The basis of a PBS miniseries, Porterhouse Blue confirms that Tom
Sharpe is "an excellent writer and absolutely hilarious. His
characterizations are deft, his plots are brilliant, and his prose style
is smooth and winning" (P.J. O'Rourke).
To Porterhouse College-bastion of a formidable crew team, lavish dining
hall and wine cellar, and laughable academic standards-comes a crusading
new Master. Porterhouse alumni believe in manly sports, the royal
family, and brandy in the library with a fervor they bring to few
intellectual positions. And the college upholds a long tradition of
granting degrees to a certain number of muttonheaded young gentlemen of
enviable pedigree and adequate family contribution to the school's
treasury.
The new Master, afire with liberal zeal, upsets everyone's digestion
with a speech outlining plans to do things that simply aren't done: the
admission of women, a cafeteria to replace the revered service of the
kitchens, and contraceptive dispensers in every bathroom. The shock of
the new and modern rattles even the college retainers. The head porter,
Skullion, perhaps the staunchest supporter of the old way, rallies some
powerful graduates to the cause, including the illustrious Canon Bowel
and the madly wealthy-and plain mad-Sir Cathcart D'Eath. Their
counterrevolutionary efforts result, among other peculiar events, in the
most bizarre disaster seen at Cambridge in five hundred years, and in an
escalation of threats, bluffs, and maneuvers to shame the shadiest of
politicians. And the production of an investigative documentary on the
strange doings at Porterhouse precipitates scandal of the highest order
and an utterly unforeseeable conclusion.
