EVANS TRIES AN O- ENGLISH

LEVEL-COLIN ENRICHMENT
DEXTER XII
  Born on September 29, 1930; Died
March 21, 2017

 English Crime Writer

 THE AUTHOR-
Norman Colin
Dexter  Best known for his Inspector Morse
Series of Novels

 The Series was adapted as a TV Series-

1987-2000 
 A suspense story with many twists

Deals with the idea of giving opportunity to prisoners to

enhance their education

Evans
Portrays the working of the minds of the prisoners- how
Tries an they make use of human psychology for their own purpose

O-Level
Satire on official machinery
Dramatis Personae (Characters)

 The Governor of the HM Prison, Oxford

 James Evans, a prisoner
 The Secretary Of the Examination Board
 Mr Jackson, a prison officer
 Mr Stephens, a prison officer
 Reverend S. McLeery, an invigilator
 Mr Carter, Detective Chief Inspector
 Evans, a prisoner, wishes to take
German language O-Level exam.
 He actually plans to escape from the
prison on the day of the exam.
 The jail authorities suspect his
intentions. About the Lesson
 Will Evans be able to succeed in
escaping from the jail?
 Will the prison authorities be able to
retain him in the prison?
  The Governor of Oxford Prison calls the
Secretary of the Examination Board.
 He requests him to allow Evans to take German
Call at the O-Level Exam.
 Informs him that Evans has had individual
Examination tuitions all the time
Board  The Secretary inquires about Evans and allows
him a chance.
 Both discuss the various security measures that
could be taken.
  James Roderick Evans
 Nicknamed as ‘Evans the Break’ by the prison
officers, as he has escaped from the prison
thrice in the past, doesn’t have any record of
violence
 He is a congenital kleptomaniac.
 He is very good at imitations, has been
Who is Evans ? compared with Mike Yarwood
 He wishes to take the German O-Level Exam,
apparently to get some sort of academic
qualification
 Owing to the recent wave of unrest in the
maximum security establishment up in the
north, he is in Oxford Prison 
  It is arranged for Evans to take the exam in his
cell in D Wing.
 The cell is checked thoroughly by Mr Jackson.
 All the sharp things like scissors, nail file, razor
blade are taken away from him.
Preparations  A parson, Reverend S. McLeery is called to
made by Oxford invigilate.
Prison  A microphone is placed in the cell so that the
Governor can hear the proceedings of the exam.
 Prison Officer, Mr Stephens is deputed to be in
Evans’s cell during the exam.
 McLeery is frisked thoroughly before the
exam  
 Prison Officer Mr Jackson asks Evans to remove his
hat.

Evans doesn’t remove, saying that the hat is lucky for

him (he knows that Jackson is soft hearted).

EVANS 
Jackson gives in and allows him to keep the hat.
AND 
HIS  The hat is actually to hide his cropped hair to
HAT resemble like McLeery
  He is a parson at St Mary’s Mags.
 He is frisked properly outside Evans’s cell.
 Contents of McLeery’s suitcase:
    . a sealed envelope having the question paper
    . a yellow invigilation form

Reverend     . a special “authentication” card from the

Examination Board 
Stuart     . Bible and a copy of Church Times
McLeery     . a paper knife
    . a small semi inflated rubber ring to sit on as
McLeery is suffering from               haemorrhoids 
  The exam starts at 9.20 a.m.
 McLeery gives instructions to Evans.
 Stephens stays inside the cell.
 Evans tells McLeery that he will not be able to
concentrate in Stephen’s presence.
 The Governor hears this, gets Stephens out of the cell.
 Stephens takes his position at the peephole, watching
The Evans every one minute for first fifteen minutes and
every two minutes after that.
Examination  Every time he finds Evans looking straight at the door,
with his pen between his lips  
 A call from the Examination Board at 9.40 a. m., to get a
correction done in the question paper.
 At 10.50 a.m. Evans requests for a blanket as it is cold;
the Governor hears this and doesn’t find anything wrong
with it.
 McLeery tells Evans that only five McLeery asks Evans to stop
minutes remain. writing

11:22 AM

The 11:20 AM 11:25 AM

Examination
(Continued) Stephens gets a call from the
Governor; he was to personally
escort McLeery to the prison gates
and ensure that Evans’s cell is
locked again
  Stephens escorts McLeery to the prison gates.
 Checks Evans once more through the peephole, before
going for coffee.
 Is aghast to see McLeery lying in a pool of blood; raises
an alarm
 McLeery shows the question paper which has a
superimposed sheet over the last page with instruction
about the plan to escape.
 McLeery asks not to worry about his injuries, offers help
After the to follow Evans

Examination  The Governor sends him away with Detective

Superintendent Carter in search of Evans
 Carter comes back empty handed leaving McLeery
waiting for the ambulance
 The Governor calls Radcliffe hospital to be told that no
one came.
 It is understood by all that it was not Evans who escaped
as McLeery but Evans who stayed  in as McLeery and
escorted out of the prison by Officer Carter.
   Lots
of friends everywhere- the German teacher, a
fake McLeery  , friends even at the Examination Board
 The call for the correction slip is to ascertain the start
time of the exam and to inform the name of the hotel.
 Fake McLeery comes wearing two black fronts, two
How Evans collars and with a fake beard.
 Evans uses the blanket to disguise himself as McLeery;
Executed his his cropped hair too resemble that of fake McLeery.
 The call for Stephens three minutes before the exam is
Escape not from the Governor but from one of Evans’s friends
to keep him away from the cell door.
 The rubber tube carried by fake ‘McLeery’ has pig’s
blood mixed with actual blood and 3.8 percent trisodium
citrate
Who has the Last Laugh?

He takes clues from the index He warns Evans not to try

The Governor outsmarts
number and centre number in any trick, says he has men all
Evans, reaches his hotel
the question paper to reach round the place (actually
before him.
there. there were only two).

Evans has the last laugh and

Soon it is evident that
He calls a prison van and the Governor turns out to be a
Evans’s friends are
hands him over to the officer. ‘good-for-a-giggle, gullible
controlling the van.
governor
  Not checking the credibility of the German
teacher
 Not verifying the invigilator’s identity
 Letting Evans wear the hat for good luck
 Appointing Stephens, a new prison officer
Mistakes Made  Stephens not checking on Evans when he sees
by the Prison him not writing the paper and putting on the
blanket
Authorities that  The prison authorities not able to figure out how
help Evans Evans can escape wearing a priest’s clothes
when McLeery is standing before them in the
Escape same kind of clothes. They do not check his
wounds either.
 Finally, the Governor letting Evans escape a
second time, without verifying the credentials
of the prison officers 
HAPPY READING

 CONCENTRATE 
 COMPREHEND
 RETAIN
 WRITE