Name: Laurence Lando
Email: square .com
Years_at_school: 1957 -
Date: 05 May 2016
Time: 09:58:10
It is with much regret that I have learnt of the passing of Mr David Baker. Father of our colleague Keith Baker. Whilst at school, David was a good friend to me, when I needed the presence of a 'father figure'. RIP .
Name: Michael Schwartz
Email: michaelwritesforyouatyahoo.ca
Years_at_school: 1965- 1972
Date: 02 May 2016
Time: 17:51:00
Pete - I note your comment that an obituary for Fred Bilson appeared in The Guardian. Could you supply a link, please? I have not been able to find it. Thank you. Michael.
Name: Pete Fowler
Email: at ntlworld'
Years_at_school: 1956 62
Date: 29 Apr 2016
Time: 03:47:49
Yesterday's Guardian carried an obituary notice for Fred Bilson, one of the English Department's star cast in the middle and late 1960s. He came to HCS just after I left but I know from this forum how highly he was respected by the students he taught. He was in the Department (Golland, Lafferty, Bilson) that proved more than adequate, indeed, inspirational, to the best Arts Sixth Form (Perkins, Anderson, Portillo etc) in the entire school history.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.wardatbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1958 - 1963
Date: 25 Apr 2016
Time: 08:11:55
Interested in Ted Troll's comments. The appreciation of humour was never a feature of Dr Simpson's regime and must have rubbed off on his products. Not so sure about his Simpson's Academy for Dull Folks. I had thought it was Simpson's Academy for the Sad (SAD.)Trying to troll back through the memory but don't recall Ted. Tell us more about yourself, sir. We wait with baited breath.
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: christopherdotatkinson43atntlworlddotcom
Years_at_school: 19 - 19
Date: 24 Apr 2016
Time: 11:06:55
Perhaps the first step is to establish which Pavilion Fund is to be investigated. NALOPK that the first Pavilion (known as the 'Pavvi' was used by the School Scouts from 1913 to 1938. It had formerly been a school building moved to HCS from a site in Alperton. By the end of this period it had become unsuitable for further use, and there is reference to a sum of GBP700 required to address the various repairs needed; the then Headmaster had accepted responsibility for finding this money. Was this perhaps the first Pavilion Fund? In the event the Group did not get final financial approval for its present HQ until 1971 (and even then arsonists tried to burn it down before the building was complete). So, what about that first Pavilion Fund. Well my own (totally serious of course) suggestion is that it was probably used to purchase commercial quantities of Jammie Dodgers and Wagon Wheels for use in the tuck shop at the various Troop camps. I can confirm that this was an on-going tradition when I joined the Group in 1948.
Name: Ted Troll
Email: offmytrolley.tedatbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1900 - 1999
Date: 24 Apr 2016
Time: 05:43:06
Wise words, Chris Esmond. I propose forming a new discussion forum known as The Sensible Society. Only sensible people are invited to apply in the most sensible fashion. They must promise upon sensible bended knee not to rise to the bait and at all times act and respond in a humourless, uninspired fashion. Laughter, even the merest snigger, will not be permitted at meetings with perpetrators sent immediately into purgatory. Those wishing to join the SS must have been through the rigours of Simpson's Academy for Dull Folks in which youthful liveliness was systematically squeezed out, leaving dull, grumpy, sensible inmates mature ahead of their time. Such people will be expected to contribute regular items to the HCS guestbook of no more than two lines in length. For example...I left a pair of PE plimsolls in the changing room during my last year at school (1967.)Has anyone seen them or know of their current whereabouts? Or...Does anyone recall Fruity Ferguson who consumed navel oranges under the desk in Ubi Lane's Latin lesson? To which the reply might be...Is this the same Fruity who travelled to school on the 158 bus from South Harrow? Riveting stuff, indeed, and worthy of this infinitely fascinating guestbook. More contributions please but remember to keep them sensible. As to Esmond's notion of only sensible people enquiring into the Pavilion Fund mystery, this is a thoroughly silly idea.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondATyahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 24 Apr 2016
Time: 05:12:31
Your last contribution, Pete, where you confess to having ignored "so sensible advice", is deeply disappointing and as a result I regret to inform you that you will no longer be considered to lead the investigation into the missing Pavilion Fund monies as such a responsibility demands an impeccably sensible person (especially where investigating himself is involved).
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondATyahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 24 Apr 2016
Time: 04:52:00
Pete Fowler, your proven investigative skills make you eminently qualified to lead the 'What Happened to the Pavilion Fund?' enquiry. However, as a supporter of Henry Wyatt you yourself are, inevitably, I'm afraid, a prime suspect, which necessarily presents a rather tricky situation, a 'conflict of interests', as the saying goes: Would you be prepared to interview yourself? If so, could you guarantee to both question and answer with 100% commitment and integrity?
Name: Pete Fowler
Email: Ntlworld
Years_at_school: 1956 62
Date: 24 Apr 2016
Time: 02:13:22
In the early days of online forums, when they seemed the preserve of the Universities, I remember some Oxford Prof first writing a phrase that confused me at the time - but has resonated more and more through the years. 'Do not feed the trolls' he exclaimed. And yet I still sometimes forget that so sensible advice.
Name: Tom Stanning
Email: tandg.stanatbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1963 - 1970
Date: 22 Apr 2016
Time: 17:24:51
I had no idea I would create such curious responses when I made my first contact with your website. One respondent is grumpy and loses the plot whilst another seems to think I am the Invisible Man. School photos were taken early in the new school year. My father combined holidays with business so our family often came back in SEPTEMBER, a few days latE. At least I can be grateful to those who have made direct contact. Current, collated information suggests that the government in 1963 selected twenty five top schools across the UK for the possible excavation of security bunkers. Dr Simpson was apparently elated to discover Harrow School had not been chosen. I understand Winchester, Eton and Cheltenham College for Ladies were also included. Each potential survival cell contained a nominated political and military leader for the local area. Dr Simpson would have taken administrative power over London and the Home Counties rather on the Nazi Gauleiter principle in WW2, as seen in countries like Poland. Colonel Bigham would have assumed military command over the same area, the two leaders working in tandem. No doubt to great effect. In a nuclear emergency, a handful of brilliant Sixth Form scholars and top CCF NCOs were to be singled out to enter the bunker. The most academic were to be drawn from sensible subjects of future value such as Chemistry, Biology, Physics and Engineering. No doubt, mathematicians would have been required, too. The aim being that these groups would provide the starting point of a new post- holocaust generation. Girls' schools were selected for obvious reasons so had to be of good breeding stock and preferably scientists. In a brave new, post-nuclear world there would be no call for irrelevant historians, artists, musicians or classicists. Dr Simpson's views on this are not known but can be imagined as he held strong ties with the Classics. We should not make the error of assuming Dr Simpson and Colonel Bigham to be blimpish Dad's Army figures. Potentially, they forged a formidable team of unremitting excellence. No evidence supports the rumour that the Tory government of the time deliberately targetted HCS, and not Harrow School, because of Dr Simpson's offer to part fund the building of the nuclear bunker with pavilion fund monies.
Name: David Jackson
Email: david at jack-son dot co dot uk
Years_at_school: 1958 - 1964
Date: 22 Apr 2016
Time: 11:43:19
Sorry, Tig, absolutely no idea. Have you tried asking The Probation Service?
Name: Peter (Tig) Lawrence
Email: Lawrence745atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1959 - 1964
Date: 22 Apr 2016
Time: 06:34:07
I lost touch with a group of ex Harrow County guys around 2004. Among them were Mick Boggis, Dave(Slush) Jackson, Dave Scott, John Jones, Dave Roberts. If anyone knows how to contact them please let me know. Tig
Name: Pete Fowler
Email: pfowler at ntlworld.com
Years_at_school: 1956-62
Date: 22 Apr 2016
Time: 06:04:30
Chris, I thought Henry's point was a subtle but gentle dig at the contribution from Tom Stanning. Stanning was more or less a contemporary of yours at the school; but whereas the photographs section neatly demonstrates your own progress through the school years, Stanning appears invisible. Quite remarkably, he managed to avoid each and every one of his class photographs.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondATyahoo.com
Years_at_school: 1959 - 1966
Date: 21 Apr 2016
Time: 08:50:46
Hear hear! (or should that be 'here here1' - or even 'there there!'?), Henry and all of your persuasion! Harrow County School for Boys was always a sensible place for extremelysensible people to pursue sensible interests and thereafter lives of the most magnificent sensibleness. Anyone or anything deviating from such standards should never have been there or here in the first place! My feeling is that HCS old boys should raise money to pay a private investigator to thoroughly and conclusively investigate the Mystery of the Missing Pavilion Fund, before it's too late. Anyone opposing such a proposal would, of course, be among the first to be interviewed....
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash 70 pan at yahoo dot com
Years_at_school: 1962-69
Date: 19 Apr 2016
Time: 11:03:01
You know, all this nonsense about the pavilion fund is just so boring since it comes round with such regularity. As it happens, if you would really like to help the school, why not donate some books? The school now has a sixth form but the stock in the library is not really suitable. If you have stuff in your collection which you no longer need, why not donate? To spell it out, what the school needs are good clean reading copies of suitable stuff. What do I mean by suitable stuff? Well, work that out for yourself. Please do donate and leave copies for me at the school reception. Alternatively, if you live in the Greater London area, I would be happy to collect. BUT, I really do not need these pathetic jokers to be involved in wasting my time.
Name: Tom Stanning
Email: tandg.stan78atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1963 - 1970
Date: 18 Apr 2016
Time: 09:07:35
What a great website. Thank you to the people who responded. I have also heard from two old boys who joined the school only a few years before me. One has asked to remain anonymous and passed on recently declassified information from the early sixties. He claims HCS pavilion money was diverted towards the construction of an underground bunker beneath the old pavilion. This happened subsequent to the Cold War Cuba crisis with the Soviets Union. He mentions an old cricket pavilion in the top corner of the school playing field. Presumably, it is long since gone? I shall contact the school once more and ask if they have any information. One wonders what would be the purpose of such a bunker and who planned to use it during a national emergency.
Name: Peter Vincent
Email:
Years_at_school: 1966-1972
Date: 16 Apr 2016
Time: 09:41:29
Incidentally there is a page about it here www.jeffreymaynard.comSLASHHarrow_CountySLASHbricks.htm which effectively says the appeal is over.
Name: Peter Vincent
Email:
Years_at_school: 1966-1972
Date: 16 Apr 2016
Time: 09:39:11
There is indeed a wall of bricks inside the sports hall but this fund raising scheme was run around 2001 when the sports hall was new, and we had a few reunions for the centenary. If you happen to visit, look out for the brick which just says "Harry". There might still be spaces to sponsor a brick if you wanted to, but if you do I would phone the school directly and check the details with them.
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: christopherdotatkinson43atntlworlddotcom
Years_at_school:
Date: 16 Apr 2016
Time: 04:07:56
I haven't been able to find any mention of a 'wall 0f bricks', or of any reference to new sports facilities on the HHS website (and it doesn't appear to have a search engine which doesn't make it any easier). None of the comments from the learners make any mention, so it looks very much as if, yes, this is a likely scam...smile, back away ... smile, back away.
Name: Tom Stanning
Email: tandg.stan78atbtinternet
Years_at_school: 1963 - 1970
Date: 15 Apr 2016
Time: 16:21:51
To Chris R, whomever you may be. I tried the school but received no response. My concern was for other former HCS pupils who may have been approached on a scam. Can someone else be more helpful?
Name: Chris R
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 15 Apr 2016
Time: 08:51:24
Would it not make sense simply to email the school and ask what fund raising by school or parents' association (if there is such a thing) is going on?
Name: Tom Stanning
Email: tandg.stan78atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1963 - 1970
Date: 14 Apr 2016
Time: 16:27:50
I have been approached on email, allegedly by an old boy of the school, who asks if I would care to make a contribution to the 'wall of bricks' that has helped to sponsor the current school's sports hall. I had thought this building was complete. Could this be a scam? Has anyone else been approached? Shades of the old pavilion fund, possibly. I have occasionally wondered what happened to the collected money, all those years ago. I have no idea if it was invested or spent. Can someone more in than know than I kindly advise on both matters ie the current sports hall sponsorship and the historic pavilion fund?
Name: Laurence Lando
Email: laurencelando.com
Years_at_school: 1957-
Date: 05 Apr 2016
Time: 10:21:05
I have to report a very pleasant lunch at the Royal Society of Medicine; my two guests were Mr Peter Rappaport and Mr Brian Bilgorri. Both were pupils at HCGS for Boys from the age of 13 and 11 respectfully. These two men, along with Mr Tony Arkey, are the people I have known longest. The few are getter fewer!
Name: Dave Buckley
Email:
Years_at_school: 1953-61
Date: 04 Apr 2016
Time: 07:10:21
Sadly, my brother, Richard Buckley (HCS 1958 - 1967), died last Friday (1st April) after a year battling cancer. His funeral will be on this coming Thursday (7th) at 2.30pm in the small chapel, Golders Green Crematorium.
Name: Peter Fowler
Email: at ntlworld
Years_at_school: 1956 62
Date: 04 Apr 2016
Time: 06:50:32
Dave, that's such sad news about your brother. I never knew him, of course, but his contributions were always a pleasure to read here. He must have signed off here with that polemic about Simpson when he said something like 'OK, I'm going to say it...I couldn't stand him...' I think he also wrote a nice piece about cross country at what became Northwick Park hospital, though, possibly that was you. Whatever: we'll all miss him in this virtual world even though that hardly compares with the stark reality of his loss to you and the family. Very best wishes and condolences.
Name: Dave Buckley
Email:
Years_at_school: 1953-61
Date: 04 Apr 2016
Time: 04:35:17
I am sad to report that my brother, Richard Buckley, who was at HCS around 1958-1967-8, died last Friday (1st April) after battling cancer. His funeral is this Thursday (7th) at 2.30pm in the small chapel at Golders Green Crematorium.
Name: Tom Pickford
Email: whitevanman34atgmail.co.uk
Years_at_school: 1960 - 1967
Date: 26 Mar 2016
Time: 10:52:47
Henry. Please call 01376 518483. Only too glad to help. Where in UK are you?
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash 70 pan at yahoo dot com
Years_at_school: 1962-9
Date: 18 Mar 2016
Time: 11:33:20
Is there anyone out there with a van or large estate car who can give me a hand with a plan chest which we have acquired for use in the archives at school. It will need to be picked up from the North Harrow area. Please e mail me or call on 07956 024056
Name: Chris R
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 17 Mar 2016
Time: 06:19:43
Now I rememeber it was 1954 PARA The crash was 19 June Swissair Convair CV240 HBIRW ditched in the English Channel near Folkestone due to fuel exhaustion, killing 3 passengers out of 9 passengers and crew. The aircraft was operating an international scheduled passenger flight from Geneva International Airport to London. All occupants escaped the aircraft but there was no lifesaving equipment on board so non-swimmers drowned. PARA I think the other tragedy in some way involved family of Campbell the one armed History master.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 1940 - 1947
Date: 17 Mar 2016
Time: 05:28:04
I do not know about the Andrea Dorea affair by R. S. (Killer) King's wife and one son were lost when the Dakota they were flying home on from France landed on the sea close to a beach at Dover. Another son swam ashore. King himself had flown home earlier as I recall. The plane had not been re-fuelled so simply ran out. This must have been about 1950 but I cannot be sure. King himself was am 'old boy' and an admiral person as well as a good teacher.
Name: Chris R
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 16 Mar 2016
Time: 21:08:42
There were some other tragedies involving masters. My memory isn't too clear but in one case two family members died when a plane went down in the channel and in another case family member(s) were casualties on the Andre Doria
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 1940 - 1947
Date: 16 Mar 2016
Time: 06:30:21
Thanks Chris for the two interesting contributions. Loss of his daughter greatly affected Brister at the time. There was a related tragedy of some sort that was never disclosed as he kept his home and school lives very much separate. Brister was one of my favorites. I always admired him. Payment by the Education Committee for a master and two boys to visit Austria seems incredibly generous. In 1947 I was with the first organized trip to the continent after the war. It was a joint effort with Harrow Weald. We had a week in Switzerland and were away from home for ten days. Cost was seventeen pounds! We stayed in Brunnen on Lake Lucerne at the same hotel the school used during its visit in 1939 which is commemorated by a photograph on this page. We had no photograph taken of our visit.
Name: Chris R
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 15 Mar 2016
Time: 06:41:32
A sad entry from 1949 minutes of MCC Education Cttee recommends that Mr Brister be granted two extra sick days due to the death of his daughter.
Name: Chris R
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 15 Mar 2016
Time: 06:28:22
Trip to Austria. This from MCC Education Ctte minutes June 1950. I wonder who were the lucky parties. One master and two pupils seems a bit odd. PARA Harrow County Secondary School for Boys : Journey to Continent, 1950 :Resolved : That approval be given to an expenditure amounting to 63 17s. lOd. to be incurred in respect of a visit by one member of staff and two pupils from the Harrow County Secondary School for Boys to Austria, under County Council regulations covering school journeys to the Continent
Name: Michael Schwartz
Email: michaelwritesforyouatyahoo.ca
Years_at_school: 1965 - 1972
Date: 08 Mar 2016
Time: 11:57:01
I was very sad to learn that Mr Wilkey had passed away. While I chose the Classical Greek option rather than the Spanish option in the same set of choices, I do indeed remember a gentleman who was always very sympathetic to language students. My condolences to those who remember him and his family and friends. Michael.
Name: Mike Beggs
Email: mikebeggs at waitrose.com
Years_at_school: 1951 - 1959
Date: 08 Mar 2016
Time: 02:37:52
Fascinated to stumble across this website. Memories flood back. So sad to read of the generations fading away. Very interesting to find that many of those who attended HCS at the same period as I did came away with less than enthusiastic impressions of some of the staff! Reading for weeks to come.
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash 70 pan at yahoo dot com
Years_at_school: 1962-69
Date: 07 Mar 2016
Time: 14:00:18
Anthony Wilkey tells me that his father s funeral will be at Breakspear Crematorium next Tuesday 15th March at 12.45pm. He has asked me to pass this on to you all.
Name: Tom Backer
Email: tab at cwgsy dot net
Years_at_school: 1956-1963
Date: 07 Mar 2016
Time: 08:36:56
How sad to hear about Don Wilkey. He was not only our French teacher but also our form master for years 1 to 4 (1A, 2A, 3A, 4A). I seem to remember that everyone in the class was given a French name - mine was Monsieur le dos. I think, Paul, that yours was Monsieur le marais. For those readers not familiar with French le dos is the back, and le marais is the marsh - for Romney Marsh. Tom.
Name: Paul Romney
Email: paulromney03a taim.com
Years_at_school:
Date: 05 Mar 2016
Time: 01:42:15
Sorry to hear about Don Wilkie. My first French teacher (1A, 1956), and not the worst. A gentle man, as I recall, but I don't recall him having any difficulty with keeping order in the class.
Name: Jeff Maynard
Email: jeffrey at jeffreymaynard dot com
Years_at_school: 1962-69
Date: 03 Mar 2016
Time: 21:10:37
Dear Jeffrey, Would you be able to post on the Harrow County website the news that my father Don Wilkey has died peacefully today at the age of 89, after a short illness. He taught French and Spanish at the school from 1956 to1975, ran the sixth form society and assisted in the running of the RAF section of the CCF for many years. He enjoyed a long retirement, continuing to attend Old Gaytonian dinners until very recently. He leaves his wife Doreen, my sister and myself, both ex Harrow County, and five grand children. We will miss him very much. Thankyou. Best wishes Anthony Wilkey
Name: John Bertram
Email: trams87atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1959 - 1966
Date: 03 Mar 2016
Time: 16:47:47
Sock Puppets XI. Brilliant idea. To play an AR Simpson International Invitation XI. AR Simpson (capt) Alexander the Great, Gengis Khan, Barbarossa, A. Hitler, Idi Amin, Saddam Hussein, Pol Pot, Jacques Robespierre, J. Stalin, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. Twelfth Man: George Thorn. Umpire: Emperor Caligula. Tea lady: Mrs M. Thatcher
Name: Pete Fowler
Email: ntlworld
Years_at_school: 56 62
Date: 03 Mar 2016
Time: 08:23:55
I think its worth proposing that we form a Sock Puppets Eleven to play an ethereal game of cricket on the hallowed pitch of HCS, a Field of Dreams replay. The eleven would include Chris Slogger, George Spliggins, Bob Potter, Lotte and Hans Hotter, Zach Rose, PJR Philips, Ross Simpson, Tony Makepeace and Bob Klein. Bernies Ghost will umpire and the teams captain is too obvious to mention. I hope that naughty fifth former with woodpecker shoes is still not lurking in Harrow and does not intend, this time round, to dig up the pitch the night before the match.
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: christopherdotatkinson43atntlworlddotcom
Years_at_school: 19 - 19
Date: 02 Mar 2016
Time: 09:57:52
This rather sounds as if the Pioneer Troop had become part of the Hundred Acre Wood. I was away for a lot of this time so missed out on all this Pooh-ish activity. Who was running the Pioneers at that time?
Name: Ben Klein
Email: benkleinatgmaildot com
Years_at_school: 1964 - 1969
Date: 01 Mar 2016
Time: 11:57:47
I was in Piglet Troop a few years after the recent correspondents whose names were legends by then. We were told of previous rumours of threatened expulsions subsequent to a mid-night raid on a nearby Girl Guides camp at Ross-on-Wye. But understand all was hushed up when one of the deputy scout leaders was caught on camera cross-dressing. His female counterpart was seen parading around the field in boy scout uniform and beret swigging a bottle of gin and singing Roll Me Over in the Clover. This could not happen today. Imagine all the Health and Safety Regs and Police vetting of prospective volunteers in youth movements. Can anyone name the other camp fire songs? I recall puzzlement over a camp fire joke about the Oomegoolly bird with dangling testes. It squawked that word when it flew low over corrugated roofs. I did not get the coarse joke at the time but guess we were all pretty innocent around the blazing fire.
