Kipps

^{When I was in Grammar School 1955 – 1960 in Bristol U.K. (High School in American terminology) I was asked (required) to read many books.} 

^{I was never impressed with the novels of Charles Dickens or Jane Austen which were “required reading”.}

^{I enjoyed Jerome K Jerome’s “Three Men in a Boat”, and I well remember a book entitled “Sweet Thames Run Softly” - (I have forgotten the author).}

^{One of my schoolboy favourites was “Kipps” by H.G.Wells.  (It is the book which engendered the song “half a sixpence”).}

^{I suspect that I enjoyed “Kipps” because of the skill and wisdom of the school teacher who “led us through the book”.}

^{To my surprise I discovered today that I own a copy of “Kipps”.  It’s been sleeping in my modest library.}

^{So I have begun to read the book again (some 52 years on).  I have once again been enchanted by “Kipps”.  It’s a good tale.}