The story teller is a 21 year old probationer teacher, John Young, who relates the story of his first term at Blacklake Secondary Boys School in Eastburn, a suburban Essex town in the UK. John rents a bed sitter at The Cedars, a large Victorian house where there are three other teacher inmates. The genteel elderly owner, Miss Fortescue, also resides there with Oliver, her black and white cat. The humorous story of school events includes a visit by an inspector; a prolonged bout of practical joking by the senior boys which is resolved only when the staff decide to respond in kind; and John's...