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: christopherdotatkinson43atntlworlddotcom
Years_at_school: 19 - 19
Date: 01 Mar 2016
Time: 07:51:10
Ah, the left-handed tent pole straightener. I believe the Pioneers had almost the entire UK stock at one point. In the Merrymen, we had older Patrol tents made by Blacks of Greenock which were of course fitted with Scottish right-handed poles. In the corner den we did however find a box of Long Felt Wants which, if memory serves me correctly, were obtained by new campers from the Warden at Chalfont Heights.
Name: Tony Makepeace
Email: peacemakeratgmail.com
Years_at_school: 1956 - 1961
Date: 01 Mar 2016
Time: 06:35:50
Trams, old chap. So you are still with us. Of course I remember you. Were you in Piglet Patrol? I was in Eeyore. Our first camp was on the Isle of Wight when I was sent by my patrol leader to obtain a left-handed tent pole straightener. Who was it that set their tent on fire? Was it Owls or Rabbits? At that camp, two scouts were sent home in disgrace. One may have been Stinker King who was always playing with matches. The other one for playing Chicken with scout knives. His blade went right through the foot of a lad wearing sandals.The victim was taken to hospital by ambulance. Get in touch. We settled outside Christchurch NZ where I was Dep.CMO until 2005 so if you are ever passing please drop in.
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colin.dickinsetc
Years_at_school: 1947 1953
Date: 01 Mar 2016
Time: 02:07:57
Congratulations on getting an apostrophe into your entry, BriaN!
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 1940 -7
Date: 29 Feb 2016
Time: 04:59:13
Thanks for the credit Colin. I'm unsure about the degree to which I prompted the flow of contributions but was pleased to see them.
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colindotdickinsatblueyonderdotcodotuk
Years_at_school: 1947 - 1953
Date: 28 Feb 2016
Time: 06:58:26
Hit No. 0438084. This must be the quickest hundred hits on the website since it began. All because Brian Hester made an entry about how few hits there had been lately. There have been a lot of rubbish entries, but clearly a lot of interest. (May even be 200 hits. Cant trace that back.)
Name: John Bertram
Email: trams87atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1959 - 1966
Date: 25 Feb 2016
Time: 05:22:47
Tony Makepeace, were we in The Pioneers together? I have enjoyed reading about the works written by HCGS staff. You appear not to have included AB Schofield's standard pig-breeding text: Runt of the Litter(out of print.)Nor Clarkson's Japes on Top Gear: The Harrow County Years. Also his forthcoming blockbuster Punching above my Weight. I have just finished the deservedly award-winning chicklit, Spirogyra: The Other Woman in my Life by William M. Bigham. Highly erotic if you like that sort of thing. Now reading Life of Luxury: School Pavilion Fund Mystery Revealed (Anon.) Have you any idea as to whom the author might be?
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 1940 - 1947
Date: 24 Feb 2016
Time: 18:35:53
On rare occasions, GT was persuaded to tell stories of his life as a soldier in WW1 when he was posted to the Middle East, mostly in what is now Iraq. He met with a soldiers of the Indian army. I have forgotten what he actually did - if he ever told us.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1958 - 1963
Date: 24 Feb 2016
Time: 11:47:37
Poor old George Thorn can't win, so it seems. I was an inadequate flautist in his rather bad orchestra and never witnessed his alleged cuddling antics, although they were rumoured. Rumours...rumours. With regard to Simpson and Thorn's war service, I am fairly sure there is some reference to Thorn fighting in the trenches in WWI. Can anyone help? As for ARS, I do not know the wartime regulations around reserve occupations although it would seem that many schoolmasters lost their lives. Presumably, they chose to volunteer. That suggests Simpson, a Head in Scotland at the time, chose not to do so. Of course,if he had fought and been killed the history of HCS would have taken a different turn. HCS with no post war Simpson influence. It wouldn't have been the same. Dream on!
Name: Chris R
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 24 Feb 2016
Time: 08:13:26
I assume schoolteaching was a reserved occupation in WWll which explains neither ARS or Thorne serving. I think many in reserved occupations also volunteered for Home Guard, ARP etc but no mention of either of them doing so.
Name: Tony Makepeace
Email: peacemakeratgmail.com
Years_at_school: 1956 - 1961
Date: 23 Feb 2016
Time: 15:43:03
We continue to receive information on written works of our respected school masters in whose gentle care we were entrusted. Sadly, George Thorn's carefully researched and scholarly conceived manuscripts were not published in his lifetime. Perhaps not at all. We gather editorial opinion at the time confined them to the reject pile. Thus, we can only guess at the content of his keyboard instruction manual: Dab Hand at the Organ. Thorn later wrote a comedy drama script for cinema that was banned by the Chief Film Censor, at the Lord Chamberlain's Office. No doubt in today's climate Bottoms Up! would find a more understanding and receptive audience. Please continue to send in titles. We owe this to the dignity of our former mentors.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 1940 -7
Date: 23 Feb 2016
Time: 10:33:53
'Strange' certainly describes George Thorn. In the darkest days of the war, when petrol shortages drove virtually all private cars off the road and petrol ration coupons were nearly impossible to get, Thorn arrived each day in his own car. Rumour had it that he had a 'condition' of some undisclosed kind. Even on cold, wet days I never saw him taking any of his fellows even as far as the station, yet some lived, as he did, at Watford. He never appeared as 'one of the boys' with other staff and seemed always to hold himself apart. As far as I recall, he never participated in any extra-curricular activities. During my first four years at school, when he taught me general science I never felt any emotional attachment to him as I did to other masters. He had the reputation of not managing experiments too well. Things sometimes went wrong much to everyone's amusement!
Name: Chris R
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 23 Feb 2016
Time: 08:21:47
De mortuis nil nisi bonum and all that but Chris Atkinson's recollection does raise a point. George Thorn was strange. In fairness I do not think his behaviour ever crossed the line of pedophillia but his continued cuddling of boys and bum patting (both of which could be observed pretty well daily) would certainly have got him barred from teaching tghese days. Certainly was not normal behaviour and realistically had to show some form of suppressed unhealthy feelings to boys.
Name: Peter Vincent
Email:
Years_at_school: 1966-1972
Date: 22 Feb 2016
Time: 08:59:34
Ubi Lane's Cricket Diversions - I only did Latin in the first year but once we got used to him, a good dodge was always to get Ubi talking about cricket! Did he play county cricket in his younger years? Didn't Harry also publish a book about runaway Great Western trains driven by his brother, if my dim and distant memory serve me correctly?
Name: Michael Schwartz
Email: michaelwritesforyouatyahoo.ca
Years_at_school: 1965 - 1972
Date: 22 Feb 2016
Time: 07:58:21
Uby Lane's Cricket Diversions? Do put me down for a copy, provided it is published with a DVD of Great Western Railway scenes. I was thinking of Bernard Marchant's Advanced Cockney Rhyming Slang and Kenny Waller's The Crucial Role Of Humility. Michael.
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: christopherdotatkinson43atntlworlddotcom
Years_at_school: 19 - 19
Date: 21 Feb 2016
Time: 03:51:09
I think I must have been a very innocent young lad when I first went to HCS (it was only 1948 after all). The first time I heard the chorus of 'Backs to the Wall Boys, Here comes George', I had no idea what was meant or implied. Not wishing to stand out as a newbie, I used to join in that chorus - sad eh?
Name: Tony Makepeace
Email: peacemakeratgmail.com
Years_at_school: 1956 - 1961
Date: 20 Feb 2016
Time: 16:30:05
Thank you, gentlemen, for suggesting extra additions to the swelling list of learned tomes associated with our exceptional mentors. The work we have involved ourselves with appears never ending. A treasure trove, no less.Does anyone possess a copy of George Thorne's Organ Exercises for Starters? Or his challenging military classic Backs to the Wall. Are these the only books Thorne brought out for organ enthusiasts?
Name: Peter Vincent
Email:
Years_at_school: 1966-1972
Date: 20 Feb 2016
Time: 15:24:34
I forgot Lt Col W H Bigham's "Human Photocopying" (three brothers all with exactly the same notes).
Name: Peter Vincent
Email:
Years_at_school: 1966-1972
Date: 20 Feb 2016
Time: 14:50:08
Not to mention P. S. Gupta's "Ear Stretching Exercises for Beginners", Viv Edwards' "Upcycling Old Plimsoles to use as a Teaching Aid", Ubi Lane's "Cricketing Diversions", and Harry Mees' "Indoor Cycling"!
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 1940 - 1947
Date: 20 Feb 2016
Time: 09:36:06
Let's not forget 'Stalking dy by dx up to the point of its ultimate disappearance' by Bill Duke.
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: christopherdotatkinson43atntlworlddotcom
Years_at_school: 19- 19
Date: 20 Feb 2016
Time: 06:01:51
Thank you Tony,a book not be missed. ROFLMAO.
Name: Tony Makepeace
Email: peacemakeratgmail.com
Years_at_school: 1956 - 1961
Date: 19 Feb 2016
Time: 14:09:51
Thank you to the kind correspondents who have offered invaluable information on works published by our former mentors. The editorial group is grateful for your contributions although the work has now been doubled. A second volume will therefore have to be prepared. However, the opening volume is nearly complete and will be available on Amazon and on the Waterstones hub later in the year. As a taster we can enlighten those who have enquired. The format of this site does not permit italics, bold etc. Thus it is only possible to present a list. Lt Col WH Bigham: Biology for Beginners and Biology by Dictation (aural book included.) Bernard Marchant: Batting for Boys (illustrated.) Norman Thyrwhitt: Constructing an Aldis from Milk Bottle Tops. Alec Amos: Twenty Things to do with a PE Rope. Major Maurice Venn: Intriguing History of Army Cadet Camps 1955-1980. M.Clarkson: British Survey of Beached Naval Whalers. James Golland: Pinner, Centre of the Universe. Dr AR Simpson: (Triple volume separate and bound in leather) Corporal Punishment in Ancient Greece, Caning Maketh Man and Squaring up to Change. Harry Mees: Connecting the Poles. Major Hugh Skillen: Forever an Enigma. Captain Eagars: Noises down the Corridor, in association with the Egg Marketing Board. AB Schofield: Bring Home the Bacon. A ten per cent discount and digital bookmark will be offered to customers purchasing the complete collection.
Name: Ronald Palmer
Email: norlap at verizon.net
Years_at_school: 1936 - 1940
Date: 19 Feb 2016
Time: 13:57:43
There cannot be many left from my years at Harrow County, I am 91 now and have lived for many years in California, came here in 1952. With the education that I got at HC I have done quite well here as a Senior Mechanical Design Engineer in US Aerospace despite the lack of a Degree. Working for companies like Northrop and North American. I'd like to remember Mr. Evans the Physics teacher who got me interested and Mr. Jones the Math teacher, both kind caring men who gave me a wonderful PUSH forward. My final year was the first of the war, up the hill at Harrow School class rooms but I was lucky enough to be in the School party that spent two wonderful weeks in Switzerland, August 1939, just three weeks before the start of the war. Like so many, my friend Peter Dooley and I volunteered for the RAFVR, he a month older somehow was called up almost at once whilst I languished a year before being called up. In that time he trained, part in Canada, flew 3 ops. in bombers as a Flight Engineer and died in action. I got to two weeks from starting Flying Training, then all new pilot training was stopped because of lower combat losses than expected. Ultimately I was released to industry working as a draftsman for the De Havilland Co. on their new Jet Engine, the Goblin to power the Vampire fighter. A wonderful start to my career! California, a forward looking liberal State has been good to my wife and I but we have returned to England twice for a total of eight years and had many vacations in England and Europe so have maintained close contact with our homeland. Our son teaches Physics in East Anglia and our daughter settled in BC, Canada.
Name: Chris R
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 18 Feb 2016
Time: 12:28:27
Interesting that as early as 1950 part of the Middlesex County Council policy on corporal punishment was described thus - The code also prescribes the prohibition of any form of correction which would be likely to affect adversely the mental or physical development of the child, such as boxing the ears, striking on the head, or rapping the knuckles.
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash 70 pan at yahoo dot com
Years_at_school: 1962-69
Date: 16 Feb 2016
Time: 09:58:01
Thanks for that Peter. ............... I noticed on Question Time the other night that Nigel Farage made mention of Gus Dalgleish ( Old Gayt 1961-8?)
Name: Pete Fowler
Email: ntlworld
Years_at_school: 1956 1962
Date: 10 Feb 2016
Time: 12:57:10
Henry, the book you want is available on Amazon, The illustrated History of Harrow School by Patrick Lichfield. Richard Shymansky is credited as the co author, with JSG added at the end of the writing credits. You can even buy it new for a trifling thousand pounds.
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash 70 pan at yahoo dot com
Years_at_school: 1962-69
Date: 10 Feb 2016
Time: 10:47:55
I believe that Jim Golland wrote a History of Harrow School, with photography by Patrick Lichfield. I did make enquiries at the school shop a few years ago but to no avail.
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colindotdickinsatblueyonderdotcodotuk
Years_at_school: 1947 - 1953
Date: 10 Feb 2016
Time: 04:46:43
Yes, Michael, Jim Golland was very active in Pinner Local History Society and for a good many years editor of their Newsletter. He also wrote articles for the Newsletter and did indeed publish a number of books and pamphlets. The earliest work by him that I can trace is 1984. Still available from PLHS at 1.00 pound each are Fair Enough?, a delightful paperback about Pinner Fair over the past 200 years, of which I treasure the signed copy he sent me, and Pinner Paradise, also 1.00 pound. When he died PLHS published a memorial booklet called Jim Golland Remembered, also available for 1.00 pound. Copies can be obtained by telephone 020 8866 2729 or from the Bookshop at West House, Pinner, open Wednesday and Saturday afternoons. (I appreciate that living in Canada you may not find this very helpful, but others might, and if you still have family living in the area they may perhaps be prevailed upon to help you.) He also wrote a number of articles for me in my time editing The Old Gaytonian magazine if you have kept copies of it.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: as ever
Years_at_school: 1940-7
Date: 09 Feb 2016
Time: 19:40:52
We should not forget G. R. Davis who taught Latin and history and wrote "From Charlemagne to Hitler' which was well received at the time.
Name: Michael Schwartz
Email: michaelwritesforyouatyahoo.ca
Years_at_school: 1965 - 1972
Date: 09 Feb 2016
Time: 16:42:33
Regarding masters writing books, did not Jim Golland write some books and pamphlets on local history? I have not found any evidence of books by the Classics staff, which I find surprising. Perhaps Bernard was too busy watching the Wembley Lions, as per the absorbing correspondence on this site in recent weeks. Michael.
Name: Tony Makepeace
Email: peacemakeratgmail.com
Years_at_school: 1956 - 1961
Date: 09 Feb 2016
Time: 14:54:16
Peter Vincent. Thank you. I shall pass this information onto the group. Major Skillen's works may be the final piece in the jigsaw. Does any other correspondent have news of publications associated with our former masters?
Name: Peter Vincent
Email:
Years_at_school: 1966-1972
Date: 09 Feb 2016
Time: 12:50:51
Tony - as far as Mr Skillen is concerned, you need only search for "hugh skillen" on Amazon and you will find several used books come up. If you repeat the search on EBay you will find the same books again. His French with a Scots accent had us baffled all those years ago how he could have survived behind enemy lines, but turned out his language skills in German were being put to better use in the Y service mainly.
Name: Tony Makepeace
Email: peacemakeratgmail.com
Years_at_school: 1955 - 1961
Date: 09 Feb 2016
Time: 05:01:23
I agree with Martin Goodall's view that the men who taught us were often outstanding and a cut above the rest. An elite group of ex-HCS scholars has got together to are compiling a volume for possible publication: Great Educators at Harrow County Grammar School 1940-1970. This work will incorporate all known, or unearthed, published public works of HCS mentors in that golden age. We understand Major Hugh Skillen may have self-published information on his wartime experiences in the Secret Service. Does anyone have knowledge of this? Please enlighten and we are sure all your correspondents of that glorious vintage will be interested.
Name: Pete Fowler
Email: at ntlworld
Years_at_school: 1956 62
Date: 08 Feb 2016
Time: 09:38:04
Brister and Duke were well rspected mathematicians and wrote text books together. I've just seen that one of their books, 'Progressive Geometry', published in 1938, can still be found to buy through a bit of inventive googling. Perhaps even more impressive is that the forward to this book is written by Sir Thomas Percy Nunn, the distinguished Professor of Education at the Institute of Education from 1913 to 1936. The more you dig a little more deeply, the more you realise the sheer quality of some of those who taught us.
Name: Ben Klein
Email: benkleinatgmaidotcom
Years_at_school: 1964 - 1969
Date: 08 Feb 2016
Time: 03:44:57
A group of us were stopped in the street near the school by Dr Simpson as we were not wearing our school caps. He sounded his horn from across the street and waved angrily from his open car. We ran off after throwing down our cigarettes but he did not give chase. I don't think he recognised us from a distance but it did not prevent him sounding off at assembly the next day. I always regretted Simpson did not initiate a car chase through the streets of Harrow. How many years did he blight the school?
Name: Brian Hester
Email: as wcwe
Years_at_school: 1940-7
Date: 07 Feb 2016
Time: 14:44:03
Brister's recollections upon retiring are reproduced on this page. He is credited as being at school for the 34 years from 1920 to 1954.I believe he finished up as Senior Master. He and Billie Duke were great friends and ran the Air Training Corp together during the war years. Both were good teachers of maths. I have good memories of both. Several years ago one of Brister's son and I corresponded. It seemed this particular son was writing up a family history but none of the family knew anything of his professional life. Brister apparently kept his home and school lives completely separate. Skillern was behind the pack in the longevity race with only 29 years.
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: christopherdotatkinson43atntlworlddotcom
Years_at_school: 19 - 19
Date: 07 Feb 2016
Time: 11:05:10
I have a vague recollection of a Mr Brister, greeting us when we first arrived. Very impressive, most of us had never seen teachers in gowns before. His first words ... something about us being the 'creme de la creme', and that it was his job to teach us and our job to learn - so "let's get on with it". Two other 'nicknames' come to mind - 'Easy' Evans and 'Sammy' Watson.
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: christopherdotatkinson43atntlworlddotcom
Years_at_school: 19 - 19
Date: 07 Feb 2016
Time: 11:03:58
I have a vague recollection of a Mr Brister(??), greeting us when we first arrived. Very impressive, most of us had never seen teachers in gowns before. His first words ... something about us being the 'creme de la creme', and that it was his job to teach us and our job to learn - so "let's get on with it". Two other 'nicknames' come to mind - 'Easy' Evans and 'Sammy' Watson.
Name: Peter Vincent
Email:
Years_at_school: 1966-1972
Date: 06 Feb 2016
Time: 15:07:35
What about Harry? Harry Mees taught at Harrow County and then at Gayton High from 1947 to 1982, also 35 years?
Name: Brian Hester
Email: as ever
Years_at_school: 1940-7
Date: 06 Feb 2016
Time: 12:45:32
Thank you for the information Pete. If nothing else Thorne was a survivor. He had a strong relationship with Randall Williams but seemed to have few friends among the other masters. Simpson really cleared out the staff room shortly after his arrival. Most of the 'pro Williams' faction soon departed. The school last some excellent teachers but Simpson seems to have no trouble replacing them.
Name: Pete Fowler
Email: at ntl world
Years_at_school: 1956 63
Date: 06 Feb 2016
Time: 09:39:39
Whiffy King is the winner, Thorn second, Neal third and a gaggle of Crinsons, Attridges and Amos's in their slipstream.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 1940-7
Date: 06 Feb 2016
Time: 06:16:19
Contenders for the position of longest serving master must include George Neal who started as Art Master when the school opened in 1911 and was still there in 1947. I believe he retired shortly thereafter. The second is W.H. King ("Whiffy") who started teaching French at the school one term after Neal, and spent the rest of his working life at the school. Both would have completed at least 35 years. Both Neal and King were slightly built men. King was always very vigorous and had an amazing style of teaching which included throwing poorly executed exercise books out of the window.
Name: John Bertram
Email: trams78atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1959-1966
Date: 06 Feb 2016
Time: 05:02:17
Good fun to hear from correspondents at HCS decades ago. Wish you all well. It has made me think more about the nickname thing. Except for the obviously insulting such as 'Runt' most were dubbed almost as an honour, even affection . A nondescript master would not receive a nickname. Colin Dickin's explanation of the 'Square' origin was accepted in my day. As Brian Hester pointed out, the name was inadvertently appropriate. No-one was squarer than Square in outlook. We always felt he should have been dubbed Hole to go with ARS but it did not catch on. The non-prurient thought it too vulgar. Certain masters had more than one nickname. The respected science teacher Norman Thyrwhitt was 'Nick' and 'Toots'. I never understood the latter. There might have been a pop star named Toots. Maybe a bunny girl or a jazz musician? I have learned Mr Thyrwhitt spent many years serving the school well. Loyalty was a respected quality in those days. Might this make him the longest serving master? If not, who would it be?
Name: Dave Buckley
Email:
Years_at_school: 1953-61
Date: 06 Feb 2016
Time: 04:35:39
For information, there's an interesting interview with Michael Portillo about his current series of programmes about American railways, in the Travel section of todays Daily Telegraph.
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colindotdickinsatblueyonderdotcodotuk
Years_at_school: 1947 - 1953
Date: 05 Feb 2016
Time: 10:44:41
Yes. Moggy Morgan. In a brief tenure he took over the unlikely dual portfolio of Maths and Latin from the retired Jumbo Jones. He taught me both, often with some violence for which I forgave him because he was a dedicated teacher who cared only that you should learn. As far as Latin was concerned I certainly did learn, achieving unexpected heights at O Level (which I might draw to the attention of John Bertram). Regarding Square, it was my old classmate and still good friend Len Taylor who coined the nickname. It stuck because, as he said, the man had a square mouth in a square face in a square head. I dont know that the conservative connotation was even current at the time. He had a particularly insightful gift for such names, mostly for fellow pupils in our year (nuff said). BTW, I think Peter Vincent has got it right about Ubi Lane. My generation, which named him Huby, grew up steeped in the Just William books. I think they had fallen from favour before later generations arrived and, oral traditions being what they are, they assumed the word was not blessed with an aspirate. Incidentally, Huby did also teach me Latin for several years up to A Level.
