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intake was losing in the race for university places and professional careers (p. 341). A new broom was needed. John Thorn received the brief to raise scholarship and broaden cultural opportunities – the sporty old guard of housemasters responded oafishly. Brain predictably beat brawn. A wave of new teachers was appointed; academic standards rose; Oxbridge places were won (five awards and 12 places in 1967); art, music and drama were valued; beatings and fagging went; and domestic comforts reached studies and dormitories. Thorn’s seven years of hard labour were rewarded with the prize of Winchester’s headship. Brogan’s research – spread over 25 years – is immense, his observations are astute and objective, and his text is littered with delightful phrases and sharp wit. Only the absence of all recent history and the lack of opportunity to add more shape and balance allow the book to slip below Wellington and Harrow. But it wins a worthy bronze medal. Back to the title: A School in England. Yes, it is appropriate. Repton’s peaks and troughs, triumphs and crises, and joys and sorrows, they are those of the typical public school: ‘middling in size, middling in achievement, seldom giving a lead, seldom lagging in the rear’ (p. 184). It is Repton’s representative quality that makes Brogan’s book valuable. Like the public-school system, Repton has survived.