mathematics, and all other subjects taught as optional extras. However, change was in the air; in 1861 the government set up the Clarendon Commission to enquire into the conditions of Britain's nine leading public schools. When the commission investigated Eton, the newly-appointed headmaster, Edward Balston, presented a cautious traditionalist view of the curriculum and governance, and saw no need for significant changes. The 25-year-old Browning, giving evidence on 2 July 1862, gave a rather more radical viewpoint. He thought that too little recognition was given to scholarly prowess as against athletic achievement, and that the formal curriculum should be overhauled to include the teaching of French and history. His wider-ranging criticisms included the nature and standard of chapel services, and the over-tolerance of the boys' beer-drinking habits. This reforming zeal was not shared by Browning's more traditionally-minded colleagues, who included his exact contemporary Edmond Warre, a vociferous opponent of reform who in due course became Eton's headmaster and later, provost. Nevertheless, the Clarendon Commission's report, issued in 1864, was critical of the school and largely endorsed the views of Browning and the reformers. By this time Browning had become a housemaster, which provided him with scope to put his personal educational ethos into practice. His house, under the domestic supervision of his mother, was initially the smallest in the college, with just nine boarders. As the house grew, it became known for numerous characteristic features; Richard Davenport-Hines, in a biographical sketch, summarises the general ambience thus: "His house had a controversially Pre-Raphaelite tone; the food was nourishing and plentiful, the curtains were by William Morris ... There was much jolliness and ragging led by the man–boy at the centre, but the bronzes and marbles in his corridors discouraged rough-housing ... OB passionately desired to reform Eton so that it could educate an effective governing class for a democratic age; these new rulers, in his ideal, would rest their power on the Platonic virtues of wisdom and goodness as well as hereditary privilege." Although not opposed to healthy physical activity – he was a keen climber and member of the Alpine Club, and promoted sports and games among the junior boys – Browning disavowed the cult of athleticism. As an alternative to "Pop", which he thought had become infested with athletics-worship, he began a Literary Society, to which distinguished visiting speakers were invited. He instituted regular poetry and play readings, and