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: christopherdotatkinson43atntlworlddotcom
Years_at_school: 1948 - 1953
Date: 05 Feb 2016
Time: 08:33:07
ISTR recall we had a geography teacher - Mr Heaton - 'Harry??' who was a crack shot with a board duster if you raised your desk lid whilst he was talking. There was also 'Moggy' Morgan who assisted Harry with the formation of a new 4th Harrow Troop. I can't remember if Paul Oliver collected a nickname - Ollie perhaps? Groombridge was definately 'Tuftie', and 'Spadger's Alley was to be avoided if you were in a tearing hurry.
Name: Geoff May
Email: maypad101 at hotmail.com
Years_at_school: 1957 - 1964
Date: 05 Feb 2016
Time: 07:38:57
Were you in Form 1A in September 1957 or Form 2A in September 1958 under the tutelage of Bernard Marchant? Aware that we are all passing the biblical milestone this academic year, five of us have recently been in contact with a view to meeting up later in 2016. If you are interested in joining us please let me know by the end of February. Many thanks Geoff MAy
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 1940 - 1947
Date: 05 Feb 2016
Time: 06:04:55
In my time the school keeper was Plum Warner but he little in evidence. We would never have thought to refer to Simpson as 'Square' because use of that word to describe someone of fixed conservative opinions was not used in that sense until later. In retrospect it was a good choice.
Name: Peter Vincent
Email:
Years_at_school: 1966-1972
Date: 05 Feb 2016
Time: 04:13:53
Ubi Lane - as far as I remember we thought he was called Ubi because it was the only word of Latin anyone could remember! We also had Boggy Marsh in my time (geography I think). Everyone talked about Harry of course. The unflattering and it turns out unreasonable Fatty Cook the school keeper. Mongy Maddison (maths). Lefty Wright. Tufty Groombridge.
Name: John Bertram
Email: trams78atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1959 - 1966
Date: 04 Feb 2016
Time: 15:01:04
Mr Dickins misses the subtlety of a classical education. Huby Lane became Ubi Lane as befitted a Head of Latin. The horrible Thorn was simply known as 'George' but pronounced with an oily voice in a sneering, lecherous fashion. Runt was the worst nickname of all although Schofield never caught on. Eagars was definitely Eggy. Why Chop Chop Fishlock? (Head of Mod. Lang.) Some said because he talked too much. Does anyone remember Knightly Steed? (Chemistry.)Major Venn became Morris Van.
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colindotdickinsat etc
Years_at_school: 1947 - 1953
Date: 04 Feb 2016
Time: 14:45:08
An addition. Flicking back through the Guestbook I saw Dr Hartland mentioned. Known as Sorbo, of course.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 1940-1947
Date: 04 Feb 2016
Time: 14:36:59
John Bertram's list of masters' nicknames stirs up a few memories. Although he was an old fixture when I arrived at school, Attridge had yet to be 'named'. I suspect 'Spider" Webb was known to me as 'Cob'. "Eggy" Webb, "Slap" Blythman, and "Easy" Evans were all competent teachers in their fields but did not fit the Simpson mould so soon left for greener pastures. I believe "Sorbo'Hartland was another. "Creeper" Davis and "Spadger' Hayes were two masters who would normally have retired but stayed until after the war. I was always surprised that Thorne with all his odd propensities never acquired a nickname. "Twink" Bradley is another never-to-be forgotten character. "Beakie" Fooks, who lived to be 102, was an inspired teacher who controlled his classes while sitting and never raising his voice. Quite a talent!
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colindotdickinsatblueyonderdotcodotuk
Years_at_school: 1947 - 1953
Date: 04 Feb 2016
Time: 14:31:44
Not Ubi but Huby Lane (after Hubert Lane in the Just William stories, but the version you repeat, John, is common in this site). And I think Eagers was Eddie. Before your time there were Whiffey King and Killer King and there were Eggie Webb and Cob Webb (never heard of Spider Webb). Attridge was Bulldog (think of that jaw),and there were Boggy Waters and Staggy(stagnant) Waters and Charlie Skillen There were Bert Morshead, Twink Bradley, Spadger Heys, Beaky Fooks and my Jumbo(Hippo to earlier generations) Jones. I have heard of, but never knew, Creeper Davies. More, I am sure. Perhaps Brian Hester can add to the list.
Name: John Bertram (Trammy)
Email: trams78atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1959 - 1966
Date: 04 Feb 2016
Time: 12:59:04
Our old masters had all kinds of nicknames. Spider Webb, Eggy Eagars, Swanny Amos, Runt Schofield, Grimy Groombridge, Toots Tyrwhitt, Ubi Lane, Shwok Bigham, Deadly Attridge, Spargo Rawnsley, Fatty Cox. The best was Leftie Wright who taught me A and Schol Level Maths. Forever grateful to him. Cannot think of any more. Any followers?
Name: Martin Goodall
Email:
Years_at_school: 1959 - 1966
Date: 04 Feb 2016
Time: 07:25:03
I was simply responding to Chris Esmonds reference to (quote) Mr Nicholas Tyrwhitt. There are numerous examples of masters being given nicknames that were an inaccurate attempt to guess their first names. A few more examples include Joe Avery (Royston, shortened sometimes to Roy), Ben Williams (Brian) and Jim Bodiam (John). No doubt there were a good few others. (The software still wont let me type apostrophes. Perhaps they no longer use them in the USA.)
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash 70 pan at yahoo dot com
Years_at_school: 1962 69
Date: 03 Feb 2016
Time: 12:03:17
Both Mr & Mrs Tyrrhitt are active members of the Old Gaytonian Association. They both attended the Remembrance Day Service in November. Mavis served on the staff of the school as well. Norman (or indeed Nick) served as a councillor in Watford for many years, then became Mayor and was then honoured with the freedom of the borough. A charming couple.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1958 - 1963
Date: 02 Feb 2016
Time: 11:04:41
I would not challenge Martin Goodall on Mr T's name. But I do seem to remember his nickname was, and I am not joking, Nick! Just as Hector Sutherland was always Hamish. My apologies to Chris Esmond. Brain atrophy on my part. I mixed him up with another cricketer. Did Chris once score 80 or so not out as an U14 game? Fairly sure. Will Chris advise? On the tooting controversy, hazy memory permitting, I now recall Bernie Marchant remonstrating with a parked motorist. The man had stopped his vehicle just above the sight screen(Kenton Road passing not very far above the field boundary.) Because we all stayed in our fielding positions none of us we picked up words, although voices were raised. Certainly, Mr Marchant grew angry and gesticulated wildly with his arms. Eventually, the driver reluctantly moved off. Mr Marchant returned to his umpiring duties considerably flustered and blushing - always his trade mark when roused. Was it Dr Simpson he turned away? We shall never know. Or Norman 'Nick' Thrywhitt? Hardly the latter, as the car was a saloon of some kind and not a sports model. Pleased to hear Mr Thyrwhitt is likely still with us. Is anyone in touch with him to put his matter to rest, once and for all? I cannot believe he was the alleged tooter. It's all such a long time ago. Saddened and puzzled by the much-respected Peter Garwood's apparent slur on Liverpool supporters. I am one. Up the Reds!
Name: Martin Goodall
Email:
Years_at_school: 1959 - 1966
Date: 01 Feb 2016
Time: 09:23:21
I would just like to mention that Mr Tyrwhitts name is Norman (not Nick, as we always referred to him 50-odd years ago, and as Chris Esmond called him in a recent post). I occasionally see him when in the Herts or Bucks area, as it turns out we share the same hobby. I have had a chat with him once or twice about HCS, and got an interesting new angle on some of the things that are often discussed in this forum (for example George Cowans contribution as a manager and organiser, even though I was never a Cowan fan). (Apostrophes have been deliberately omitted here, as the system doesnt seem to like correct puctuation.)
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondATyahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 01 Feb 2016
Time: 08:37:30
Like, it seems, Peter Ward, I'm a complete duffer concerning cars so I certainly wouldn't know a Ford Sedan from a Consul convertible, I was relying on Peter's prior identification of the mysterious hooting car of Kenton Road. (Pity his memory for a car is as poor as it is concerning my HCS cricket.Peter, I was a number 3 or 4 bat and a right-arm bowler, even - an albeit reluctant - captain of the junior teams!). Anyway, I certainly don't recall the appearance of the vehicle, unfortunately - but perhaps someone from that HCS cricketing era (or even a casual passer-by) might one day drop in here and set the record straight. I suppose it's even possible there was more than one car, whose horns were tooted by more than one person...Or that one person tooted in more than one car...perhaps even during the same afternoon (not morning, by the way, David). Peter Ward is not noted for being a Simpson fan, although it's possible age has finally induced in him a modicum of maturity in that area of concern, but despite his scepticism I still tend to think the tooter was indeed ARS, simply enjoying the prelude to his imminent retirement. Still, the possibilities are many and are extremely fertile ground for recall and speculation, along with memories of spare parts shops in Wealdstone and the great 'missing n' mystery of Wembley Triangle.
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: christopherdotatkinson43atntlworlddotcom
Years_at_school: 1948 - 1953
Date: 31 Jan 2016
Time: 04:34:56
So, not KilmiNster, but Kilmister. Wow, I lived in Wembley for nineteen years, went shopping regularly at the Triangle, used to perch on top of the elaborate toilet entrances wwhenever Royalty etc came thro' for Cup Finals and so on. From '48 to '53 I used to catch the number 18 bus to and from the Triangle to HCS. And for all that time , for me at any rate, it was KilmiNster where I bought sports gear and model aircraft materials. Now, what does that say about me .. doh!
Name: David Jackson
Email: david at jack-son dot co dot uk
Years_at_school: 1958- 1964
Date: 30 Jan 2016
Time: 09:38:17
I quote from this very site: "Or his love for his green and powerful Alvis car. Or his help with Scouts. Or his massive record collection. Or as master in charge of stationery. Gaytonian 1968" See staff members section.
Name: Peter Garwood
Email: peterdotgarwood777atbtinternetdotcom
Years_at_school: 1953-61
Date: 30 Jan 2016
Time: 02:35:24
I'm probably wrong but thought Mr. Tyrwhitt had something more exotic than an Alvis but struggle to remember what it was. In those days most 'classic' cars were cheaper to buy than the then modern saloons Peter mentions, partly due to the introduction of the MOT and that nobody wanted them. It wasn't until the mid seventies that the 'classic' market took off, then you could buy a running secondhand E Type for about six hundred and fifty pounds. Breaks my heart to look through old copies of Exchange and Mart and see what you could have bought for very little money compared to their value today but then the same applies to many other things.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1958 - 1963
Date: 29 Jan 2016
Time: 16:30:57
Please see my previous entry. Second line should read, 'seems to know his cars.' The word 'know' got lost on corrections.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1958 - 1963
Date: 29 Jan 2016
Time: 09:04:18
David Jackson makes a interesting point. Whilst claiming no knowledge of cricket, he seems to his cars. I am the opposite, with considerable cricket knowledge but no interest in cars. That said, David sparked off a memory and he is quite right. Thywritt definitely had an Alvis. I recall the side running boards. So I googled the cars and found something pretty equivalent. A very stylish convertible with, yes, running boards. We wondered about a young master's ability to afford such a vehicle when his older colleagues pushed around in dingy Morris Minors and Ford Prefect, even bicycles. Thywhitt presumably stems from the Thrwhitt-Drakes of Devon. Curiously, there is a major family mansion, near Amersham, Bucks, as I remember. The Drake connection is QE1's buccaneering Sir Francis which may explain the family fortune. Spanish gold. David also writes about ARS' car. I was wrong. It was not a Ford Sedan but, as he says, a white Ford Consul convertible. Funny how the mind plays tricks.
Name: Paul Romney
Email: paulromney03a taim.com
Years_at_school: 56-63
Date: 28 Jan 2016
Time: 13:56:28
Pedant's corner. It was Wally Kilmister, not Kilminster. He has an entry in Wikipedia.
Name: David Jackson
Email: david at jack-son dot co dot uk
Years_at_school: 1958 - 1964
Date: 28 Jan 2016
Time: 02:36:19
I know NOTHING about school cricket or indeed any other sport. I do know a bit about cars though, and a Ford sedan would normally be considered a closed saloon car. At the time I was at our beloved school ARS drove a white Ford Consul convertible. Babe magnet! And didn't Tyrwhitt drive something exotic like an Alvis? Obviously the two of them were forced into hiring a nondescript Ford saloon in order to carry out their Saturday morning hooting sessions. The mind boggles.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1958 - 1963
Date: 27 Jan 2016
Time: 18:11:35
With respect, I suggest it is unfair to personalise when attempting to put forward arguments over a public forum. Especially when the sands of history have largely closed over. I think I remember Chris Esmond as a junior cricketer. Occasional left arm spinner, fourth change, and No. 10 batsman? Probably an Arsenal supporter. Come off it, Chris. Just because a Ford motor car was occasionally parked so the driver could enjoy a bit of cricket watching on a Saturday afternoon hardly constitutes the possibility that Dr Simpson surreptitiously kept an eye on HCS representative matches. I know for a fact that the Headmaster never once turned up to a First Eleven game despite his former pre-eminence as a former Scottish national cricketer. This was, after all, the man who once kept wicket behind Donald Bradman before the War. In my book that achievement, alone, makes Simpson worthy of our respect. See Scottish cricketing records for the 1930s. Is Chris Esmond suggesting that Dr Simpson and Mr Thyrwhitt shared a car as neither had anything better to do on a Saturday afternoon? This flies in the face of strong circumstantial evidence of Dr Simpson's gardening prowess. It was said that he successfully bred begonias and chrysanthemums. And no harm in that. I was never a Simpson fan but would advocate we stick to the facts rather than indulging in wild speculation. Bear in mind, as in Wikipedia, unedited quasi-facts can establish on The Net, for all time.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondAT yahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 27 Jan 2016
Time: 16:25:50
Well, faced with evidence from ex-HCS cricketing aristocrats, Messrs. Garwood and Ward, what to say? I trust Mr Makepeace returns to advise us of his source for the Marchant-Tyrwhitt partnership, although, as I said, a few of us did suspect the tooter was the latter. So, the long-mummified Mystery of Tootincarman arises from the ashes of HCS history, excavated from the memories of yesteryear...Was Tyrwhitt the Tooter or not? I'd always thought, yes, he probably was, apparently confirmed by the Combined Unis. at Lord's story. But hang on...that car that someone identified as Tyrwhitt's and the parked Ford Sedan mentioned by Peter Ward - this afternoon, thinking about this crazy stuff, the penny dropped: didn't Simpson own one of those motors? If so, it wasn't Tyrwhitt at all, it was ARS himself, for God's sake! What might he have been doing, watching from the road rather than patrolling the school field with his international wicket-keeper's expert gaze? So what the hell was he up to then, one toot for a solid forward defensive stroke, two for a good catch, three for clean bowled, 4 for hitting a 4,5 for a maiden over, 6 for a 6? Remember, Peter Ward, I'm talking about '65, not '62-3. Simple - even this ultra-serious man, about to unburden himself of all the cares of his soon-to-be-relinquished position, of all his head-ship, one might say, whom I can not recall ever laughing wholeheartedly - or even genuinely smiling, come to think of it - finally felt able to just ARS around, now and then...under cover of a car and, I daresay, a pair of dark glasses - and maybe, even a wig?
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1958 - 1963
Date: 25 Jan 2016
Time: 16:43:00
I have been referred to a recent contribution on the website by a former school cricketer. He is just as astonished as I am with the suggestion that Bernie Marchant and Tywhritt were cricketers. Certainly not in my time as First XI skipper 1962 and 63. Bernie was essentially a back-room boy. Whilst keen on cricket he was not proficient at the game. Peter Garwood is right to support Bernie M but I seem to remember the Classics master played not in white but black plimsolls. I aimed for these with a Yorker in the 63 Masters match and had him LBW first ball on the foot. Later, I was not proud of this as I subsequently realised he was plucky to go out and bat in the first place. The two best coaches giving freely of their time were Don 'Uncle Mac' McEwen and Gethin Williams. They were good men and decent enough players. Chris Esmond's comment on the phantom hooter rings a vague bell (not meant as a pun.) We were aware of a light-coloured Ford Sedan parked on the main road overlooking the ground during occasional home games. Whether or not the driver sounded his horn to mark match incidents I would not be sure, so am unable to comment.
Name: Martin
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 25 Jan 2016
Time: 12:55:08
Chris R, Brian Have a look at Alec's piece on the war memorial. It says The latter, known only as 'Muller', had been educated at Harrow County, as his father worked in London before the war. Later on, whilst flying as a navigator in a JU88 aircraft, he was shot down and captured. The pilot who did so, Freddie Green was another Old Gaytonian, who after landing, met his foe. As they were talking, an Army patrol turned up to take Muller in to custody, and there was disbelief all round when the Officer leading them turned out to be another old boy of the school, Lt C W Stevens.
Name: Peter Garwood
Email: peterdotgarwood777atbtinternetdotcom
Years_at_school: 1953-61
Date: 25 Jan 2016
Time: 09:07:20
Oh dear it must be the silly season again. Bernie Marchant was a good, genuine man but sadly, even though he clearly loved cricket and worked very hard behind the scenes, gave up his spare time to umpire, he was no cricketer. I think Gethin Williams would have called upon his coaching services if the naughty suggestion that he was a Blue was true. He did not even own a pair of cricket boots, he bravely turned out for the annual staff match in white plimsoles. He was a Cambridge man whereas Mr Tyrwhitt went to London University. I would like to think that Bernie would have been an Arsenal supporter rather than Man U or Liverpool.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 1940 - 1947
Date: 25 Jan 2016
Time: 06:29:58
The contribution about Hambly is of interest in that it is one of the few I've seen that gives news of the subsequent career of a head boy. It was never clear to me how head boys were selected or by whom but they were generally good 'all rounders'- but not exclusively so. As a sweeping generalisation I would say for the most part head boys did no better or worse than the rest of us in later life. The really successful (by whatever criterion) seem to have come from the back of the pack well after leaving school.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondATyahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 25 Jan 2016
Time: 06:10:29
Remarkable, Tony - although my feeling is that the match in question was of far lesser status, ie more like an 'Oxbridge' or Combined Universities 'A' X1 versus a combined London or Home Counties under-25s, for example. And, if played at Lord's then most certainly on the Nursery ground, not the main arena. Hence its non-entry in Wisden. I wonder why Mr Marchant, given his obvious ability, and being such a staunch supporter of HCS cricket in the admin and umpiring departments, didn't do any coaching (apart, of course, from the annual early season advice on the noticeboard that "hardening of hands is essential"!). Perhaps he did, before my time? As for Mr Nicholas Tyrwhitt, he was, it seems, a real cricketing 'dark horse', although one somehow suspected there might well be far more to him, especially when it was announced in an assembly he'd become a local councillor. All of which might finally clear up something of an ongoing (in those days) 'mystery' re the identity of an individual who often used to watch our home matches from Kenton Road, sitting in his car - and now and then tooting the horn, not only at a noteworthy event (the fall of a wicket, a boundary, a maiden over, a good piece of fielding) but also after a mistake (a dropped catch, a poor stroke, a wide ball)! We wondered who this might be and once I think someone even jokingly commented it looked like Mr Tyrwhitt's car (cue raucous laughter!) although Bernie M made no comment, nor ever expressed any annoyance or even curiosity about this or about the 'tooter'. In fact, if my memory serves me, I seem to recall a sort of 'secret' little smile flicker across his face when the matter was broached in the changing room. Seems a bit pathetic from this distance, yet perhaps such characters could find at least some 'release' from their social straitjacket personas via such odd behaviour.
Name: Tony Makepeace
Email: peacemakeratgmail.com
Years_at_school: 1956-61
Date: 24 Jan 2016
Time: 17:27:16
Generous comments have rightly been made about Mr B Marchant. He and Mr Thyrwittt were good friends. It says much for the old HCS that top graduate Arts and Science staff communicated and worked happily together. In my time, we were told that the two gentlemen first met at University, either Oxon or Cantab. Both obtained cricketing Blues. Mr Marchant modestly mentioned that the pair opened the batting for Combined Universities XI. The match might have been played at Lords c.1950? Marchant and Thyrwhitt put on an impressive 117 runs before lunch. A fast rate of scoring in those far-off days. Mr Marchant smiled when he told us he was dropped at gulley with only three runs to his name. He opined that the dropped catch was a 'sitter', the ball cutting from middle and leg to off stump, before embarrassing second slip. The two friends may have been playing against a representative MCC side. Unfortunately, I can trace no reference in Wisden, so remain baffled. It may be that the match was played at a lesser ground, Southgate for instance, and did not count as a First Class fixture worthy of inclusion. Can anyone elucidate?
Name: Peter Vincent
Email:
Years_at_school: 1966-1972
Date: 24 Jan 2016
Time: 12:09:24
Caroline The page www.jeffreymaynard.com<slash>Harrow_County<slash>1911.htm which lists the initial intake of boys into the school says: "D. M. Hambly (School Captain April-July 1916, B.Sc., Executive Engineer, Indian Railway Service of Engineers, Peshawar, India, 1929. In Lahore, India in February 1933)". So he should be in the whole school photo 1911 on the photos page www.jeffreymaynard.com<slash>Harrow_County<slash>photographs.htm and possibly some of the others?
Name: Caroline Kernan, D M Hambly, Donald Montague Hambly
Email: kernan.boyce at btinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1909 1912
Date: 24 Jan 2016
Time: 06:16:57
The above D M Hambly was my grandfather. Apart from being an Engineer for the Indian State Railway where he was designing and building bridges and tunnels, mostly in the NOrth West in what is now West Pakistan. I have 2 of his prizes, Treasure Island which he won in July 1912 which states he was Head Boy. Also for 1912 a prize for Mathematics, III Prize I think and same for the Head Boy prize. I didn't know he had been Head Boy. I knew him very well. He was also in the RFC and caught the tail end of the 1st WWar I think. His father Donald Steward Wharton Hambly was also in the RFC. If you have anything to add to this I would be very grateful. What he did at school. I don't get the impression he was'nt sporty but maybe wrong; more academic. do you have any photos of him ? He got his degree in Engineering from King's College, London or it might have been University College. with kind regards Caroline Kernan
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colindotdickinsatblueyonderdotcodotuk
Years_at_school: 1947 - 1953
Date: 23 Jan 2016
Time: 10:26:39
I didn't know Bernie Marchant at School. He arrived in my last year when I was doing A Level Latin under the tutelage of Huby Lane (and ARS). I only met him once, at a meeting in Hugh Skillen's house in my Old Gaytonian magazine-editing days, but Jim Golland had mentioned to me that he relied on Bernie to help him out with Latin in his local history research. Someone (can't remember who) approached me to translate into Latin some invitation to someone else to go on a tour. I did my best (after about some 40 years) and asked Bernie to check my version. Not only did he approve it, he complimented me on my use (invention?) of the word extravagantes for tourists. I was ridiculously pleased at that. What a nice man.
