A School for Scandal
The Radical Educational Experiment That Shocked Interwar Britain
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Profile Books Ltd
Publishing:18th Feb '27
£20.00
This title is due to be published on 18th February, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
Sex, arson, marital rancour and the greatest liberal minds of the twentieth century: the story of Britain's most radical school
No knowledge should be withheld from children. Respect the individual peculiarities of the child. Morality to arise from the child's actual experience, never from the authority of adults. When philosopher Bertrand Russell and his activist wife Dora founded a school in 1927, it was a radical experiment to create 'fearless children': sensitive, gifted citizens, empowered to think and act freely. But Beacon Hill was no utopia. Bertie struggled to connect with the children. Dora threatened to sue every journalist who speculated about the Russells' relationship. At least the children were happy - though they didn't attend lessons, vetoed the teachers' every decision and attempted to sacrifice a class pet. Digging deep into the archives, John O'Connell uncovers a tale of high ideals and low standards - oddball teachers, ramshackle buildings and precocious, badly behaved children.
Sharp, dazzling, irresistible -- Sathnam Sanghera
An important book - and a fascinating account of an educational experiment that has much to tell us today -- Michael and Clare Morpurgo
It is so good: beautifully written and fascinating. The characters feel so real and alive. I'm not sure I'd have lasted long at one of their dinner parties - or at Beacon Hill - but I loved reading about Bertie and Dora's bold, mad, messy lives -- Lottie Moggach
A wild ride through some of the stranger currents at work in interwar Britain. O'Connell is an astute guide on a tour of the Bohemian fringes of British high society. A School for Scandal is as absurd as it is compelling -- Hannah Rose Woods, author of RULE, NOSTALGIA
Praise for Bowie's Books: Brilliant. The unwritten Bowie book that needed writing -- Caitlin Moran
Splendid. Provides plenty of evidence of Bowie's restless, rummaging intelligence, and his pleasure in the fact that books allow readers to slip into someone else's skin and try it on for size * The Times *
Witty and enlightening * Observer *
Praise for The Book of Spices: Shamelessly endearing -- Zoe Williams * Guardian *
John O'Connell's friendly yet authoritative voice delivers a fine work of history, geography, politics and 'gastronomic empathy' -- Shami Chakrabarti
ISBN: 9781805225881
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
384 pages
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