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 logbook 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. 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 of Highfields school in Kettering. Carr described it as "an evangelical tract that got away". The novel is now published by The Quince Tree Press, which was established by Carr in 1966 to publish his illustrated maps and small books.

Characters

Reviews

Frank Muir described The Harpole Report as "the funniest and perhaps the truest story about running a school that I ever have read" and chose it as his book to take to a desert island on the BBC Radio 4 programme Desert Island Discs. The Times described it as "An assortment of memorable characters lurking in the English educational undergrowth."

Publication history

Translation

Broadcasts

An abridged version of the book was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1981, read by Martin Jarvis. It was again dramatised by Jonathan Smith for Radio 4 in 2012.