Name: Peter Garwood
Email: peterdotgarwood777atbtinternetdotcom
Years_at_school: 1953-61
Date: 23 Jan 2016
Time: 06:25:49
Mention is made of Bill Kitchen motor spares shop which was usually managed by the irascible George Graham who did not suffer fools gladly. It was one of the first independent spares shops. In those days spare parts were usually only obtainable from main dealers but with more people taking to the roads they started to spring up. Initially Lucas and others refused to supply them, which led to firms like Wipac setting up and taking part of the after market away from them.The most famous one locally was Barnacles of Ealing,if they did not have what you were after,you had a problem.Their pre war stock was amazing.Then the accessory shops opened up like Dannys, owned by Nobby Clarke, at the end of the parade between the Dominion and the entrance to Wealdstone football ground, later there was a branch in Eastcote.The shop next to Bill Kitchen was Youngs fishing tackle and it is amazing how many of their rods and reels still turn up at auction.They also sold knives and when I was looking to buy a scout sheath knife they also had WW2 commando knives which I could not afford at seven shilling and sixpence, they are now selling in excess of one hundred pounds, I still have my ,I cut my way, knife which is worthless, such is life.
Name: Bob Blackburn
Email: With Alec Bateman
Years_at_school: 1943 - 1949
Date: 23 Jan 2016
Time: 04:40:31
Sorry Colin, was not a Gang Show, simply called 'Boy Scout'. About a Boy Scout travelling through life. I was in the PT display with Alan Coxon as the solo performer. In the show I was also a 'White Indian', white smock, white trousers, white headband and feather, depicting the spirit of a Red Indian. Wembley Speedway, no-one has mentioned Tommy Price, great rider. How about the March of the Gladiators when the riders paraded before the races having to use crutches and walking sticks to march out!!!! Bill Kitchen in his shop near the Bridge School. Went with a pal to purchase something, Bill had to climb a ladder to reach, just like Open All Hours, when he fell off the ladder, right from the top, my pal and I climbed over the counter to help him.
Name: Bob Blackburn
Email: With Alec Bateman
Years_at_school: 1943 - 1949
Date: 23 Jan 2016
Time: 04:40:30
Sorry Colin, was not a Gang Show, simply called 'Boy Scout'. About a Boy Scout travelling through life. I was in the PT display with Alan Coxon as the solo performer. In the show I was also a 'White Indian', white smock, white trousers, white headband and feather, depicting the spirit of a Red Indian. Wembley Speedway, no-one has mentioned Tommy Price, great rider. How about the March of the Gladiators when the riders paraded before the races having to use crutches and walking sticks to march out!!!! Bill Kitchen in his shop near the Bridge School. Went with a pal to purchase something, Bill had to climb a ladder to reach, just like Open All Hours, when he fell off the ladder, right from the top, my pal and I climbed over the counter to help him.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondATyahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 22 Jan 2016
Time: 17:01:29
Messrs. Marchant and Tyrwhitt teaming up to watch the Wembley Lions - an odd twosome indeed, quite apart from the almost surreal circumstances! However, Tony Makepeace's anecdote is confirmed by my recall of Bernie's post-match remarks to a small group of HCS first X1 cricketers, around summer 1965, when, confronting our extreme annoyance at what we regarded as biased umpiring by the opposition's master, which had led to us losing the match, he strongly advised us not to risk what he clearly regarded as "losing face" by confronting the man concerned with our anger, but rather instead to "put it on ice". I remember very clearly that moment, when, although we hardly expected such an apparently profoundly conventional character to support our would-be 'rebellion' against the entrenched authority of a teacher-cum-cricket umpire (!)we stood there, nonplussed at this almost cryptic response. Seeing our puzzled and-or disappointed faces he added (I forget the exact words, of course) something like, "Well, I assure you, that works for me" before astonishing us by saying he "released" a lot of pent-up personal frustration by attending ice hockey matches at the Empire Pool - particularly when the players got into brawls, imagining that it was he himself dishing out the blows! And our reaction? When he left the changing-room we cracked up, literally fell about laughing, in one case, almost uncontrollably. But in doing so, we left our 'hard done by' resentment behind - the ice had melted, as it were! Bernie's advice had worked, albeit not in the way he'd intended. Despite his rigidly controlled persona, he was, like many of his type, not at all quite what he seemed - out of hours....
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 1940-1947
Date: 22 Jan 2016
Time: 15:43:57
That's a great story about the various roles played by OGs in the shooting down of a German plane but I am not sure about the truth. I was at school all through the war years but do not recall hearing the story before. We had a number of old boys who would address us about their experiences but I do not recall this particular incident being related.
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: christopherdotatkinson43atntlworlddotcom
Years_at_school: 1948 - 1953
Date: 22 Jan 2016
Time: 09:24:26
You're quite right Colin, Jack Beet was in effect Ralph's 'main man'. They had both been in the RAF GangShow during the war. Jack was the 4th Harrow Rover Scout Leader, and many of the crew were involved both with 'Boy Scout' and the London Gang Show. I had barely got my feet under my desk when, having joined the 4th Harrow straight away, I was off with a load of others in Mr Brown's removal van to Gilwell Park. We were part of West Section, which was headed by our GSL Brian 'Faerie' Stanford, to start rehearsals for 'Boy Scout'. We rehearsed at Gilwell until dress rehearsal at the Albert Hall itself. I stayed with the show, later as stage staff, until I went into the RAF. Later on Ralph wrote a play especially for the 4th (The Story of Mike), in which he starred, and was put on in the School hall. When I became GSL I used to ring Ralph up before the opening night of the 4th's Group Show to get his message for our 'Gang'. Some will tell that I wore a tutu skirt in a Gang Show sketch ('If I was not a Boy Scout something else then I would be'), but I would of course deny this emphatically.
Name: Chris R
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 22 Jan 2016
Time: 08:57:18
I seem to recall reading on this site that in early WWll a German aircraft that was shot down was piloted by an OG, the pilot who shot him down was also OG and to compound the coincidences the officer who collected the now POW was also an OG. I can't seem to locate that story on the site - did I imagine it
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colindotdickindatblueyonderdotcodotuk
Years_at_school: 1947 - 1953
Date: 22 Jan 2016
Time: 03:54:07
Yes, indeed, Chris R. It was Bronco Wilson who was killed, at Haringay in 1947 aged 26. Sorry. And Split Waterman did have a chequered career, ending up living in Spain. I wonder if he's still alive. And Chris Atkinson: I was also in the Ralph Reader Gang Show at the Albert Hall. Great fun. RR's "lieutenant" was OG Jack Beet who linked up with Swanney Amos to put on a PT display at the Show. I wasn't invited to participate in the Wembley show.
Name: Chris R
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 21 Jan 2016
Time: 12:17:36
Colin, are you confusing Split Waterman with somebody else As late as 1967 he was arrested for smuggling gold out of the country. The gold probably from a bullion robbery. I seem to recall a search of his home turned up enough weapons to equip a small army. The last I heard he was living on the Costa del Sol.
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: christopherdotatkinson43atntlworlddotcom
Years_at_school: 1948 - 1953
Date: 21 Jan 2016
Time: 10:39:56
Hah, Ice Pantomimes etc at the Pool were a right pain. The curved ends of the Pool were closed off leaving just a rectangle wqhich used to get very wet and mucky quite quickly. Mind you a good hockey stop would almost cover that group of girls by the rink edge like a waterfall. If you didn't have your own skates the hire ones were awful. They were leather but usually so worn that they offered no support; you used to see folk crippling around the edge of the Pool on the sides of their feet. I've got a strong feeling that I was in the Scout show mentioned, but I can't remember details, and I've got no 4th Harrow records covering that sort of period. Being involved with RR's 'Boy Scout' pageant, Gang Show, and so on meant that inclusion in what I believe was a Middlesex Scout show, would have been almost automatic.
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colindotdickinsatblueyonderdotcodotuk
Years_at_school: 1947 - 1953
Date: 21 Jan 2016
Time: 08:59:54
Dear old Wembley Pool. How it all comes back to me. For a few years after the war there were two ice hockey teams, Wembley Lions and Wembley Monarchs. For some reason the Lions were my favourites, but I used to go along and watch both. There were ice shows - including ice pantomimes - and public skating most days. I tried a few times but, having no skates of my own, and very large feet, I hired a pair several times. They never fitted well enough to give me any support and I abandoned the pastime. There were also amateur boxing finals, professional tennis (when the sport was essentially still amateur), the splendid Harlem Globetrotters' black basketball team and one year a huge scout show (when I learnt that one in five boys in the age group was a scout). As for the Stadium, I remember my father getting press tickets for the speedway and watching Bill Kitchen and Split Waterman. The latter was killed in a race (not in my presence fortunately) when he came off and another bike ran over his neck. Another time, probably in 1946, my soccer-loving dad (who played for the Old Gayts until the war) announced with delight that he'd got two tickets for The International. At that time it meant England vs Scotland; there was no other international football then. I'm slightly ashamed to say that I can't remember much about it, not even who won. But I do remember the 1948 Olympic Games there and going along to get autographs. Anyone in a tracksuit would do; I never tied a name to the scribble.
Name: Peter Garwood
Email: peterdotgarwood777atbtinternetdotcom
Years_at_school: 1953-61
Date: 21 Jan 2016
Time: 05:28:47
Mention was made of Bill Kitchen, the speedway rider who also ran a motor spares shop next to Youngs fishing tackle in the small parade of shops between Blawith Road and the entrance to Bridge school, my old primary school. I knew Bill and his son Peter as I'd worked in a small garage off Harrow View at weekends,holidays with Johnnie Stirling. They then moved out to Hazlemere Bucks. where Peter ran a couple of garages,car sales which brought me back into contact, as I'd moved to High Wycombe. Bill was a serious radio ham and the house bristled with aerials. Prior to going self employed in the motor trade I'd worked for the Eagle Star in Harrow, who insured both the old Wembley Stadium and the Pool and as they both fell in my patch I visited them on several occasions in connection with various claims and was able to go behind the scenes as it were. The Pool was a technical engineering masterpiece which stood the test of time well, being used for a variety of events. Somewhere there's footage of it in use in all it's glory. Speedway racing and Ice Hockey were very popular in the 50's and does anyone remember the wrestling at Wembley Town Hall in the early 60's, I got free tickets thanks to a neighbour and recall the likes of Steve Logan,Jackie Pallo and Mick Mcmanus, who I met at Moor Patk many years later playing golf, a totally different, charming person out of the ring, who ran an antique shop.
Name: Dave Buckley
Email:
Years_at_school: 1953-61
Date: 21 Jan 2016
Time: 04:21:28
For many years I lived on Barn Hill, then in Preston Road, both about a mile or so from the Stadium. I have always referred to the sports arena as the Empire Pool, for that was what it was originally - a purpose built Olympic sized swimming pool. It was constructed in 1934 using reinforced concrete and, at the time, had the largest span reinforced concrete roof. It was designed by Sir Owen Williams. I also remember going to quite a number of ice shows at the venue.
Name: Keith Alexandre
Email:
Years_at_school: 1950 - 1956
Date: 20 Jan 2016
Time: 14:48:06
I am pleased to see that others still call it the Empire Pool. Confuses younger members of my family no end. As does telling them about the thursday evening when dad and I were shut out of a speedway meeting because the stadium was full. 90,000 to watch speedway - you must be joking!
Name: Peter Garwood
Email: peterdotgarwood777atbtinternetdotcom
Years_at_school: 1953-61
Date: 20 Jan 2016
Time: 10:27:51
The junk shop or WW2 surplus was Zelepukens, which originally was on the left halfway between Bridge School and the Granada, opposite Ben Bogins barbers shop but then moved to the corner of Blawith Road when the site became a tyre depot. I was there the night Johnnie Murray surprisingly got a hat trick and they put three bowler hats on the screen at the cafe end.. Les Strongman had decamped to Nottingham Panthers but guested for the Russian game as did big defenceman Red Kurtz, my favourite player, who played for the old enemy, Brighton Tigers. What a line-up they had that night, Ron Kilby in goal, Shepherd and Kurtz defence, playmaker Booth, clever centre ice George Beech, who lived in Eastcote and looked like a merchant banker when in civvies on the train. Big Les, Jaques Pichet and good old Sonny Rost to name but a few. Great memories and I too, many years later, reluctantly agreed to go on a staff 'bonding' course that included ice skating, waited until they were all on the ice, stumbling around, clinging to the boards, then made my entrance, flashing round backwards in my Lions skating jacket finishing with a massive hockey stop, covering the chosen ladies with ice, naughty but most enjoyable. Great to read that I wasn't the only one to enjoy a misspent youth. I included Ice hockey on my leaving school CV which puzzled ARS needless to say.
Name: Tony Makepeace
Email: peacemakeratgmail.com
Years_at_school: 1956 - 61
Date: 20 Jan 2016
Time: 09:24:27
Interesting to read about the Wembley Lions. I was a great fan. Best days! I seem to remember Bernie Marchant was a keen supporter but kept his face wrapped up in a scarf if HCS boys were around. He and Nick Thyrrit (excuse spelling) were once spotted sharing a bag of chips at half time. good for them. At least some of our masters were human.
Name: Tony Knight
Email: tony.knight4atntlworld.com
Years_at_school: 1955 - 1960
Date: 20 Jan 2016
Time: 08:14:57
Peter. Gratifying to hear that there are at least three of us left (we'll have to start a Wembley Lions forum!!!!)with memories of those great nights at the Empire Pool. I remember Les Strongman being a part of their BSA (Booth, Strongman and Anning)line. I seem to recall that Johnnie Murray always drew a 'get on the bench Murray'response from the fans. Tony
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: christopherdotatkinson43atntlworlddotcom
Years_at_school: 1948 - 1953
Date: 20 Jan 2016
Time: 07:45:19
Ah, Wally Kilminster at Wembley Triangle. After getting off the 18 bus from Harrow I could never pass those windows without stopping to see what I couldn't afford. Was the junk shop in Harrow the one at the end of Blawith Road; it was difficult to get to Scout Park without having a quick look. I committed the cardinal sin of swapping my bike for a guitar- it was a classical accoustic and didn't fare too well at camp, my parents were not all that impressed.
Name: Peter Garwood
Email: peterdotgarwood777atbtinternetdotcom
Years_at_school: 1953-61
Date: 20 Jan 2016
Time: 06:20:52
Interested to read of Chris's skating exploits.I too skated, pushed the ice clearing boards and played ice hockey at Wembley.Played on the ponds at Stanmore, Swakeleys and later years at Penn. Played in the Sunday foot hockey league, the inline roller skates weren't around then. Bought my first pair of hockey skates from Kilminsters at Wembley Triangle, then found the Holy Grail in a junk shop in Harrow, a pair of Tackaberry Prolites as used by the pros. Johnnie Nettleton's mum worked in the office so we got cheap tickets to go skating and watch the Lions Who will forget the night they beat the Russian World Champions with the help of imports Red Kurtz and Les Strongman. Roy Shepherd and Johnnie Murray were the required Englishmen in the team, the latter joined Grimsdyke Golf Club in the 80's. Still have the skates and a stick, anybody looking for a game.
Name: Tony Knight
Email: tony.knight4atntlworld.com
Years_at_school: 1955 - 1960
Date: 20 Jan 2016
Time: 01:44:04
Chris again. Having read your recent posting, I was also a regular watching speedway at Wembley Stadium. I remember the riders you mentioned and also a Brian Crutcher. I think I saw at least one World Championship Final there. Other riders like Barry Briggs and Ronnie Moore also come to mind. I moved to Swindon in 1966 and followed the Robins when Barry was riding here. Tony
Name: Brian Hwaer
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 1940 - 1947
Date: 19 Jan 2016
Time: 19:41:59
I was delighted to learn that the boat club continued to thrive after my departure. For three years after school I was with the I.C. so got to know he river well. I had never considered Twink having a family. Did he continue at the school until he retired? He had a good heart but some strange ways - as did most of the staff! We had a lot of eccentrics but they did their jobs well and prepared us for later experiences in life.
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colindotdickinsatblueyonderdotcodotuk
Years_at_school: 1947 - 1953
Date: 19 Jan 2016
Time: 14:23:15
Well, Brian, your slightly plaintive comment on lack of contributions lately brought, with the help of Peter Fowler's perfect summary of things, quite a burst of entries. This after only 15 days. There have been longer intervals. You're right about rowing clubs. It was Vesta. Apart from rowing on the Thames, I remember using their tank boat - a fixed "boat" in a pool with riggers and oars with slots in the blades to provide just the right resistance to simulate rowing a real boat on the water. Later, Twink had our own tank boat built. It was wedged across the width of the school swimming pool and he brought his rather fey son Theodore (who addressed him as Dada) along to attend the "launch". I've no idea how it was paid for or what happened to it.
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: christopherdotatkinson43atntlworlddotcom
Years_at_school: 1948 - 1953
Date: 19 Jan 2016
Time: 12:34:30
My ice hockey with the Lion Cubs was pretty 'low-level' Tony. As a youngster I lived in Wembley, not far from the Stadium and Pool. The two things I lived for were Speedway (Bill Kitchen,Tommy Price, Split Waterman) and ice skating. I started off with learning ice dancing, but then my kind parents bought me a pair of hockey tubes. I soon found that on ice hockey nights, I could (with a bit of brown-nosing) get to push an ice cleaner board around during the intervals. It was only a little bit more brown-nosing to eventually get the odd game with the Cubs. After HCS I moved away from Wembley, and eventually gave it all up for a blue uniform. Many years later, and on a residential IT course in Bournemouth, I allowed the youngsters on the course to drag me (the old git) along to the ice rink. I told them that of course I knew nothing about ice skating, but they promised to look after me. I enjoyed that evening's session ... crafty or what.
Name: Martin McCluney
Email: martin13945 at gmail.com
Years_at_school: 1955 - 1963
Date: 19 Jan 2016
Time: 09:14:49
Malcolm Ingram sent me the Skillen dvd at Christmas, he having received it from Geoff Wolf the year before. Most entertaining, and great effort by all concerned. I thought I remembered the CCF arduous training in Dumfries and Galloway rather clearly but could not recall the canoes at all! As for swimming those memories of the freezing cold waters and what they did to one's body parts are hard to forget.
Name: Anthony (Tony) Knight
Email: tony.knight4atntlworld.com
Years_at_school: 1955 - 1960
Date: 19 Jan 2016
Time: 08:55:31
Chris. I don't contribute to this message board very often, but I noticed in your recent posting that you played ice hockey for Wembley Lions Cubs. I was a keen fan following the Lions at the Empire Pool in the late 1950's and early 1960's. I wonder if there are many of us left!! In those days the team was mainly made up with Canadian players. Ah, happy memories. Tony
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: christopherdotatkinson43atntlworlddotcom
Years_at_school: 1948 - 1953
Date: 18 Jan 2016
Time: 10:40:38
That's the way it goes Brian; last year was an interesting one for me when I became a member of the Papworth Zipper Club. And I have problems with surgeons who point an accusing finger and ask if I ever played a contact sport as a youth. Imagine trying to explain to Harry Mees, at the age of twelve, that I didn't want to play rugby in case some surgeon would want to cut my back open when I was in my seventies. And I played in the RAF as well, gosh, silly me, really asking for trouble. Playing ice hockey for Wembley Lion Cubs was so much safer, and tackling those high peaks with the 4th Harrow was just the job for wimps like me.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 1940 - 1947
Date: 18 Jan 2016
Time: 07:59:02
Good to meet an ex-fellow rower Chris! I was among the first members of the HCS boat club. We used two club houses. One was called Vesta but the name of the other is lost in the recesses of my memory bank. I recall a group of initials starting with a 'W'. You are right about the 'thin green line' becoming thinner with time. In my case this has become markedly noticeable in the last few years.
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: christopherdotatkinson43atntlworlddotcom
Years_at_school: 19 48 - 1953
Date: 18 Jan 2016
Time: 05:27:14
You may be right,Peter, about older OGs dropping off the branch, I rarely (if ever) see anyone from my years commenting on anything. Well, in the interest of raising a blast from the past, I wonder if anyone can remember which boat house on the Thames we used when doing rowing with Twink. I think,but I'm not sure,that I took part in the Head of the River race in an HCS crew. One not-so-nice memory: does anyone remember Pete Morris in 4th Harrow. He was fatally electrocuted in an accident whilst serving as an interpreter during his National Service with the army in Germany . Well I was the RAF National Service ambulance driver paramedic who was sent out to the accident. Pete had been in the 4th Harrow Merrymen Scouts with me, some co-incidence.
Name: Chris R
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 17 Jan 2016
Time: 18:49:45
Peter , it was Group Captain Rawnsley
Name: Peter Fowler
Email: fowler at ntlworld
Years_at_school: 56-62
Date: 17 Jan 2016
Time: 14:44:29
Brian, first, this guest forum flourished when (a) people were discovering it and (b) it was fed by constant changes in the main site. New photos, new stories, events, obituaries even. The two attributes worked hand in hand, one fed into the other. If something new was added to the site, it might trigger a response, which became a discussion, a thread. Second, its contributors remained locked in the Simpson years, we never did get the take-up from those who went to the school in the 70s and onwards. There were one or two little bursts, but they came to nothing. And, sad to say but true, those in the Simpson years are fading from the scene, I'm sure that some of the early contributors will have died and we wouldn't know. It's all like the OG's, really: a smaller and smaller bunch of chums who really can't find that much more to say about Square, the Colonel and Squadron Leader Rawnsley. On the other hand, everything is here, hanging in cyberspace. And even now some will find it for the first time and decide to say something. Its survival is worth it just for that.
