Post-google: "Such, such were the joys" - I've heard of it, but not read it. I'll put that to rights. I vaguely knew that he was anti-Billy Bunter, though. I think that factlet stuck, because my mother was an avid reader of The Magnet as a girl, and has a suitcase full of her copies from the '30s in her garage. But, like most readers of boarding school stories (c.f. Harry Potter), she didn't go to boarding school.

It's about his time at St. Cyprian's in Eastbourne. He did in fact go to Eton as well, but not until later in his school career.