In a boys' grammar school in Sheffield in 1983, students Crowther, Posner, Dakin, Timms, Akthar, Lockwood, Scripps, and Rudge have recently obtained the school's highest ever A-level scores and are hoping to enter Oxford or Cambridge, by taking a seventh-term entrance exam in History. The General Studies teacher, known to staff and boys alike by his nickname "Hector", is much beloved, and works alongside their deputy head and regular History teacher, Mrs Lintott. The Headmaster, known by all as "Felix", appoints a temporary teacher, Tom Irwin, to help the boys. Irwin states that he was at Jesus College, Oxford, when interviewed by the Headmaster. Prior to the entrance examinations, he says to Dakin that he was at Corpus (Corpus Christi College). Dakin discovers on his interview day at Oxford that Irwin did not attend. Irwin is little older than his students but proves to be a bold and demanding teacher, and particularly difficult to impress.