Name: brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 1940-7
Date: 16 Jan 2016
Time: 08:00:03
It has become very quiet on this page of later. Are we all dead or have we simply run out of things to say?
Name: Peter Garwood
Email: peterdotgarwood777atbtinternetdotcom
Years_at_school: 1953-61
Date: 01 Jan 2016
Time: 09:12:50
Alas a senior moment, it should have been Barry Norton not Norman, who I did acknowledge from a distance in Ruislip 35 years ago.
Name: Peter Garwood
Email: peterdotgarwood777atbtinternetdotcom
Years_at_school: 1953-61
Date: 01 Jan 2016
Time: 08:58:27
Good to see Dave Golby posting some form photos recently, the unknown master in them, is of course Bert Morshead, the physics teacher. Sadly very few of our 1953 intake contribute to this excellent website, some we know are no longer with us but I find it hard to accept that the survivors have not ventured into the computer age. Anybody know what happened to Mick Webb, Mick Betts, Barry Norman, Johnnie Stirling, Warren Roney and Mike Lofthouse to name but a few.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 1940 - 1947
Date: 21 Dec 2015
Time: 15:09:50
Panic reigned amongst those of us about to take what was then School Certificate French when rumour had it there would be an oral component to the exam. In the event there was not but none of us had spoken a word of French in four years of study. Some six years later I was introduced to spoken French in a camp in northern Quebec. At the breakfast table everyone except me ate a plate full of baked beans into which they mixed strawberry jam with much gusto. My vocabulary expanded rapidly when the machinery developed mechanical problems. In a previous experience I had learned I was one of those people who learn a language by listening to the spoken word, as in a language laboratory. In my case a fellow expat and I perfected our Swahili after work by translating the Decamerron Nights at sight to our African workers each evening. The sessions were so popular we were recommended to change careers and become missionaries. A grounding in vagiaries of Latin grammar acquired at HCS found a useful application when tackling the twists and turns of a bantu language.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondATyahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 21 Dec 2015
Time: 01:31:15
Ah, yes, Don Wilkey, I'd forgotten that he also took us for French in the 6th form - excellent teacher, very conscientious, almost neurotically so. Don Kincaid took us for the first 4 years and provided a welcome breath of humour and, er, 'normality' among an otherwise often rather odd bunch of characters in charge of us. As for the language lab, well, I don't recall ever using it! But yes, Hugh Skillen did a great job pioneering the exchange scheme and that lab - and his teaching was ok, although for me anyway, others were better.
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash 70 pan at yahoo dot com
Years_at_school: 1962-9
Date: 20 Dec 2015
Time: 10:14:16
I was fluent in French before I came to Harrow County but I do remember that we had one of the first language laboratories in the country. Mind you, I seem to remember we were the first to do so many things. I have good memories of Hugh Skillen, don Kincaid and Don Wilkie whom I still see from time to time. I was encouraged by another member of staff whose name I have forgotten to take an interest in modern French literature so I read a lot of Camus and Sartre. I'd passed my driving test so one night I went down to Toynbee Hall in Whitechapel to see a production of Sartre's En Huis Clos. Still stays in my mind after all these years.
Name: Laurence Lando
Email:
Years_at_school: 1957-
Date: 19 Dec 2015
Time: 01:37:46
Seasons Greetings, and a wish for a Healthy Happy New Year, with some Peace for good measure.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondATyahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 17 Dec 2015
Time: 11:37:13
Actually, the teaching of modern languages was badly flawed in those days, where one could 'get through' or even perform very well indeed in exams while barely being able to hold a basic conversation in the language studied. Ludicrous, of course, but I guess the school felt it was beholden to the examination boards and exam grades were all that ultimately counted. Things tend to be a lot different now, thankfully. Hugh Skillen taught me for two years of the 6th form, but by then he seemed rather weary and frankly, I found him not particularly inspiring, unlike the previous incumbent, Don Kincaid.
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: christopherdotatkinsonatntlworlddotcom
Years_at_school: 19- 19
Date: 13 Dec 2015
Time: 03:35:20
Apart from the spook stuff, Hugh was (i.m.not so h.o) a fine teacher and a classical example of the opportunity doorways that HCS opened up. I may perhaps have learned my french with a wee bit of a scottish accent (never a problem when later living in Belgium) but the extended student exchange scheme was really great. Ordinary school french may have been okay for passing exams, but living in the country quickly taught everyday usage. Perhaps Bulldog should have done the same for German, although serving in the RAF in Germany soon had me ordering refreshments with no problems :>)
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colindotdickinsatblueyonderdotcodotuk
Years_at_school: 1947 - 1953
Date: 12 Dec 2015
Time: 04:07:13
Yes, Michael. The very same. He worked in the Y Service (radio intercepts) and wrote a number of books on his work and Bletchley in general. He was instrumental in publicising the work and setting up conferences when the secrets became public. I think he could claim to be a major influence in its subsequent restoration and its establishment as a "heritage" site. He was a generous contributor to The Old Gaytonian magazine, which I edited for the best part of 20 years until 2000.
Name: Michael F Hendley
Email: mike.hendleyattalktalk.net
Years_at_school: 9162 - 1965
Date: 10 Dec 2015
Time: 12:33:57
I have recently been reading The Silent Listeners by Sinclair McKay about codebreaking in WW11. Hugh Skillen is regularly mentioned in the book and I was intrigued to find out if he was the Hugh Skillen who was my Head of Department at Harrow County Boys. He was. At that time no-one would have known of his role in codebreaking. This led me to look for other information about the school and former pupils. Harrow County Boys' was where I began my teaching career. I retired in 1997 as Deputy Head of large comprehensive school in the Midlands. I've enjoyed reading the staff list and being reminded of some great colleagues. I bought my first car (the ducal chariot) from Mr Duke.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 1940 - 1944
Date: 10 Dec 2015
Time: 11:37:08
Good suggestion there Henry. I travelled extensively on narrow gauge trains in Africa and elsewhere and did not find them either something to be romantic or nostalgic about.
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash 70 pan at yahoo dot com
Years_at_school: 1962-9
Date: 01 Dec 2015
Time: 11:38:30
Sorry, chaps, may have got the terminology wrong. Should, perhaps, have used the phrase heritage railways.
Name: Dave Buckley
Email:
Years_at_school: 1953-61
Date: 01 Dec 2015
Time: 04:11:42
Interesting comment in the last post about the Bluebell Line - didn't know it had changed gauge! So what was Michael doing there which concerned narrow gauge railways? I would have thought North Wales would have been a better choice. Dave
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash 70 pan at yahoo dot com
Years_at_school: 1962-9
Date: 30 Nov 2015
Time: 12:24:36
I went over to see Tony Clarke today and we had lunch. Tony is a director of the Bluebell Railway in Sussex. He told me that Michael Portillo has recently made a programme there for a new series on the narrow gauge railways of Britain.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 1940 - 1947
Date: 23 Nov 2015
Time: 11:25:10
I was glad to read that you enjoyed the piece, Colin. Jeff does a great job in unearthing information like this but doubt for all his efforts he finds half of the material reporting achievements of OGs. It may well be 'old geezer talk' but I fail to see what was achieved by closing the grammar schools like HCS. The politicians of that time have much to answer for.
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colindotdickinsat blueyonderdotcodotuk
Years_at_school: 1947- 1953
Date: 10 Nov 2015
Time: 02:33:54
Thank you for the steer, Brian. What a remarkable career - and what a charming gentleman. A name I know well through the Old Gayts, but I've never met him either, except possibly at a past OGA Dinner. (Glad to see the resumption of obituaries on the website.)
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 1940 - 1947
Date: 08 Nov 2015
Time: 18:32:19
For those who have not yet read it, I highly recommend the interview of Hans Neubroch for which a reference is given in his obituary notice on the web site. His time at HCS overlapped with mine but I do not remember him.
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: christopherdotatkinson43atntlworlddotcom
Years_at_school:
Date: 01 Nov 2015
Time: 03:12:53
or, if really pushed I guess I could empathise with it. Must get these fingers checked out for incontinence - or perhaps that would be incompetence - been playing a lot of bum notes on the guitar of late
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: christopherdotatkinson43atntlworlddotcom
Years_at_school:
Date: 30 Oct 2015
Time: 03:37:41
I can well remember nearly doing myself a serious mischief when parading with the Scout flags into the old hall. Yes, I'd been warned, but I was so proud to have been chosen to carry the flag that I clean forgot the advice about the height of the door frame ... ooops. Coming down to Harrow is out these days, anno domini and all that means it's a little bit too far. I heard a comment on the TV that the latest UK population figures were 'broken down by age' - I can emphasize with that.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondAT yahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 29 Oct 2015
Time: 12:39:21
Does anyone actually come to these annual observances? If so, I'm truly amazed. Or am I?
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash70pan at yahoo dot com
Years_at_school: 1962-1969
Date: 29 Oct 2015
Time: 11:23:26
As in previous years, on Friday 6th November at 11am we will gather at the school to commemorate those of our fellow Old Boys who fell in war. Tea and coffee will be served in the library from 10.15am onwards. I hope to see you all there......................... Again, as in previous years well adjourn thereafter to the St Johns Hotel opposite Debenhams (or Sopers if your prefer) for a pie and a pint.
Name: Chris R
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 28 Oct 2015
Time: 07:14:29
Copy of 1824 Gaytonian signed by Randal Williams and other masters on sale on Ebay. URL www.ebay.comslashitmslashTHE-GAYTONIAN-1924-Harrow-County-School-Randall-Williams-signature-others-slash262088892817?hash=item3d05b72191:g:NysAAOSw5VFWGp3Y
Name: Pete Fowler
Email: at ntlworld.com
Years_at_school:
Date: 27 Oct 2015
Time: 13:20:18
it would be really helpful if certain pranksters stopped their spoof posts. We have had good discussions here but these will be terminated forever by these interventions.
Name: Peter Vincent
Email:
Years_at_school: 1966-1972
Date: 27 Oct 2015
Time: 09:49:04
I don't know if Bob is being serious or not. Yes Col Bigham did get the CCF going and was responsible - together with other staff - for the challenges and opportunities that this gave students (I was in the scouts). Contribution to the school? That's a different matter as a teacher who's lessons consisted of just reading from a text book year after year (one of three brothers at the school who all had the same treatment), I can't see what contribution he made to the school? I can't imagine how much use he would have been trying to teach A level Biology, but I am willing to stand corrected if he really did know something about the subject!
Name: Bob Potter
Email: potty.bob341atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school:
Date: 26 Oct 2015
Time: 17:12:40
I applaud Chris R's sensible comments on Col Bigham OBE. He made a massive contribution to HCS and the CCF. Only the small-minded such as certain recent correspondents are unable to appreciate the tireless and self-sacrificing energies the Colonel offered to a proud, fine school. To demean this man beyond the grave is grossly unfair as he cannot answer back. But he has no need. There remain those of us who warmly appreciate the generous example senior masters such as Bigham set. All great men have their juvenile critics. The latter are mean-spirited failures who have not fulfilled the hopes of their puny adolescence. Let us hear no more repetitive nonsense from these dreary people. They should feel ashamed of their petty and bitter jibes. Dr Simpson and Colonel Bigham set standards by which some of us have led the rest of our lives. They remain in our memories as magnificent examples of mid-20th century educators of young men who were encouraged to go out into the world and achieve. Their detractors, who sneer from afar within the safety of anonymity, are not worth a candle. Let them put up or shut up.
Name: Chris R.
Email:
Years_at_school: 1953-60
Date: 26 Oct 2015
Time: 11:32:43
I don't have a problem with any continuing discussion of Bigham in a serious vein. He was obviously very influential on Simpson and impacted many pupils in many ways. The problem with Lotte Hotter is that he is very like a young child who says something funny causing adults to laugh and then repeats the same words at every opportunity ad nauseam. All that is needed is for Lotte Hotter to recognise that the joke (if there ever was one) is over!
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 1940-7
Date: 25 Oct 2015
Time: 11:55:22
Over the years Jeffrey has made this page available I have very much enjoyed the various exchanges and recollections from our formative years at HCS. It never occurred to me to stay in the area as some seem to have done. In 1950 I left for the 'colonies' where, with the exception of six years in Cornwall and Scotland, I have remained. One item that has been really exhausted on this page is the tale of Bigham whom I knew only slightly in his first year at HCS. Various contributors have researched this man in considerable depth and published their findings here. I suggest our anonymous friend Hotter delve into the 'back issues' for answers to his various questions. Something many of us would like to read are the minutes of the committee meeting at which the appointment of Simpson was discussed. How did the committee find him and why did they feel hiring him was so necessary given they had just appointed Crowle-Ellis who seemed to be doing a good job? I feel sure the information is hidden away in an archive box somewhere. Perhaps one of our number still living in the area would devote an hour or two to this task.
Name: Lotte Hotter
Email: hlh-hotteratgmail.com
Years_at_school:
Date: 20 Oct 2015
Time: 04:25:58
Most disappointed we are at the negative response to our open request. What is this English word 'spoof'. We had hoped for information from more enlightened people on an intriguing subject of international significance. I would wish to meet this Chris Esmond who, despite his insulting comments, hints he may have knowledge of former Col Wilhelm von Bigham. In November, I travel to London for a conference arranged at the Lords cricket ground. Perhaps Mr Esmond will make contact so we can meet? Does he have photographs besides memories? Can he bring a friend who may share his memories? I can show him the former Colonel's treasured Iron Cross and Oak Leaves, now in our possession. We hope to publish early in the New Year but our publishers are growing restless. In particular, we most urgently require information on the Colonel's legendary 1945 escape to Argentina and the subsequent increase of importation of Mercedes Benz saloons into that country. All this was prior to his exposure and the necessity of a change of identification. Finally, a successful transition into a teacher of Biology. A remarkable achievement, considering his total lack of knowledge of the subject.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondAT yahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 19 Oct 2015
Time: 16:48:52
Colin, thank you for intuitively perceiving and clearly elucidating this latest outrage, an affront to the finely-tuned sensibilities of all who sailed in 'The Good Ship HCS' in those far-off, yet somehow ever 'near-and-dear'days. A few - hopefully, of course, very few (although one can never be sure in these difficult times for us and our ilk) - may scoff, but the most appropriate words I can find are presently ringing in my inner ears: "He - and all those like him - should never have been here in the first place!"
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: christopherdotatkinson43atntlworlddotcom
Years_at_school: 19-19
Date: 17 Oct 2015
Time: 05:55:45
Well.happy birthday Laurence. I can give you a few years, having just passed my own 79th birthday. Yes, we're from a very different age. Our past was a different country, they did things... etc etc. But, hey I enjoyed it all. One of my grandsons is off on a school trip to Bletchley; I've set him the task of finding my french teacher (Hugh skillen) on the honours list.
Name: Laurence Lando
Email: drlaurencejlandohotmail.com
Years_at_school: 1957 -
Date: 16 Oct 2015
Time: 01:07:46
I am 70 years of age today, and looking at the form photographs from 1957, with my class mates and Ken Waller, our erstwhile form master, I feel from a different age!
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colindotdickinsatblueyonderdotcodotuk
Years_at_school: 1947 - 1953
Date: 14 Oct 2015
Time: 04:30:34
Brian. I'm afraid this is a spoof by someone who has amused himself - but no one else - with anonymous or pseudonymous entries in the guestbook in the past. I am sorry to have to say that he will no doubt have been gratified that you have taken the bait. He can make - and has made in the past - serious contributions, even if I have not always agreed with him.
Name: Lotte Hotter
Email: hlh-hotteratgmail.com
Years_at_school:
Date: 13 Oct 2015
Time: 12:16:57
Danke Brian. We are sorry you are exhausted. Do you think your first sentence requires a question mark? We are surprised that your English education has not drummed this home, as your people say. We are from Dresden and survivors of 1945 allied bombing night and day. Mein vater was boiled in a public fountain by the heat of incendiary bombs dropped by the British. We regret you have nothing to add to our archive. So! The memory fades. Our work goes on.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotfcom
Years_at_school: 1940 - 1947
Date: 13 Oct 2015
Time: 11:22:37
Where do Hans and Lotte come from. This topic, as with several others, was discussed to the point of exhaustion several years ago.
Name: Hans and Lotte Hotter
Email: hlh-hotteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school:
Date: 11 Oct 2015
Time: 15:01:54
So glad to have discovered your site. We have spent many fruitless years researching the unexplained post-war disappearance of SS Panzer Colonel Wilhelm von Bigham. A noted warrior awarded the Iron Cross and Oak Leaves and recognised as a master of disguise. It is unlikely von Bigham still lives. This German patriot, soldier and biologist is not traceable in existing, scanty wartime Wermacht records, most of which were destroyed upon Adolf Hitler's direct orders. Our information is that the Colonel may have been captured by the British close to the end of hostilities in Europe,1945, and transported to UK retaining his professional connection with car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz. It is rumoured that von Bigham later set up a neo-Nazi youth force masquerading as British army cadets in the hope of taking over the MacMillan Government in the early 1960s. On the orders of subsequent British Prime Minister, Sir Alex Douglas-Home, von Bigham was interrogated by British Secret Services before being returned to peacetime employment as a Biology master, in the London Borough of Harrow. Insufficient evidence was found to bring about a prosecution, thus the Colonel's annual supply of Mercedes saloons into UK continued unabated. A master of languages, von Bigham cunningly adopted a convincing Glaswegian accent and continued to outwit the authorities. It has been suggested that he may have been associated with the despotic Dr A R Simpson, high master of a state education institution based on archaic Ancient Greek values, in the Borough of Harrow, Middlesex. If any former pupils of that era survive, and retain the ability to transcribe words onto the page, we should be grateful for even the tiniest piece of evidence to add to our limited knowledge of this arguably remarkable human being.
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: christopherdotatkinsonatntlworlddotcom
Years_at_school: 19 - 19
Date: 08 Oct 2015
Time: 09:39:19
You need to be old enough to have been involved with usenet - I'm sure you can't be that old Pete - Mallory Patrol in '62 was it?. Anyway, Godwin's Law postulated that any thread on usenet would sooner or later attract a mention of Hitler or Nazis at which point it would die. It seemed to me that Bobbie's posting must have struck a similar chord - hence the long delay before activity was resumed.
Name: Peter (Enry) Starns
Email: HCSatstarns.co.uk
Years_at_school: 1956-1962
Date: 07 Oct 2015
Time: 13:37:41
I didn't think any of the previous three comments mentioned the war. Elucidate Mr Atkinson. And if Keith Atkins is out there, please contact!
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: christopherdotatkinson43atntlworlddotcom
Years_at_school: 19 - 19
Date: 07 Oct 2015
Time: 10:52:05
Well done the last two posters for appearing over the parapet. I really was beginning to think we needed to draft a new extension to Godwin's Law. ;^)
Name: Dick Worsfold
Email: rjworsfoldatmail.com
Years_at_school: 1951-1959
Date: 05 Oct 2015
Time: 17:00:47
Hearing the intermezzo from Sibelius' Karelia Suite reminded me of Ruby Rodger's classic performance in the House Concert of 1957 (?) Or 1958. Does any one else remember this ?
Name: Peter Matthew Housego
Email: pmhousegoatbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1972-1977
Date: 04 Oct 2015
Time: 11:15:15
Interested in hearing from co-attendees for the 1972 to 1977 period
Name: Bob Garratt
Email: garrattsatbtconnect.com
Years_at_school: 1954 - 1962
Date: 16 Aug 2015
Time: 06:38:04
For the record - Frank Tyrrell was buried in woodland near his home on 5 August 2015. The following humanist service at The village hall, Fontmell Magna, turned into a serously good wake as stories flowed of his 'diverse' life including his amazing inability to turn up on time, be organised, or remember to take his belongings with him - odd, for an international management consultant. His love of sport, fine dining and horse racing brought forth many stories as did his escapes from the various NHS hospitals who he thought took too long to decide that he was OK. Photos of his time at HCS (about which he rarely talked)were on display and those with his brother Geofff in the cricket First X1 1961 with his brother Goeff (who was present) caused much ribaldry. We saw him off in style.
Name: Derrick Jones
Email: veraderrickjones gmail.com
Years_at_school: 1952-1959
Date: 12 Aug 2015
Time: 04:36:06
Interesting to see some of the old faces. Will be sending in a photograph of the cadet band taken about 1953 just prior to it becoming a pipes and drum band.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondAT yahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 10 Aug 2015
Time: 02:04:11
Strange how memories differ, Peter, I have a clear snapshot of you light-heartedly (but clearly meaning it) addressing a few of us, standing among the packed Lord's Tavern area, unfavourably comparing the way the England players were, their general 'vibe', with that of the Aussies. In fact, it's one of only two or three such pictures I can recall of that day. But maybe you didn't name anyone in particular.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1958 - 1963
Date: 08 Aug 2015
Time: 14:30:00
Hey, steady on there, Chris Esmond. I thought we always agreed! Yes, I did meet and work with Colin Cowdrey and he was delightful. As for Peter May, even as a youngster brought up on Yorkshire cricket, this Home Counties Southerner was my No. 1 cricketing hero. Stuffy? Certainly not. As a thirteen year-old I obtained his autograph in a London hotel when he was on his way to The Oval. A one hundred per cent gentleman. But that links back to the HCS visit to Lords in 1961 (as you rightly correct me.) No doubt, Davidson came in from the Nursery End at some point but I remember him from the Pavilion End. His run-up began almost on the rails with Wally Grout, the keeper, standing back about twenty five yards. Davidson exploited the ridge in the pitch at the Nursery End. The match was Peter May's come-back and I think he scored a promising 18 before Davo hit the ridge and took May's outside edge. I was dismayed (pardon the pun.) But my admiration for Davidson remains to this day. On today's cricket...well done England. Very sorry for Michael Clark as I never enjoy seeing the greats being brought down to our level. I strongly suspect England have a world beating team in the making. Give them a top spinner and we shall be there. But retain Moenn as a batsman, top fielder and useful bowler.
