Story Time

World Book Day gave Harrodians of all ages the chance to share and celebrate twin passions for reading and dressing upThis time last year, World Book Day (WBD) was postponed due to the unexpected arrival of the beast from the east. This year Harrodian’s bibliophiles had a fine day on which to celebrate and share their love of books and they made the most of the WBD activities jointly laid on by our librarians and English teachers.  

Pupils had been asked to bring in favourite books  to swap together with £1 for charity and by 8.30am the Prep department was already alive with the sound of deals being done and the sight of 11s in literary-themed fancy dress. Classes around the Prep school posed for group photos with their favourite books, as did assorted department teams including the Latin teachers, the Librarians and the massed ranks of Harrodian Spanish, French and Italian teachers.

Special literary-themed celebrations continued all day, perhaps the most original and notable of them being a special lunch-time 'Lyrical Clinic' laid on by Mr McDowall and Mr Don of the English Department, clad in white medical attire in the Senior Entrance Hall. This special service offered one-to-one consultations with visiting students who were then 'prescribed' poems 'for the alleviation' of a list of common complaints including 'Isolation, Inertia, Regret and Whatever life throws at you'.

As usual World Book Day also gave Harrodian teachers an excuse to dress up and pose as their favourite literary figures and they rose exuberantly to the challenge. Historians dressed in the Alpha to Epsilon 'castes' of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, RS drew their inspiration from Alice in Wonderland, English and Library staff restyled themselves as characters from 101 Dalmatians, the admin team were peas from Eat your Peas, Louise, Business were inspired by The Cat in the Hat while our scientists sported Harry Potter outfits of all kinds.