Introduction

Everything Happens in August

Recently relieved of his employment and with a wedding to arrange, Jefferson Tweedy isn’t overburdened with worldly success. Indeed he is refreshingly free from it. But having studied the ‘smoke and mirror’ management techniques of his former bosses at Mycroft, Pigott and Welch, he feels ready for a new challenge. Fortunately his rather intimidating father in law has got just the job for him. All he’s got to do is oversee the entire nation’s examinations system. How hard can it be?

Everything Happens in August is a satire on the modern education system and a study in the noble art of bluffing. It sits in the great tradition of the English comic novel – take one, generally well meaning central character, place him in an entirely unsuitable job and watch him lie, cheat and hide in the toilets to protect his position.