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 Brown at Oxford Tom Brown at Oxford Tom Brown at Oxford is a novel by Thomas Hughes, first published in serial form in Macmillan Magazine in 1859. It was published in two volumes in book form in 1861. It is a sequel to the better-known "Tom Brown's School Days". <br> The story follows the character of Tom Brown to fictional St Ambrose's College, Oxford. The novel offers a vivid impression of university life in the mid nineteenth century. The book was out of print for many years but is available in Britain from Wordsworth Classics with 'Tom Brown's Schooldays' and is now available