Name: Dave Buckley
Email: daviddotjasmaatskydotcom
Years_at_school: 53-61
Date: 07 Aug 2015
Time: 12:24:36
In reply to the last couple of posts concerning living in Harrow. After leaving HCS, I continued to live in the Preston Road area. In 1975 I moved to flat conversion in Pinner Road just along from the park gates to Harrow Recreation Ground. In 1987, I married amd my wife moved from her home city of Glasgow to Harrow; we started married life in my flat. A couple of months later, we moved to a house in a road off Pinner View, about half a mile or so behind Pinner Road, where we lived for 17 years. With full retirement for both of us looming on the horizon, we took stock of the position and decided, that as my wife had moved from her country when we married, I would repay the compliment and move to hers! So we bought a house about three miles north of Dumfries, where we have lived since 2003. And from a three bedroom, end of terrace, 1928 house in Metroland, we moved to a four bedroom detached house in a private road, which had been built by a local family in 1978. The pace of life is completely different,and being a small town everyone knows everyone else. Also, the house being specially built, we've met the electrician who wired it (and his sons, one of whom is also an electrician), a cousin of the family who had it built, and a couple of years ago, the son of the builder. As for traffic, there is a morning-evening rush hour of sorts, which lasts about 20 minutes (or as someone defined it - four tractors coming down the bypass at about 4.30!) Our balcony has view straight across to the northern hills of Cumbria, about 25 miles away; farm land starts at the end of the lane and we can hear the sounds of sheep and cattle from time to time. We can get to Glasgow in 75 mimutes; Gretna Green (25 mins) has a excellent factory outlet shopping centre, while Carlisle, also good for shops, is 40 minutes. Overall, definitely a good move. I've been back to Harrow a few times since the move, mainly for funerals, and on my return, I always say I couldn't live there again! The traffic is appalling and I'd hate to have to park in the area with the parking charges (there are no charges in the Dumfries and Galloway county). And of course there's the increase in population. When I was down in mid-July for an AGM, I could hardly move just walking from Harrow and Wealdstone station to my hotel. I'll leave it at that point, as I think anyone reading this will have got the message!
Name: Martin Goodall
Email:
Years_at_school: 1959 - 1966
Date: 07 Aug 2015
Time: 09:42:25
Taking up what my contemporary Chris Esmond has written, in my case (and no doubt in many others), leaving the LB of Harrow, was simply a question of going where my work took me, first to Buckinghamshire, then Hertfordshire, Surrey and Bristol. I have only been back to the area once in the last 40-odd years, (in 1999 to attend a funeral of an old friend, who had been at Harrow Weald County) and the changes to central Harrow and Wealdstone even then came as a considerable shock. After another 16 years I expect the changes are even more marked. Rather surprisingly, my childhood home in Stanmore was still there, and looked more or less unchanged, at least when seen from the front. I really have no desire to go back. The past is another country. They do things differently there.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondAT yahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 07 Aug 2015
Time: 04:46:45
Well, Peter, I've been following the Ashes series, actually listening quite regularly to TMS for the first time in years. I guess you're right re Broad and Anderson, although they've played a lot more Tests than those mighty men of earlier times did, haven't they? I recall that school trip to the Lord's Test, which actually was in '61 and which Bernie Marchant was at, as well as Gethin (Bernie distanced himself from the 'hoi polloi', apparently making straight for the Free Seats behind the bowler's arm - no surprise there, he wasn't one for too much informality, just a few minutes in the dressing room after umpiring a Saturday afternoon match seemed more than enough for him - not that I blame him, he did his best). And yes, perhaps my clearest memory of the cricket that day was indeed Davidson's beautifully rhythmic action, coming in from the Nursery End. That, and, as I've already shared with you, your critical remarks about the public school types in the England team, May and Cowdrey, whose general 'stuffy'-seeming demeanour you compared unfavourably to those seemingly far more 'democratic', less uptight Aussies! (Now,of course,I know you met Cowdrey in your BBC job and found him a delightful character). I haven't played cricket since I was 41, but I reckon I could 'do a job', batting or bowling (or at least enjoy myself) if I somehow got a game in some reasonably low-grade affair. Wouldn't mind a net beforehand though....
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondAT yahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 07 Aug 2015
Time: 04:26:52
Come to think of it, I guess Harrow always was a pretty boring place, like most of the vast north London suburbia which I couldn't wait to get out of as I approached school leaving time. That dreary 18 bus ride home, via Wealdstone and Belmont Circle - oh, as Hurree Singh would say, the tediousness of it all was terrific! Occasional bright spots for me were r'n'b nights at the Railway Hotel, Wealdstone, where, risking the wrath of my ultra-conventional father, himself deeply and repressively conditioned by decades in the army ("I'm not having a son of mine hanging around street corners" was a commonly heard mantra during my teenage years)I briefly entered another world, once even seeing The Who (as, I think, 'The High Numbers') before they hit the big time. Then there were occasional Saturday nights at Harrow Tech, the general strategy being to down a couple of pints beforehand, to be able to approach the situation with at least minimal confidence...And other forays into much more obscure, dimly lit venues, where some local community group were putting on 'dances', usually a means whereby one hung around doing not a lot, until near the end, where you somehow got hold of some ok-looking girl for the last, always slow, number, hoping for a quick snog and a phone number to call for the back row of the cinema the next weekend. Apart from that, my top venue for pleasure, from January '60, was Wealdstone FC, who played - and very well, to 2000 crowds - at the Lower Mead ground, behind the Dominion cinema (both now long gone, I noticed, last time I was in the area, back in '91,as a temp. teacher at Buckingham College, Hindes Road). As for the surrounding suburban sprawl, well, I knew early on I didn't want to be part of that, although later I realised that for my parents' generation living there was a welcome 'reward' for having endured the hardships of their times, particularly, of course, the war. What was well-deserved residential 'peace and quiet' for them was unutterable boredom for me, and most I knew and would meet later on. Now, I treasure similar conditions of quiet, but feel I've earned it in my own way, not least through having lived in and around Camden Town (and Portobello Road) for most of the last 40-odd years, until very recently moving into the Highgate area. Well, I'm nearly 68, after all....
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1958 - 1963
Date: 06 Aug 2015
Time: 16:58:07
Amused but not especially surprised by Chris Esmond's reported finding on Harrow. When occasionally trolling through the entries in this guestbook I have always noted that the writers often appear to have gone to live in far-off places. Witness two recent comments from Canada. Does this not especially scientific evidence suggest something? Personally, I have only been back to Harrow once since living there. And that's once in a lot of years. Maybe my emigration from the North did not help but, on reaching Harrow as a young teenager, I swiftly regarded it as a crummy place without a centre, history or character. I do not count Harrow on the Hill as that was always loftily unconnected and living in an elitist world of its own. I wonder if any former HCS inmate, and still living in Harrow, will refute Chris' report? Indeed, does any former HCS inmate sill live in Harrow or did all flee? Perhaps they would care to comment. Don't all rush. In passing, have any HCS cricketers been following the current Ashes contest? Earlier, Chris Broad took 8 Aussie wickets for 15 runs on the first morning. Michael Vaughan on TMS talked about schoolboy bowling figures. Quite justifiably. I recall my own 7 for 12 against Wallington Grammar School, in 1962 or 3. True schoolboy stuff but, by the same token, mere kids' stuff compared to the Tests and Broad's triumph. I believe he has one wicket to go to equal the great Fred Trueman of our era. Gethin Williams once took a party of HCS cricketers to Lords to see the 1963 Aussies. My eyes were rivetted on three fast bowlers. Alan Davidson, wonderful left arm Aussie opening bowler, the blessed Brian Statham and my own Yorkshire hero, Fred. I can see them now. Surely, their modern counterparts, Broad and Anderson, are in their esteemed league. And still have time for more. Any HCS cricketers out there?
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondATyahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 06 Aug 2015
Time: 06:32:09
Just come across this at, I think, yahoo.com. I'm very surprised - has Harrow deteriorated so badly in the last 50 years?! "The borough of Barking and Dagenham took the accolade for the most miserable place to set up home in the UK. Dagenham also holds the title of Britain's most burgled area. In second place was Hounslow, once voted the worst place for fuel theft due to it being the home of Heathrow Airport. The north west London boroughs of Brent and Harrow followed closely behind. Both boroughs were also named among the top ten worst places for food hygiene enforcement in the UK earlier this year."
Name: Michael Schwartz
Email: michaelwritesforyouatthecasectionofyahoo
Years_at_school: 1965 - 1972
Date: 03 Aug 2015
Time: 18:38:37
Trevor Hancock - what a fascinating life. I too went to Canada - 40 years after you... Interesting that you were the first leader of Canada's Green Party. One or two people have said that my wife Hazel looks like Elizabeth May, the current leader of Canada's Greens! I am now joint UK-Canadian, but I am appalled that Harper has announced the longest election campaign in Canada since 1872. Anyway, a mere trifle. Michael.
Name: Trevor Hancock
Email: Thancockatuvic.ca
Years_at_school: 1960 - 1966
Date: 02 Aug 2015
Time: 13:50:59
I am writing up my notes and old letters home from the year I spent as a VSO volunteer teacher in Lundu, Sarawak (Aug 1966 -Aug 1967). I did this straight after graduating from Harrow County, and was the first VSO from the School, as far as I know. In the process of transcribing my letters I kept coming across references to various members of staff I was writing to and sending materials to (Mr. Avery, Mr. Neal, Mr. Golland) and in an attempt to find out who they were, I came across your wonderful and comprehensive website. Right now I am too busy with the Sarawak materials to spend time on this, but I do have some reminiscences I will share at some time. Looking back, I did get a very good education from the School, for which I am grateful; good enough that combined with my own self-confidence I could actually go out to Sarawak before my 18th birthday, and a month or two after graduating, and teach math, science and husbandry to junior high school students (Forms 1 and 2), some of whom were my own age. Looking back, it was pretty breath-taking, especially teaching tropical plant and animal husbandry to the sons and daughters of local farmers, when I was a city kid from England. I only hope that an important part of what they learned, in comparing my 'by the book' school garden (which did pretty badly) with their own far more successful adjacent garden was that 'white man's knowledge' had its limits! On returning to England in the fall of 1967 I went to medical school (Bart's) and then came to Canada in 1975 as a family physician. In 1980 I went into public health, and in the 1980's became one of the founders of what is by now a world-wide movement for Healthy Cities and Communities. I was also a founder and the first Leader of the Green Party of Canada and a co-founder of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment and the Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care. These days I am a Professor of Public Health at a new School of Public Health and Social Policy at the University of Victoria and a keen Morris dancer, which I have been doing now for almost 40 years, on and off.
Name: chrisesmond@yahoo.com
Email: chrisesmondATyahoo.com
Years_at_school: 1959 - 1966
Date: 31 Jul 2015
Time: 04:36:46
I remember Frank Tyrrell (and Geoff), good guy with a wry sense of humour, a couple of years or so older than me, so his time at HCS was probably 57-64. RIP.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1958 - 1963
Date: 30 Jul 2015
Time: 16:07:08
Saddened to see Bob Garrett's note about the passing of Frank Tyrell. My memory of Frank, a pretty good rugby player, is of his turning out in goal on Sundays for our unofficial and renegade Gayton Rovers soccer team. This was much hated by Underwood. Frank was not a graceful goalie but a brave stopper who would fling himself at attacking opponents' feet, ie their flying boots. I hope his younger brother Geoff is still with us. He and I opened the batting together for the First XI.
Name: Bob Garratt
Email: garrattsatbtconnect.com
Years_at_school: 1954 1962
Date: 30 Jul 2015
Time: 09:22:23
Sad news just in. Frank Tyrrell passed away on Tuesday. I think his years were 1959 to 1967. His funeral is private but will be followed by a 'wake' at Fontmell Magna Village Hall Dorset at 1430 on 5 August. If I get any other information I'll post it here.
Name: Alex Bateman
Email: Via Jeff
Years_at_school: 1980 - 1984
Date: 27 Jul 2015
Time: 13:30:24
I have had sad news today from Bob Blackburn (HCS 1943 to 48), to say that his beloved wife Eileen passed away yesterday, July 26th 2015. Older members might recall her helping with teas in the Rugby Club, Tennis Club, Swimming Club and Athletics Club, quite often with Joan Rhoades. Our condolences to Bob and his family.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondAT yahoo.com
Years_at_school: 1959- 1966
Date: 23 Jul 2015
Time: 11:36:31
I'm afraid it's just two short steps from 'Old Gayts' to 'Old Farts' - well said, Martin Goodall, Peter Ward, Jeffrey Maynard.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 1940- 1947
Date: 18 Jul 2015
Time: 12:52:53
Jeffrey wrote to tell me that he is in UK where he recently lost his father. I am sure all readers of this site will wish to join in sending condolences at this sad time.
Name: Brian Parker
Email: bkp4meatgmail.com
Years_at_school: 1969 - 1976
Date: 11 Jul 2015
Time: 14:11:59
A quick note to mark the passing at the age of 87 of my uncle, (Cyril) John Parker, who attended Harrow County from 1938 to 1943. He received the I.S.O. in the Queen's birthday honours in 1986.
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash70pan at yahoo dot com
Years_at_school: 1962 - 1969
Date: 08 Jul 2015
Time: 11:06:45
Last night I attended The Honours Awards Evening at Harrow High School. The guest speaker was Sir Nigel Sheinwald who also presented the prizes. Nigel and I caught up on old times and he spoke fondly of Ken Waller, Bernie Marchant and George Cowan amongst others. PARA............... I spoke to a number of parents and learners and am pleased to report that the atmosphere was very positive . Paul Gamble has made great progress during the past five years. PARA................. In addition to the Old Gaytonians Tony Rhoades cup, other awards were made in the name of Marvin Sodell ( an Old Boy and professional footballer), John Courquin ( another Old Boy who is the present Chair of the Governors), Paul Nurse, Diane Campbell and Ruth Dennison. It is good to see such support for the School from so many members of the Association. Doubtless Paul will report in greater detail to the Association in due course.
Name: Chris
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 07 Jul 2015
Time: 08:24:37
How did OG AGM go?
Name: Jeffrey Maynard
Email: jeffrey at jeffreymaynard dot
com
Years_at_school: 1962-1969
Date: 28 Jun 2015
Time: 20:52:02
As many of you know, the Annual General Meeting of the Old Gaytonians Association will be held at 11.00 am on Sunday 5th July 2015 at the Bedford Arms Hotel, Chenies, near Rickmansworth WD3 6EQ.
As I for one, will be unable to attend, I would like to share some thoughts.
We (users of the website and facebook group) need everyone who can possibly attend the above meeting to do so because if no-one is prepared to run the Association there is a proposal to close it down and this will affect the website. The Association is in danger of closing down because many of its officers, good people who have contributed years of work and support, are getting older and we need some guys to step up to the plate (as we say in the USA) and take over. If you can’t volunteer, at least attend and vote against the eventual closure proposal.
The Gaytonian website (the original one – not the Old Gayts site) was started by me fifteen years ago with encouragement from Colin Dickins who was then the editor of the Old Gaytonian magazine, and from the late Jim Golland, my old English master. The material on the site was scanned and donated by many people, and includes a large contribution from Alex Bateman, who is the current editor of the Old Gaytonian and who put together the Gaytonian archives. The idea was not that you liked or disliked the school, but that there were common memories to be shared and educational history to be documented.
Everybody has their own concept of the Old Gaytonians Association. For some it is associated with rugby players, for others dramatic productions and for some just memories. For me, it provides legitimacy and a source of documentary material. The website was and still is an attempt to create a virtual section of the Association, recognizing that we are scattered all over the world and cannot easily meet.
We need the Association to remain in existence, with its potential for occasional reunions and its valuable archives in order to keep this website alive and link it with the existing school. If the school today is different from the school in our day, that is good – hopefully the original school – Harrow County would eventually have modernized and morphed into Harrow High School. (There is also an altruistic factor of ‘giving something back’ by supporting Harrow High School today).
We also need to consider bringing the Association into the 21st century by making it more ‘virtual’. I belong to various international organizations where you do not have to be physically present to take part. Perhaps we could all meet once a month via web-conferencing (just an idea!).
Some people have asked about ‘closing the Gaytonian guestbook’. I’m not sure where this idea came from, but I have no intention of doing so. As well as the Gaytonian website, I was asked to look after the Old Gaytonians Association website, which is quite minimal. In the event of closure of the Old Gayts, it would not need a website anyway, but the logical thing to do, if we can keep the Association going, is to combine them.
Jeff Maynard – June 2015
Name: Chris
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 27 Jun 2015
Time: 05:29:47
Chris Atkinson. Can't speak for others but I'm not anti-OGs I am just opposed to an apparent desire on their behalf to merge the two sites and ditch the GuestBook. A Facebook site could never achieve the level of organisation that is on this site. The Guestbook allows a range of feelings to be expressed. That is appropriate as, clearly, the HCS experience was widely divergent for various pupils.
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: christopherdotatkinson43atntlw
Years_at_school: 19 - 19
Date: 27 Jun 2015
Time: 04:13:58
Well we did feel that wearing the tie might be turned to advantage. We used to do practice career interviews with the older 4th Harrow Scouts, and always suggested wearing a Scout tie or an Old Gayts tie - after all you never knew if one or the other might work in your favour. I once wore a Tripoli District tie to an interview, which helped get me a nice secondment to the FCO in Brussels. I wonder if any other ex-HCS pupils employed a similar tactic?
Name: Martin Goodall
Email:
Years_at_school: 1959 - 1966
Date: 26 Jun 2015
Time: 14:17:49
Old Gayts tie? Oh dear. Yes, definitely beyond the pale!
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: christopherdotatkinson43atntlw
Years_at_school: 19 - 19
Date: 26 Jun 2015
Time: 11:29:16
So, having perhaps temporarily exhausted the attacks on the teaching staff, do we now move on to attacks on Old Gayts? It seems to me to be an ageist thing, since in the days when I left HCS most of us automatically joined the Old Gayts; perhaps this didn't happen in later years? Yes, Old Gayts will have been found in all sorts of other organisations ... something wrong in that? I've got an Old Gayts tie - hope that doesn't put me beyond the pale.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1958 - 1963
Date: 24 Jun 2015
Time: 03:41:24
Responding to Ian Gawns's note, I remember both Malcolm Ingram and Ian Henley. Glad both have done well. Henley was a formidable actor and played the lead in Shaw's St Joan in his Third Year. I had just joined the school from the North and was in Henley's English set taught by a hopeless student called Eldergill. Henley somehow managed to provoke the unfortunate young man. Completely out of control, Eldergill smacked Henley hard across the face. Whereupon his victim collapsed on the floor and lay still. Did he turn a shade of white? Faint groans emanated from the near lifeless corpse. The class was in near riot accusing the unfortunate student teacher of killing their comrade. Panic stricken Eldergill failed to spot a cheeky wink to the class from the prone cadaver. To Eldergill's vast relief, Henley began a slow recovery, complete with groans and rolling of the eyes. From that point on, Eldergill steered clear of Henley. This guestbook must be saved and not handed to the Rotarians, golfers, Lions and Masons of the Old Gayts. True, its entries are often turgid, minimal and uninteresting but, on occasion, the odd grain of gold glints in the mud at the bottom of the sifting pan. I understand the Old Gayts striped blazer, tie and cravat go well with 1950s Winklepicker shoes and, in inclement weather, shortie raincoats. The Doctor would be proud.
Name: John Wilson
Email: Jbwilsonatbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1952 - 1957
Date: 22 Jun 2015
Time: 11:53:51
An enjoyable reminiscence.
Name: Chris
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 22 Jun 2015
Time: 06:47:55
What is the OGs reason for wanting to combine sites and to ditch the GB? This site is well organised, which is almost never true of Facebook sites. The GB gives the opportunity for a nuanced view of the HCS experience. Is there a concern within OGA about the "negativity" ? The fact is that for some HCS was a very negative experience and I see no point in denying that. For as long as Jeff is prepared to maintain this site there is no reason to change. If some OGs are uncomfortable with frank discussion that is their problem.
Name: Ian Gawn
Email: ian.gawnat orange.fr
Years_at_school: 1955-62
Date: 20 Jun 2015
Time: 03:23:49
Aah, school dinners: downside tapioca, cabbage and BROAD BEANS (I still cannot stand them). On the "plus" side: sausages. spam fritters and Bakewell tart
Name: Ian Gawn
Email: Ian.gawnatorange.fr
Years_at_school: 1955-62
Date: 20 Jun 2015
Time: 03:21:06
Two things: some may remember a rather good actor called Malcolm Ingram - well I found him on the internet, and have been in correspondence with him. He is still acting, and retires next year from a professorial career at an American university. I am also trying to "find" another actor from HCS days, Ian Henley. last came across him at RAF College Cranwell in 1982-3, when he as a squadron leader, and a squadron commander on Initial Officer Training. just wondered if anyone was in contact with him.
Name: Martin Goodall
Email:
Years_at_school: 1959 - 1966
Date: 19 Jun 2015
Time: 13:50:11
I have always regarded the Old Gayts as lot of boring old farts. Why don't they just fold their tents and steal away, leaving us to enjoy this anarchic and irreverent Guest Book to ourselves. I look at Jeff Maynard's website fairly regularly, and particularly the Guest Book. It is a throughly Good Thing. I frankly want nothing whatsoever to do the OGA. (You know the type - freemasons and Rotarians, who love nothing better than to wear blazers and flannels and to dream of their lost youth, since when life just hasnt been the same for them.) P.S. Poor punctuation in this rant is due solely to trying to get this to load without the system bouncing it.
