Why my book is no longer a bestseller at Eton

After my experiences promoting volume one of my biography of Mrs Thatcher, I had focused on boarding schools for sales of volume two (just published). This was because I discovered that pupils liked to buy the book to give to their parents for Christmas, secure in the knowledge that they could put it on their parents’ extras bill. As a result, sales were brisk.

So imagine my dismay, shortly before addressing the Eton Political Society recently, when I received an email informing me that the ‘Lower Man’ (not a term of abuse, but the Eton slang for what other schools would call the deputy head) had just banned this practice. About 120 boys turned up to hear me. It is a credit to them that they bought eight copies; but under the old dispensation, they would have bought 80.

This is an extract from Charles Moore’s notes. The original article can be read here.