Harry Potter influences and analogues Potter" involve an average eleven-year-old, better at sport than academic study, who is sent to boarding school. Upon arrival, the boy gains a best friend (in Tom's case, East, in Harry's case, Ron Weasley) who helps him adjust to the new environment. They are set upon by an arrogant bully – in Tom Brown's case, Harry Flashman, in Harry's case Draco Malfoy. Stephen Fry, who both narrates the British audio adaptations of the "Harry Potter" novels and has starred in a screen adaptation of "Tom Brown", has commented many times about the similarities between the two books. "Harry Potter –
Tom, Dick and Harry Tom, Dick and Harry The phrase "Tom, Dick and Harry" is a placeholder for multiple unspecified people; "Tom, Dick or Harry" plays the same role for "one" unspecified person. The phrase most commonly occurs as "every Tom, Dick and Harry", meaning "everyone", and "any Tom, Dick or Harry", meaning "anyone", although "Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable" defines the term to specify "a set of nobodies; persons of no note". Similar expressions exist in other languages of the world, using commonly used first or last names. The phrase is used in numerous works of fiction. The origin of the phrase