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colindotdickinsatblueyonderuk
Years_at_school: 1947 1953
Date: 18 Jun 2015
Time: 15:39:04
Ugh! Tapioca - known as frogspawn in my day. Ghastly, as were most school dinners, even to my untutored palate. I suppose one might make allowances for the immediate post-war shortages, but I suspect that was only part of the reason. After a couple of years I got my mother to give me sandwiches every day. [Para] Brian Hester's story reminds me of Denis 'Andy' Anderton, who lost an eye playing rugby for the Old Gayts. One of his post-match tricks was to drop his glass eye in someone else's beer. He was probably late 1920's intake. [Para] Peter Rapaport's observation about the staff, so roundly condemned by so many contributors to this site, led me to reflect: I cannot recall ever being bullied by any member of staff, although I was usually in trouble and much punished - mostly justly I think, frequently in a perfunctorily physical way, but mostly with detentions and "lines". (I will pass over a brief suspension from school and ejection from the CCF (twice). Those who taught me I mostly liked and even the most maligned of them had his virtues. One brief story: the acid-tongued Spadger Heys retired in about 1950 and in his last term wandered around the school taking pictures with his Rollei. One was of me playing chess with form-mate Wise sitting outside the "new" entrance. A couple of weeks later, with a friendly smile, he gave me a half plate print of it. I wish I could find it now.
Name: Laurence Lando
Email: laurencelandoatbbc
Years_at_school: 1957 -
Date: 18 Jun 2015
Time: 08:42:32
Don't remember much about the school lunches, other than to say how bland they all were, perhaps stodge might be a better description. Just had lunch with our fellow pupil, Peter Rapaport, at one of his gastro-pubs in central London. If you are in the vicinity of Marble Arch, look out for The Portman, in Upper Berkley St. The upstairs dining room is very swish, needless to say we ate in the pub, downstairs...
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 1940 - 1947
Date: 18 Jun 2015
Time: 04:46:25
For many of us, our bodies' lifetime need of tapioca pudding was completely satisfied by the school lunches. One of our number at a table of eight would often be offered a second helping after he removed his glass eye and passed it around on a spoon.
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: christopherdotatkinson43atntlw
Years_at_school: 19 - 19
Date: 18 Jun 2015
Time: 03:43:27
Don't tell me that we've run out of items from the vast store of awful reminiscences about the teaching staff at HCS. Maybe nobody has recollections of any good times? Come on, somebody must have liked school dinners ... extra tapioca anyone?
Name: Peter Rapaport
Email: pbrapaport at aol.com
Years_at_school: 1957-64
Date: 09 Jun 2015
Time: 08:52:37
I haven't visited this mega exciting historical site for some years now, but it's a lovely afternoon where I am and I got bored and so trawled through my saved websites and HCS is one of the least used by me and now I remember why. A mass of reminiscing about all the wicked and cruel teaching staff from our days 1957 to 1964. I can only recall either being bullied by the masters in the CCF or the number of times I was asked to leave the class or just simply wacked with a cane or a ruler or worse having a wooden blackboard eraser chucked at me from not too far away. Not a good way to live, although I'm still around to mention them. Anyway enough of those good times. I actually wanted to contact Laurence Lando again, to thank him for lunch when we met way back now in March 2013. Thanks Laurence, it's my turn next time and we can catch up via email, as more private. Give me a call. All of you old chaps keep well now.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondAT yahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 09 Jun 2015
Time: 07:21:25
Meeting last week an old friend from schooldays and beyond (after a gap of nearly 44 years!), he reminded me of a truly appalling example of Cowan and Simpson's authoritarian stupidity, perpetrated on him when he was a 17 year-old 6th former. One of our group had apparently had his very expensive watch stolen while we were in a P.E. session and pointed the finger at my friend, who'd missed the lesson due to injury or other physical malaise. My friend, totally innocent, was nevertheless deemed guilty by Cowan and forced into daily after-school detentions until he "owned up". This went on for a while, until my friend's father, who happened to be a police officer, got to hear about it and stepped in, demanding a meeting with Simpson. There ensued a huge, protracted row, Simpson adamant that Cowan was correct, while the father insisted it was a complete travesty of justice, as no evidence whatsoever had been produced. He refused to back down - and eventually he won, Simpson relenting and cancelling the ludicrous, undeserved punishment. However, my friend received no apology. And by the way, the chap whose watch had 'disappeared' later revealed he'd made it all up, as "a laugh" (but never admitted as much to the powers-that-be). Now this disgraceful episode sums up,in microcosm, much of what was utterly wrong with that benighted regime. Good riddance to it all.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondATyahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 08 Jun 2015
Time: 14:28:45
Would like to add that although I no longer have much, if any, interest in this site, apart from the GB,I very much appreciate Jeffrey Maynard's work in creating it and keeping it together. A monumental labour of love, and well worthwhile.
Name: David Jackson
Email: geriatrix at bigfoot dot com
Years_at_school: 1958 - 1964
Date: 08 Jun 2015
Time: 02:36:21
I agree completely. Please keep the guest book. I wasn't aware that the GB was linked with Old Gayts, of which I have never been a member, although I do keep an eye on their Facebook page, and personally have no problem with FB or Twitter. But then I sold my soul to Google and the rest of them many years ago....
Name: Pete Fowler
Email: p fowler at ntlworld.com
Years_at_school: 1956- 1962
Date: 07 Jun 2015
Time: 12:18:42
There's a misunderstanding here: I didn't write in order to damn Facebook and Twitter - I wrote because the OGA in their latest missive have suggested combining this Web Site with theirs and stripping it of its Guest Book. Presumably some people there don't like it. There's no point at all in ranting about FB and Twitter because they're both incredibly popular and there is, whatever we may think, an active Old Gayts Facebook site. I want Jeff's site preserved - because it's brilliant- and with its Guest Book maintained; I am not hurling any abuse at those who prefer to use other social media sites. This would be more than hypocritical since I use Facebook - not for HCS- and have found Twitter an outstanding research tool for finding stuff out. If you 'follow',as one example, a dozen of the journalists you like and discover what they are currently reading, the information leads to all kinds of goodies. I would never, ever see the American stuff without the references I see on Twitter....
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondAT yahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 07 Jun 2015
Time: 11:54:18
Laurence, you write: "...without any benefit to those that really matter, and that dear gentlemen, are the past, present and hopefully the future pupils of HCGSB." This is a strange statement indeed. Past pupils, yes - but Laurence, please keep up: HCS has gone for ever, it ceased to exist as we knew it in 1975; only the buildings remain. Are your references to present and future pupils evidence of some sort of fervent hope? Or are you simply in denial? In a time warp perhaps? I know, you're just havin' a larf....
Name: Type your name here Paul Romney
Email: unchanged
Years_at_school: 56-63
Date: 07 Jun 2015
Time: 11:41:57
I don't subscribe to Facebook, and don't expect to do so.
Name: Laurence Lando
Email: HCGSB
Years_at_school: 1957 -
Date: 07 Jun 2015
Time: 09:40:02
Face book be damned! The use of social media is all pervasive in our society. Not only is this website a model to be emulated by others but the input into the Guest Book is the beating heart of the concept, so ably constructed by Jeff Maynard. It is not at all helpful for contributions to be put on FB instead of our 'home' site. Twitter and FB do have their place, but they would wound our site, without any benefit to those that really matter, and that dear gentlemen, are the past, present and hopefully the future pupils of HCGSB. Those wanting to research the social history of this school, will find all that is necessary to suffice their demand for information. Stand up and be counted.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondATyahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 07 Jun 2015
Time: 05:35:20
Agree totally with Pete Fowler; without the GB I doubt whether I'd ever bother to visit this site. I wonder what motivates those who think it surplus to requirements... I suspect most are what I'd call 'believers', who bought the whole HCS ethos and who have become increasingly attached to it as the years have passed, mentally maintaining and nurturing their version as a significant aspect of their identity, a cornerstone of their beliefs and values; consequently finding anything that seems or might threaten to undermine it something of an irritation, anathema even - you know, "subversive, left-wing propaganda peddled by unreliable, crypto-anarchists, wearing shortie Italian raincoats and woodpecker shoes, sir (none of them reading either the Daily Mail or The Telegraph). What's more, they should never have been there in the first place! Sheer folly to give them any sort of facility to spread their poison. Should be airbrushed out of the picture, the lot of 'em!"
Name: Dave Buckley
Email: daviddotjasmaatskydotcom
Years_at_school: 53-61
Date: 06 Jun 2015
Time: 09:49:46
I agree with the last two posts and the suggestion that a new combined website won't have a GB would be a disaster. However, I won't use FB as a matter of principle, and as a for Twitter, the least said the better. I did realise that FB seemed to have taken over from the GB in some areas of discussion, but then a good thread started and I had second thoughts. Now this seems to be confirmed as there has been no mention of the recent death of Ann Stratton, a stalwart of the OB dramatic club for many years on this GB, yet I know there was a post on FB. At the moment, I'm digesting the latest information about the OGA and the possible closure next year. Dave B.
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: christopherdotatkinson43atntlw
Years_at_school: 19 - 19
Date: 05 Jun 2015
Time: 09:37:44
I'm with you Peter, I regard FB and Twitter as two of the more dangerous (and often unsavoury) areas of the web. Sometimes this site goes for weeks without comment, which is a shame, but I still feel safer here. Chris A.
Name: Pete Fowler
Email:
Years_at_school: 1956-1962
Date: 05 Jun 2015
Time: 02:14:41
At present, material relevant to this site is being entered in two different places - here, on Jeff's site, and on the Facebook pages for the Old Gaytonians. I joined the FB site and then, some time ago, came off it because I thought people would focus here, the site is so much more comprehensive. But a couple of days ago I looked, for the first time in ages, at the FB pages and saw some rather important entries from Alex Bateman, Colin Dickins and Jeff Maynard relating to the problems facing the OGA (we're all getting a bit old and dying off in phases!). Please would contributors here take a look at their contributions: when I saw them, I immediately re-joined because I felt very strongly that the OGA did not 'get' social media; and their suggestion that, in the future, an amalgamated web site of this one and theirs - with the crucial rider: 'without the Guest Book'- was utterly ridiculous. I don't know about you, but the Guest Book is always my first port of call, if only to get cross with one or two people! To me, the GB is the very lifeblood of this site, and, if others feel the same, they really need to say so.
Name: Chris
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 28 May 2015
Time: 08:34:30
Laurence -......nor Twink Bradley's "dry cleaning"
Name: Laurence Lando
Email: laurencelandoatemail.com
Years_at_school: 1957-64
Date: 28 May 2015
Time: 00:26:11
Chris, I notice that nothing was said about flying board rubbers, as used by Clarkson!
Name: Laurence Lando
Email: laurencelandoatemail.com
Years_at_school: 1957-64
Date: 28 May 2015
Time: 00:26:10
Chris, I notice that nothing was said about flying board rubbers, as used by Clarkson!
Name: Chris
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 27 May 2015
Time: 17:12:14
CORPORAL PUNISHMENT This from the Daily Mail July 1950 Daily Mail, London, 10 July 1950, p.5 Cane here and sign the book By Daily Mail Reporter e TEACHERS in Middlesex may soon have to refer to "caning laws" before they make young Johnny bend over. The County Education Committee will be asked today to adopt a compulsory ten-point correction code telling which parts of the child can be hit and whether to use a cane or an open hand slap. Corporal punishment must be inflicted only by headmasters, headmistresses and specially authorised teachers. Boys can be caned on the hands or buttocks. Girls should be given corporal punishment only in exceptional circumstances, and on the hands only. Punishments banned include boxing the ears, rapping knuckles and "any forms of correction likely to affect adversely mental or physical development." If the code is adopted a Punishment book will be kept in each school. Every caning will be logged with the names of the punisher and the child. I assume this policy was adopted which suggests ARS and Co cold bloodedly ignored it.
Name: of the same generation
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 14 May 2015
Time: 02:53:42
David was made an honorary lifetime fellow in 1970!
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash70pan at yahoo dot com
Years_at_school: 1962-1969
Date: 11 May 2015
Time: 06:36:23
I bumped into David Lerner (like myself 1962-1969) on Saturday. I told him the sad news about George Cowan. To this he replied : Nobody liked him, but I did. He put up with me. He was a fair man. For those who remember him, David was definitely a fully paid up member of the awkward squad, then and indeed, now.
Name: David Jewell
Email: davidjewell567atgmail.com
Years_at_school: 1932
Date: 09 May 2015
Time: 14:49:12
My father, Frank Jewell was in the class of 1924 and we updated his information a few years ago. His brother John Jewell was in the class of1932 . I offer the following: John Jewell joined the British Army - Royal Engineers and rose to the rank of Captain by the end of WW2. John became a marine engineer with Harland and Wolf. He married and had two daughters, Sarah and Nicola. ( Nicola works for the Bedford Police, unfortunately Sarah died) John worked in marine engineering until his death approximately 1995.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 40-7
Date: 26 Apr 2015
Time: 13:30:53
Righty-ho Peter Ward, me old cock sparrow.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet
Years_at_school: 1958 - 1963
Date: 21 Apr 2015
Time: 03:33:22
I spotted Brian Hester's comment on Scottish ladies' use of the term 'hen' as an endearment. Glaswegian women mainly? I once saw a London play 'Up the Steamie' on the laundresses of Glasgow. 'Hen' featured in virtually every line. As a proud Doncastrian, a walk around the fine market would produce many a 'Yer alright, Duck?' Pronounced DOOK. I'm not certain which bird is in use here in genteel and highly rural Sussex. Possibly, 'Such a gorgeous morning. Come round for coffee, Quail.'
Name: Huw Davies
Email: hmd1992atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1971 - 1974
Date: 20 Apr 2015
Time: 10:30:32
Regarding the rising inflection; it is somewhat ironic that Australians go up at the end of a sentence, when so many of their ancestors went down at the beginning of one.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhestatergmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 40-7
Date: 20 Apr 2015
Time: 04:49:14
Yes Roy, the language we learned at our mothers' knees continues to evolve in convoluted ways. I find it a fascinating study and must thank you for the plausible explanation of the famous Australian 'up tick'. When we lived in Scotland, my Canadian wife was amused by the use of the word 'hen' with an uptick at the end of a sentence. Her favorite was the shop where with four children in tow, the assistant would ask deferentially "are you getting yours, hen?"
Name: Roy Goldman
Email: roygraceatbigpond.net.au
Years_at_school: 1943 - 1949
Date: 19 Apr 2015
Time: 19:32:46
When I moved to Australia some 50 years ago, the uptick mentioned by Brian and co. was explained to me as a symptom of the insecurity felt by a young nation struggling for identity and recognition. If you make a statement but then raise the pitch of your voice at the end of it, then it sounds like a question. And, you cant be criticised for asking a question now can you? in similar vein, the habit Aussie telephonists have of saying to me when I call, What WAS your name? still irritates me. Responding with You mean before I got married, or I didnt give it to you gets me nowhere. The receptionist Im told, is actually apologising in advance in case I had already given her my name and she had forgotten it.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 40-7
Date: 19 Apr 2015
Time: 04:34:17
An interesting post Chris. I always understood French is spoken in Belgium with a great range of accents. This is especially so amongst those Flemish speakers who speak French as a second language. During WW2 I believe the French underground would give escaping British airmen false identity papers showing they were Belgian. The Germans apparently recognised this accent business so excused anyone who spoke 'funny French'. I left HCS fairly proficient at reading French but with no self-confidence at speaking. What speaking skill I have was acquired in the outer fringes of settlement in Quebec where some speak a variety of the language spoken in Normandy during the 18 th century. In France this leaves me sounding a bit like Robbie Burns trying to give directions to a Cornishman. Whiffy King would be proud of me. The ability to speak 'tortured French' is an advantage in Francophone West Africa where the French are not particularly popular. Grammatical mistakes are regarded as an endearing accomplishment.
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: christopherdotatkinson43atntlworlddotcom
Years_at_school: way back when
Date: 19 Apr 2015
Time: 03:20:14
oops, sorry about that double posting. After a spell in Papworth Hospital having various mechanical bits shoved into me, I think my brain has turned to mush.
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: christopherdotatkinson43atntlworlddotcom
Years_at_school: quite happy, thank you
Date: 18 Apr 2015
Time: 05:24:51
On a posting to UKDEL NATO I lived for some four years in Belgium - and never noticed that 'upward tick'. It was only a couple of years later when we decided to take a surfing holiday in France that it was brought home to me. I was doing it myself without realising - withe result that the campsite manager I was chatting with thought I was a Belgian. I'm not sure if that speaks volumes for my command of the French language, or if Belgians speak lousy French. I wonder what Hugh S. would have made of that.
Name: Type your name here
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school:
Date: 18 Apr 2015
Time: 05:20:52
On a posting to UKDEL NATO I lived for some four years in Belgium - and never noticed that 'upward tick'. It was only a couple of years later when we decided to take a surfing holiday in France that it was brought home to me. I was doing it myself without realising - withe result that the campsite manager I was chatting with thought I was a Belgian. I'm not sure if that speaks volumes for my command of the French language, or if Belgians speak lousy French. I wonder what Hugh S. would have made of that.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: as ever'
Years_at_school: 40=7
Date: 17 Apr 2015
Time: 15:05:46
The last three posts make no sense whatever. What is the objective of the senders?
(We are being spammed a little. I removed the posts. Jeff Maynard)
Name: brian hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 40-7
Date: 16 Apr 2015
Time: 05:11:23
Thank you for the interesting comments on language. I also abhor the 'terminal uptick' in pitch, but there it is. Use of it by a candidate at a job interview would certainly put me off, but then I don't work any more! Back to the subject of physical abuse - our parents were uniformly delighted when we were accepted at HCS. It is unlikely any of us told them about abuse. In later life I worked with a number of men who had attended public schools at enormous expense to their parents. The tales of abuse in these schools far exceeded anything I saw at HCS. In retrospect, we got off lightly!
Name: Martin Goodall
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1959 - 1966
Date: 15 Apr 2015
Time: 08:40:47
Harry Mees was clearly proud of his Gloucestershire accent and never made any attempt to disguise it. It was an essential part of his persona. As for the annoying upward pitch at the end of a sentence it is certainly an Australian trait but I have a theory that the Australian accent and speech patterns actually originated from Suffolk or rural Essex. So the linguistic influence has perhaps come full circle. Aussi, les Francais parlent dans la meme mode, le voix levant vers le fin d un phrase. Cela c est tres important si on voudra parler francais comme les natifs. I have had to eliminate all punctuation except full stops and commas to get this to load.
Name: Pete Fowler
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 56 62
Date: 15 Apr 2015
Time: 03:18:55
A global economy influences language globally, Brian..surely it was Received Pronunciation that determined our standards of spoken English, Estuary English being the bastardised cockneyfication spoken by so many inhabitants in the south east. The triumph of Essex in the 1990s. But we are also influenced by the dominant cultural form of the language, American, and aspects of even Australian uses(that annoying rising pitch at the end of a sentence, sounding like an everlasting series of questions). In our HCS day, it was rare to hear anything but RP: although many individual teachers who came from places other than the south east had their own very idiosyncratic take on what RP meant. Step forward our Scottish and West Country heroes...
Name: Brian Hester
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Date: 10 Apr 2015
Time: 05:46:53
Times change as do standards of acceptable behaviour. HCS as we knew it filled a need in society but society has changed. Change is often imperceptible. Living as I have done for many years away from UK I see these changes in stark reality when I visit. Changes are not only behavioral but in language. We were all brought up speaking what is now known as "Estuarine" English. On a visit a few years ago I found the accent to have changed so much that I could barely understand some of the television programmes. My point is that the behaviour of people like Twink, Amos et al was quite acceptable at the time. There was one master whom we all thought had homosexual tendencies but he never let his instincts get away so it would be unfair to his memory to name him. He was obviously cut out of staff room society by his peers none of hwom were ever in his company.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school:
Date: 10 Apr 2015
Time: 05:22:23
Standards of acceptable behaviour have changed radically over the years - especially so regarding what we today consider to be physical abuse. The HCS we knew served its social purpose and was disbanded to fit what was thought to be a change in society. To someone living in the country all the time, these societal changes are often imperceptable but they grind on.
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colinddotdickinsatblueyonderdotco.douk
Years_at_school: 1947-1953
Date: 10 Apr 2015
Time: 04:56:01
Not really, Laurence. George Thorn was given to asexual cuddles (often misinterpreted). Only Eggie Webb was mildly deviant: he like to look at - and sometimes touch - young boys' genitalia and would contrive opportunities. I wouldn't say it amounted to abuse, although I always attributed his sudden exit to a job in the IoM as being due to this.
Name: Laurence Lando
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1957 - 1964
Date: 09 Apr 2015
Time: 08:28:14
A delicate question. We have all agreed that violence towards boys was endemic from many staff, both junior and senior. Was there ever any suggestion of sexual abuse, of boys, towards members of staff. I never had any indication of this throughout my years as a pupil.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.war16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school:
Date: 09 Apr 2015
Time: 00:47:53
I can't agree with Brian Hester's (see previous) view on teachers trained and working half a century ago. He feels to perceive the point that there were humane and competent teachers who taught well enough. If, at the time, being civilised was good enough for them, the argument applies across the board and to their thuggish colleagues. Perhaps one day someone will justify the current atrocities in Syria as the norm. That is not a view that today's current general population might share.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom'
Years_at_school: 40-7
Date: 08 Apr 2015
Time: 19:41:24
We put up with it all because that was the social order. Things have changed radically since of course. We cannot apply present standards to those now far off times. We were taught largely by the last of the Victorians who in their turn were educated before WW1.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1958-63
Date: 08 Apr 2015
Time: 15:53:53
Having just popped back to the web site, I do find it curious that relics of the Simpsonian past continue to dominate the guest book. It is now half a century on. As I have written before, my own answer was to find the funny, even pathetic, side of the mediocre non-entities who made such poor attempts to educate us. The worst were failing dinosaurs in an emerging age of change and semi-revolution. Few could have made it in the big, bad world outside. Bullying and short-changing boys, educationally, was all they seemed able to do. How sad it was, at the time, that we naive teenagers had neither the confidence nor the intellectual maturity to take these people on in cool debate. Some of these failed men were fortunate to escape with their careers and pensions.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom'
Years_at_school: 40-7
Date: 08 Apr 2015
Time: 13:39:03
Twink Bradley was an eccentric academic with no interest in teaching. I suppose he had no choice. Randall Williams probably hired him because the doctorate looked well on the staff list. His propensity for violence seems to have increased with age. He was very generous with his time and took us sculling on the Serpentine on Saturdays. Later he organized rowing on the Thames so he had some good points. When it came to crossing a busy street in London, he simply stuck out his umbrella to stop the traffic and hurried us across. A lot of the staff were eccentric - probably the majority. I believe they worked on it. Bill Duke was one of the few who were normal people.
