One of the most endearing creations of modern fiction - Telegraph Goodbye, Mr. Chips is a novella about the life of a school teacher, Mr. Chipping, written by English writer James Hilton. It has been adapted into two feature films and two television presentations. Mr Chipping is a quiet, unassuming teacher at Brookfield Grammar School. Wholly conventional, he never veers from his established routines. Until, that is, he meets Katherine, who charms him and his students and teaches Mr Chipping that education is about more than just the hours spent in the schoolroom. As his love for Katherine blooms, Mr Chipping develops a sense of humour and a broad view of his role as a teacher and a friend to his students, becoming the beloved Mr Chips to generations of schoolboys. There is not another book, with the possible exception of Dickenss A Christmas Carol, that has quite the same hold on readers affections. Such is its popularity that it has been adapted into two films and two television series. Goodbye, Mr Chips features an extraordinary period of history, from the Franco-Prussian War of the 1870s to Hitlers rise to power in the 1930s, and demonstrates that, through it all, love and a good sense of humour can make all the difference.
