misleading term, the lower middle class." Criticism The History of Mr. Polly received mostly enthusiastic reviews. H. L. Mencken published a glowing review in the July 1910 number of The Smart Set. The novel has been called "a complete comic miracle." Mr. Polly' has been called a "wonderful incarnation of what might have happened to Wells without education, a Wells driven to use the words bubbling in him and getting them all so delightfully muddled." But Wells said his protagonist was based not on himself, but on his elder brother Frank. The History of Mr. Polly was included by Robert McCrum in his list of the 100 best novels in English in The Guardian. Screen adaptations A film version of the same name was made in 1949 by Anthony Pellisier, with John Mills as Polly. It was adapted by the BBC as a six-part television serial shown between 28 August – 10 October 1959, with Emrys Jones as Polly, and again as a five-part adaptation starring Andrew Sachs, shown between 2 and 30 March 1980. The 1959 version no longer exists. A feature-length version starring Lee Evans was shown on ITV in May 2007. Notes References Bibliography External links A reading of The History of Mr. Polly at archive.org Novels by H. G. Wells 1910 British novels British comedy novels Novels set in Kent Novels set in Sussex British novels adapted into films British novels adapted into television shows