520:(e.g. "Tom and Adrian and Pigs Trotter"). In the book, at school, Adrian actively tries new vocabulary. As a spy he is told off by Trefusis for saying "it is them" instead of "it is they" (before Trefusis acknowledges that it is obnoxious pedantry to care) and complains to Trefusis about the habit of another (less erudite) character of overusing the suffix "-ise" like an American.
504:). In a post on his blog, Fry talks about the evolving language, including his interest in "verbing" nouns (nouns used as verbs). He also reproaches grammar pedants. In the book there are several experiments with the English language, mostly used in the dialogue. These range from several nouns used as verbs (e.g. "You
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the child sex trade. The discovery brings Jenny and the college fame, but it also results in a dialogue between Adrian and Hugo, who has become an alcoholic. Hugo believes that Adrian hates him, and points to Adrian's duplicity as proof. Adrian corrects him and the two leave things on a friendly note.
303:
and is given a challenge to produce something original by his tutor
Professor Donald Trefusis. With the aid of his girlfriend – and later wife and acclaimed producer – Jenny de Woolf, and his housemate Gary, he writes and claims to have discovered a lost manuscript by Charles Dickens which dealt with
345:
Subsequently, Adrian overhears a conversation between
Trefusis and Pearce where it is revealed that the espionage adventure was just a game to counter boredom, meaning that several parts of the story were untrue. Adrian remembers a letter written to him by de Woolf saying that while young girls grew
295:
team defeating the team of Hugo
Cartwright, to whom Adrian no longer feels attracted. Just as Adrian and his team are about to leave the school at which Hugo is a master he admits to Hugo that he was awake during the incident before Trotter's funeral.
29:
265:
himself due to his unrequited love for Adrian. Adrian is shown later in the novel to be touchy on the subject of suicide as a result. Prior to
Trotter's funeral, Adrian has a sexual encounter with Hugo while pretending to be asleep.
260:
young gay man; however, despite his image, and, despite regarding sex as his "public pride", he finds himself unable to express his love for the beautiful Hugo
Cartwright. Another student, Paul Trotter (known as "Pigs Trotter" )
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in
English. In actuality, the year is spent in a game of espionage in which they must acquire the parts for Mendax (from the Latin adjective meaning "lying, deceptive"), a lie-inhibiting device from his Hungarian friend Szabó.
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Adrian is later expelled from school for writing an article discussing the tradition of hidden behaviours that could be considered homosexual at public schools; consequently, he takes his
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working for
Trefusis. It is also revealed that the murders that Adrian witnessed were staged to scare Trefusis into giving Mendax to MI5, and that Mendax was fictional.
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After graduation, Adrian attends a farcical meeting where he and other attendees discuss the arrest of
Trefusis, who was arrested on charges of
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The espionage portions of the book are written in italics, which stop at Adrian's graduation. The book features a third-person
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and has his first sexual encounter with a woman, a fellow member of staff at the school. The school years finish with Adrian's
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The novel is semi-autobiographical and many scenes echo experiences later recounted in Fry's memoir,
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film crew. It is later revealed that he was actually undertaking a document exchange preceded by two
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and humour, as well as its often outrageous references to various homosexual experiences.
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but mostly follows the upper-class
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The book opens as the protagonist, Adrian Healey, and his mentor, Professor
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up, young boys did not, making their education irrelevant and just a game.
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The author is renowned for his interest in the
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A showdown results with Adrian's uncle David (Sir David Pearce of
252:, where he has carefully groomed himself to convey the image of a
185:(published 1991) is the first novel of British writer and actor
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613:"BOOKS OF THE TIMES – A Rebellious Young Weed, and How He Grew"
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Stephen Fry's Incomplete and Utter History of Classical Music
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as is custom in several European countries, such as Hungary.
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was created by Fry for several humorous radio broadcasts on
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Student Union building is named after the book, as Fry was
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Adrian attends the fictional St. Matthew's College,
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287:Eventually, Adrian takes on the role of
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442:, in Greek Πάτροκλος, not Πάτροχλος)
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128:(first edition, hardback) &
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203:revealed to have been fictions
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33:First edition cover
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911:Last Chance to See
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712:The Fry Chronicles
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174:PR6056 .R88
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973:Categories
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599:References
506:everything
445:Szabó is "
436:Patrochlus
417:Telemachus
409:Trojan War
391:Trojan War
389:See also:
378:Loose Ends
324:sabbatical
524:Reception
309:cottaging
301:Cambridge
256:, highly
237:, are at
76:Publisher
22:The Liar
946:See also
739:The Liar
421:Odysseus
385:Conceits
369:Trefusis
282:rent boy
243:Salzburg
223:Cold War
182:The Liar
149:59891543
49:Language
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221:of the
213:of the
211:decline
162:823.914
69:England
52:English
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512:me"),
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215:empire
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844:Films
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217:and
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510:sir
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