.

Context:

Tom mentions reading this 'very good book' in preparation for the episode. He quotes from it a Harrow School teacher from 1928 saying 'those who hope to rule must first learn to obey,' connecting the fagging system to imperial governance.

Context:

Dominic's own book, mentioned early in the episode when Tom introduces it as a book about the impact of British culture on the world's imagination. Dominic admits he underrated Harry Potter in the book and was 'very rude about it.' The book contains analysis of J.K. Rowling and the school story tradition, including a footnote pedantically noting that Hogwarts couldn't have been a castle before the Norman Conquest.

Context:

Referenced as 'a brilliant essay' by George Orwell about school stories and their influence, written about The Magnet and The Gem boys' papers and the Greyfriars school stories starring Billy Bunter. This is likely Orwell's essay 'Boys' Weeklies' (1940), which is sometimes collected in book form.

Context:

Discussed as a scandalous memoir of life at Harrow in the 1850s that was not published until 1984. The hosts quote extensively from Symonds's accounts of sexual activity among schoolboys, including boys being assigned female names and adopted as 'bitches' by older boys, and his friend's affair with the headmaster Charles Vaughan.

Context:

Referenced indirectly when the hosts mention 'a great Canadian sociologist in the 20th century called Irving Goffman' and his concept of 'total institutions,' which they apply to Victorian public schools. Goffman's concept is used to explain the all-encompassing, regimented nature of boarding school life.

Context:

The most extensively discussed book in the episode alongside Harry Potter. Published in 1857, it is presented as the foundational Victorian school story and the direct template for Harry Potter. Tom reads a passage aloud describing arrival at Rugby School, paralleling Harry's arrival at Hogwarts. The hosts discuss its enormous influence: it sold 11,000 copies in its first year, went through 52 editions, was recommended by the British Board of Education in 1911 for every school library, and was used in Indian and Japanese schools. Its characters (Tom Brown, Flashman, Scud East, George Arthur) are mapped directly onto Harry Potter equivalents.

Context:

Mentioned (as 'Gulliver's Troubles') as possibly one of the top four books read by British children as late as 1940