When a student is accused of stealing something as small as a five shilling postal order, it just seems so miniscule that expelling the child, and the child’s family suing the college, can seem all rather ridiculous. And yet, that is exactly what happened in London just before the world war, a nationwide viral case that ended up to be depicted in The Winslow Boy. The mail order may seem small, and the court proceedings do feel sometimes tedious, but The Winslow Boy shines through its performances, the style, and the insistence to stand up for the truth, even when it means going against societal pressures and hierarchies to have truth recognized.

A shilling is £0.05, and five shillings would be £0.25. In today’s money, this case would be downright silly, but when you calculate it for today’s inflation, by my calculations it would be around £25 rounded up. It’s more than twice the hourly minimum wage, which means that a) this case might not be as petty, and b) inflation is crazy.