Name: Chris
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 06 Apr 2015
Time: 18:49:00
I agree with Richard Masters such as Amos, Bigham, Whiteside, Twink, Schofield would not only have been sacked by today's standard, they likely would have done jail time, which would have been well deserved.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 40-7
Date: 02 Apr 2015
Time: 13:06:51
Simpson's and Bigham's first year over-lapped with my last. Simpson knew we would be leaving so tolerated us while he worked on the lower forms. Bigham peered at us from the stage at morning assembly though what appeared to be frosted spectacles. Eggy Webb, who was a first class biology head of department left at the end of the first term. Swanny was at his peak however. He arrived each day hatless with poker straight back on his bicycle, plotting as he went how he would treat us! He disliked fat or pudgy boys and would have them hanging on the wall bars for ages like prisoners in a cartoon of a mediaeval torture chamber. One day he mounted the narrow beam and performed a trick on one leg. When it was my turn, I executed the same trick - I am hyper-extensive but did not know it at time. Swanny grunted by way of comment but never bothered me again. On the rare occasions that a master was absent, Swanny would teach us how to decimalise the currency with techniques I found useful years later when the decimal system came. He always had a hair cut that would please any sergeant major by never trimmed his eyebrows or ear hair, both of which sprouted magnificently. I have often wondered if his behaviour was due to not having a son of his own. He was with boys all through his career. One thing he did well each morning was get about five hundred boys lined up and into school in short order. He got all the rotten jobs like having to explain the evils of homosexual predators to us. I have mixed feelings about the man, but what else could he have done for a career - like Simpson for that matter.
Name: Richard Buckley
Email: richardatspaceplanner.co.uk
Years_at_school: 1959-65
Date: 01 Apr 2015
Time: 03:43:25
Mr. Cowan's first year at HCS overlapped with my last year. I don't believe I ever spoke to him. On 28th January 2001 I wrote the following in the guest book: - I'm afraid I do not remember with affection men such as Dr Simpson, who sneered at anything that was not Oxbridge and who was reactionary even by the standards of the late 1950s, 'Swannie' Amos (Head of PE) with his curious enthusiasm to say 'Bend over boy' and then hit them with a skipping rope for next to no reason, Mr. Cowan and his ridiculous TRALA (toilet roll and lavatory patrol) and 'Colonel' Bigham whose pretence at running a schoolboy army was displacement activity for heaven knows what. Whilst they were, no doubt, well meaning men by their own standards, at the time I thought them ridiculous and absurd. With the maturity that comes with middle age, I now feel I was far too kind to them - they were utterly awful, uttely ridiculous and I utterly loathed them and I loathe them still. There, that's something I've wanted to say for a long time. Fifteen years later with the authority of incipient old age, I think I was far too kind to them.
Name: Peter Vincent
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1966-1972
Date: 29 Mar 2015
Time: 03:33:43
Sorry to hear about the passing of George Cowan. In my time he was tough - never violent as far as I can remember - but totally fair. If he punished you for something you didn't do, then provided you were "man" enough to speak to him later on by yourself he would sometimes give you the benefit of the doubt provided your story sounded plausible. As far as punishments are concerned, he never needed to resort to the cane (which was effectively in a glass case marked "Emergency Use Only" in Joe Avery's office by then) but instead the torture of 30 minutes of "The ploughman homeward plots his weary way" was sufficient to discourage you from trying that particular dodge again! And backstage skivers like me suspected - later confirmed at a reunion - that he knew roughly where we were and was content that at least we were in school even if missing the occasional lesson. So he had a humane side which might not have been obvious when you first met him. Yes I got into trouble a lot. No I was never caned. Yes I had to go and see George Cowan multiple times. But from him I only ever got what I deserved - no more, no less.
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash 70 pan at yahoo dot com
Years_at_school: 1962-9
Date: 21 Mar 2015
Time: 09:01:14
Yesterday I went up to Lytham to attend the funeral of George Cowan where I met his daughter, grand daughter and other members of his family. Also in attendance were three old boys of the Mercers school at which he held his first appointment. That school closed in 1958 but those three held him in sufficiently high regard and indeed affection to make long journeys to pay their respects. Incidentally one of them knew Bernie Marchant and other members of the Classical Asociation of my mutual acquaintance. PARA.......... It was clear that his life en famille was full of love and joy both at Eastcote and latterly at Lytham. I had a very good day and was glad I went. PARA.......... Before composing this I read through a few recent postings. He had the reputation of being a strict disciplinarian. Actually, he wasn t. In my last couple of years at school, he was very good to me even though he knew damn well I wasn t really interested anymore. He knew my garrulous girlfriend, as he called her, was far more important to me than conjugating a few old Latin verbs. He also knew damn fine well that I smoked and had a drink at lunchtimes but did nothing about it because I took good care not to get caught. PARA....... School teachers like doctors and policeman have a role to play in society and duties to perform which may not accord with their personal inclinations. He was a good man. I liked him alot.
Name: Dave Buckley
Email:
Years_at_school: 53-61
Date: 21 Mar 2015
Time: 05:33:21
I feel that Andrew Carruther's recent post in which he states - 'I have just viewed the Makers of Men film about the CCF, which has the frightening tone of the Hitler Youth.' is bit unfair. The eight films are now 'social history', and shows how the school was in those times and they have to be viewed in this context. I had the job of 'tidying up' all the films after they were given to the OGA Archivist, Alex Bateman, in 2006. (para) I found the films fascinating, even more so when I realised that the sequence in the CCF film of the hazardous training exercise at Easter 1962, was filmed in Kirkcudbright, about 25 miles west of where I now live in Dumfries, and that I had been driving past the TA HQ where the group had an end of exercise dinner, on my way into town for a number of years! The outcome has been a 'now and then' video showing some of the locations in the sequence. (para) (Of course, the fact that the Colonel was born near Dumfries has nothing to do with the choice of location for the training exercise!!!)
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondAT yahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 20 Mar 2015
Time: 14:39:33
No, Andrew, I was in that very 6th form History class and I assure you that Harry Mees meant every word he said about those who received a Classics education. I forget exactly what was being discussed at the time, but it was certainly some controversial issue that concerned the ruling regime (ie Simpson & Cowan) where some absurdity or other had been perpetrated at the expense of common sense. For me, Cowan wasn't an 'educator' at all, he was a colourless authoritarian admin man with an incipiently puritanical bent, a thoroughly uninspiring character unfortunately all too typical of his repressed and repressive generation. No wonder, given his Scottish background and Classics degree, that Simpson was all for him (not to mention that arch non-educator, Bigham). HCS was indeed fortunate he didn't land the headship as I imagine he'd have been right out of his depth. Sure, he did a job, he 'managed', he wasn't an 'ogre', and after my time he might even have been helpful to a few pupils here and there, but, as I said, for me he was a sort of quintessence of regimented mediocrity, rather a sad character in fact.
Name: Andrew Carruthers
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1961-8
Date: 20 Mar 2015
Time: 06:52:58
The comments about George Cowan's early years are absolutely right, but, as I said, he did have more to him than appeared, though I can well believe that he was in line for the top job and felt he had to take a certain tone to get it, with the world obviously crumbling around everybody. Other correspondents obviously were not present with the Nigel Rogers' incident which he let go. I wouldn't usually disagree with Harry Mees but his comments about the Classics are nonsense and I doubt meant seriously. On another subject I have just viewed the Makers of Men film about the CCF, which has the frightening tone of the Hitler Youth. I was lucky not to get involved.
Name: Martin Goodall
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1959 - 1966
Date: 20 Mar 2015
Time: 04:21:13
Seeing the brief obituary note for George Cowan brought home to me that our perception of particular masters was very much influenced by the precise time during their tenure when we encountered them. I confess that I did not take to George Cowan on his arrival in September 1964. I distinctly recall Simpson saying in Assembly that we should regard him as Head Master, with Deputy in very small letters. It seems that Simpson definitely had him marked down as his successor, and it was no doubt in an effort to demonstrate his personal qualities both to the school and to its governors that Cowan seems to have set out to establish his firmness as a disciplinarian, and as a ruthlessly efficient administrator. I imagine that Simpson must have impressed upon him that he was fighting a rising tide of non-conformity, engendered by the increasingly, in his view, lax social mores of that era, such as pop music, long hair, pointed shoes and a breakdown of the hitherto unquestioning compliance with previously accepted social norms which he struggled unavailingly to restore. Looking at it as fairly and objectively as I can, I have to say that George Cowan did somewhat over-egg the pudding in that first year, perhaps in an effort to establish his credentials with Simpson, and perhaps also with the governors, especially with the prospect of the headship apparently being dangled before him. From other contributions to this guest-book it seems clear that George Cowan later came to be seen as a fair-minded and benevolent figure, but there is no doubt that his talent as a formidably efficient manager, an essential attribute for anyone holding his position as Deputy Head, was widely recognised. This was perhaps his major contribution to the school. I know from conversations with former masters that Simpson in his time was recognised as an effective manager, whatever reservations some may have had about some of the notions he came up with in his later years, such as house sections, to take one example, and George Cowan, even though he never attained the Headship clearly carried forward that managerial leadership. However, the recollection of my exact contemporary Chris Esmond clearly coincides with my own impression at the time.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondAT yahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 20 Mar 2015
Time: 03:54:44
Well, for me, in my last year at HCS (or was it two years?) Mr Cowan appeared a thoroughly mediocre pedant, unable to function without his little notebook, obsessed with meticulously following and sticking to rules and regulations, with doing things 'by the book', as it were. Such a humourless rigidity of approach is characteristic of one who otherwise might not be quite up to the job, a man whose spontaneity and natural joie de vivre has been crushed, and its limitations were even highlighted by the way he viewed batting technique in cricket, anything other than ultra-orthodoxy being immediately condemned, no matter how effective an individual's style might have been. Just like learning Latin or Greek, in fact...Not that he actually did any coaching, but once or twice made highly critical comments from the sidelines, I recall. I can only repeat what Harry Mees once remarked to his 6th form History class, "A classical education sends you up the creek!"
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash70 pan at yahoo dot com
Years_at_school: 1962-9
Date: 12 Mar 2015
Time: 12:00:01
Andrew, you have summed up George Cowan well. He did not suffer fools gladly but he was a very fair man. He saw quite clearly that the school needed to be managed and this he did very well. He taught me Latin in the 6th form and in my last year at school I did a weekly one on one seminar with him on Roman Historiography. He was very kind to me. A little while back I attended my first Old Gayts and saw him again for the first time in forty years. He fixed me with a gimlet eye, pointed and said 'Aberystwyth'. I said, 'Mr. Cowan, that you remember after forty years is remarkable enough. That you remember the university I attended is truly astonishing!' PARA................ His daughter Chris McAllister tells me that the funeral will be at Lytham St Annes cemetery at 11.30am on Friday 20th March, next week. PARA....... Requiescat in pace
Name: Pete Fowler
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 56 62
Date: 12 Mar 2015
Time: 11:10:28
Martin, on the Mac it's the forward slash that results in that error code. The last entry I did was longish and it sent me bananas in getting that message all the time - so, I painfully went through all the various marks in the piece and eliminated them one at a time until it accepted it. Rather like tracking the piece of your electricity network that causes the blow-out....Jeff has tried, time after time, to deal with this but he doesn't have the time, really and we're all just going to have to live with it. I also suspect the 'culprit' will be different on a Windows machine.
Name: Martin Goodall
Email:
Years_at_school: 1959 to 1966
Date: 12 Mar 2015
Time: 10:43:08
Getting repeated error messages, despite knocking out various punctuation. Any help in avoiding this problem would be appreciated
Name: Linda Briggs
Email: labriggsuk at yahoo.co.uk
Years_at_school: 1962-69
Date: 11 Mar 2015
Time: 13:07:19
Thank you Jeff for your continuing work on this site.
Name: Alex Copeland
Email: alexccattelus.net
Years_at_school: 1941 to 1948
Date: 11 Mar 2015
Time: 10:29:18
Have just read the comments from John Kirby.I remember you and your lovely wife. Seems to me we both played rugby for Kodak?? Would be delighted to hear from you. Yes, I was also of the Randall Williams , Crowell Ellis, Simpson era, interesting times , about which more than enough has already been written! I,d be happy to hear from anyone else who attended the school during those years. Greetings and good wishes to all OG 's Alex C.
Name: Andrew Carruthers
Email: ajcarruthers at btinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1961 - 8
Date: 10 Mar 2015
Time: 16:17:52
Mention of Billy Duke reminds me that he (along with Ken Waller) was the man who saved my sanity when the victim of bullying in my first term. He was a good man in every respect and while he never taught me I have always had the utmost respect for him. What a shame that more attention is not paid to him. I just wonder how he and the good Dr got on though. En passant the news of the death of George Cowan, his successor, is also sad. Though I seem to remember that in his early days he seemed to have been brought in as the bad cop to the Dr's bad cop, it turned out that he too was a real gent, blessed of course with that prodigious memory which even many years later, seemed to be as strong as ever. The fact that he took no action when one Nigel Rogers stormed out of a classroom suffering from artistic overload during Iolanthe showed his true character.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 40-7
Date: 09 Mar 2015
Time: 08:13:37
I agree with you Chris. HCS as we knew it produced a line of achievers out of all proportion to its components. This was due largely to the abilities of Williams and then Simpson in attracting nd retaining amasters who were inspiring teachers. Each head had his own criteria as evinced by the blood bath during Simpson's first years. Neither was hired to be nice or to promote the 'happy learning situation'. Both had their own style of leadership and management that achieved desirable ends. Autocratic leadership got things done although it was not always a pleasant experience for the pupils! On the whole I enjoyed my time at school and made some lasting friendships.
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: christopherdotatkinson43atntlworlddotcom
Years_at_school:
Date: 09 Mar 2015
Time: 04:26:23
Thank heavens. I was beginning to think that the only contributors we had were those unable to get their lives back together after their traumatic experiences at HCS. It's fair to say that these experiences all appear to post-date my time at HCS even if the staff names are the same, so I don't want to be judgemental. In my years we had quite a few cracking fine teachers, even if at the time we didn't always see this. We also had a fine CCF, and a top-rate scout Group. For many of us HCS was a very good school, and set us on successful career paths ... so lets hear some of the good things for a change.
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colinddotdickinsatblueyonderdotco.douk
Years_at_school: 1947
Date: 08 Mar 2015
Time: 10:37:52
You're right, Brian. Beaky didn't have much of a voice, but on one of my visits to him (see reminiscence jeffreymaynardcomHarrowCountysfooks, he sang one of his "verses" set to Finlandia. Not melodious, but engaging! All great men. Joe Brister had taught my father about 1920 and was generous in his advice to him how I might get by at HCS. This did not prevent him observing once to my innumerate self, "You're not the man your father was, Dickins."
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmail.com
Years_at_school: 40-7
Date: 08 Mar 2015
Time: 04:59:50
Good for you John Kirby. I agree that all three of Brister, Duke and Fooks were inspirational teachers. They were close enough to the end of their teaching careers that they decided to 'stick it out' with Simpson. All three gave a lot of time to the ATC during the war. My lasting memory of Brister and Duke, along with Killer King and Robinson singing the gendarmes' duet from Gilbert and Sullivan. Fooks I suspect was no singer. Several years ago I passed on some reminiscences of his father to a son of Brister's who was writing a family history. It seems Brister kept school and home separate to the extent that the family knew little of what their father did for a living. Fooks had the incredible skill of being able to control a room full of rowdy boys with his thin voice without moving from his chair. He left me with a love of literature that continues. I was in 2A of 1940 - there are still a few of us around!
Name: John Kirby
Email: johnjohnjkatyahoo.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1942 to 1949
Date: 07 Mar 2015
Time: 14:41:23
I've come back to the site after two or three years and find it amazing that Bigham and Simpson still appear at regular intervals and never a kind word. It shows what a complete pair of tossers they were. But here I am, 83 years old, still sane and relatively healthy and still with fond memories of Joe Brister, Billy Duke and Beaky Fooks. They had a huge influence on my life and I'm sure on many others too. Is there anybody out there from the "2A" input of 42 or was in 41. Dr Hartman was our form master. The huts were from memory never warmer the 10degrees that winter.
Name: Alex Bateman
Email: via jeff
Years_at_school: 1980 - 84
Date: 05 Mar 2015
Time: 04:25:23
Many Old Gaytonians will be sad to hear of the passing of Gordon Taffs - father of Andrew, Stuart and Iain, and well known to Gayts through cricket and the clubhouse at Sudbury, working behind the bar. He had been ill since the start of the year, and had been admitted to hospital a couple of years before with similar symptoms, infections, pneumonia and fluid on the lungs proving too much this time. Iain has messaged to say that his funeral will be held at Breakspear Crematorium at 13.15 on Thursday 12th March (next Thursday) and all are welcome to attend.
Name: Graham riden
Email: riden talk talk net
Years_at_school: 1978 1992
Date: 27 Feb 2015
Time: 12:08:21
I was in form 1C with Mr bridges as form teacher
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: The Bigham Years
Date: 25 Feb 2015
Time: 03:01:01
Dear Anonymous, I understand what you are saying. My own way of not letting the stupidity, boxed attitudes and petty brutality of the Bigham-Simpson era get me down was to find the humour. Black humour, that is. Then take the mickey. Lots of people you might not expect have had bad ups and downs. Please keep trying and the very best wishes.
Name: Anonymous
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 65-72
Date: 24 Feb 2015
Time: 19:53:27
Dear Peter, thanks for the encouragement. Despite innocence, however, humiliation and alienation can self-reinforce until there is no way back and one fails professionally, emotionally etc. It seems as if one is part of an odd 'Art'film and one doesn't know whether to hang on, just in case a 'plot' appears or to reach for the remote control. Regardless, thanks for your comments.
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: christopherdotatkinson43atntlworlddotcom
Years_at_school:
Date: 24 Feb 2015
Time: 09:57:17
I see that Angus Dalgleish gets another favourable mention in the DT. So nice to see ex-4th Harrow members doing well. Tigers still rule, Angus??
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.wardatbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 19 Feb 2015
Time: 03:39:17
Dear Anonymous, have I got you right? You appear to suggest that you wish to adopt this state on the HCS guest book as you felt perhaps damaged as a result of humiliations suffered. That is to be respected (on the assumption I have interpreted you correctly.) However, you and others should not feel humiliated by the continual belittling processes that were so prevalent at Simpson's Emporium. Far from it. You were the innocents. It is the perpetrators who should feel the shame, although no longer as they have perished. I shall not say passed on! Feel good.
Name: Anonymous
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 65-72
Date: 17 Feb 2015
Time: 18:28:46
Peter Ward asked why people write anonymously? For me its because of people like Bingham and those who 'did not suffer fools gladly' and thus felt free to humiliate and disparage. This led to confusion, alienation, incomprehension and the inevitable breakdowns (in summary, not a life to cherish). If Paul Nurse is part of the legacy of HCS - then so am I. But I still remember some COGHope triangulars displayed by a certain JMaynard - or am I muddled here too?
Name: George Ruddock
Email: gckRuddockathotmail.com
Years_at_school: none
Date: 17 Feb 2015
Time: 11:33:46
An old friend directed me to your school's site as I was employed by deHavs for over thirty years. He tells me his old Biology master was involved in the raid on the prison at Amiens early in 1944. I am told he was shot down and rescued by French Resistance before being smuggled down the line to Gibraltar.
Name: Tony Howard
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school:
Date: 30 Jan 2015
Time: 10:20:19
Thanks Peter. I'm in contact with the current Secretary whom I know quite well of the de Havilland Aeronautical Technical School Association for past Apprentices - see if anyone responds or has recollections - the car we're thinking of is now in Japan apparently. Thanks again for your help. Tony H.
Name: Peter Vincent
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1966-1972
Date: 30 Jan 2015
Time: 03:29:53
Tony - if you do a search on Google UK for ==>"lotus gt" "de havilland"<== lots of hits come up which might be helpful?
Name: Tony Howard
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school:
Date: 29 Jan 2015
Time: 06:52:52
Hi Peter, Thanks for making the effort. Derek must have ended up working for a chap named Stuart Andrews - Derek may have been there when we were dabbling in external balancing of the Gyron Junior jet engine. Going back to the Lotus GT - I speculate that there must be people still around who know something about this car - worked on, pushed it across the car park. Covered with a tarp. Oh well. Thanks again. Tony H.
Name: Peter Vincent
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1966-1972
Date: 28 Jan 2015
Time: 11:44:43
Hi Tony, sorry he doesn't know anything about it. He was an apprentice from September 1957 till summer 1962 when he joined the Electro-Dynamics Laboratory at Stag Lane and worked in electronics there for three years before leaving to join IBM. So close, but not close enough apparently.
Name: Peter Vincent
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1966-1972
Date: 28 Jan 2015
Time: 09:31:50
Hi Tony - OK I will check if he knows anything about it...
Name: Anthony (Tony) Howard
Email: tonymulmuratgmail.com
Years_at_school: 49-56
Date: 28 Jan 2015
Time: 08:35:48
Reply to Peter Vincent Thanks for your response Peter. I don't recall Derek, but he may have been at Hatfield, while I was at Stag Lane and Leavesden with occasional forays to Hatfield to visit the gas turbine engine test beds. All this has come about as I have been chasing theorigins and current status of a Lotus Eleven race car I was involved with in the early 60s. The keeper of the Lotus Eleven Register is a Victor Thomas, who it turns out, is an HCGS old boy from about the same time I was there. He is trying to chase down the origins of a Lotus Eleven GT Coupe allegedly modified by the Apprentices, I'm presuming Hatfield, in the late 50s. Thanks Tony Howard
Name: Peter Vincent
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1966-1972
Date: 27 Jan 2015
Time: 16:51:44
Tony - on the off chance, one of my former work colleagues was an apprentice at De Havilland at about the same time as you, doing his apprenticeship on Tiger Moths and ending on the TSR2 until being made redundant by its cancellation - one Derek Dickson. If you do happen to remember Derek, I can put him in touch? I believe he was born in 1940 so a few years younger than you, but you never know.
Name: Anthony (Tony) Howard
Email: tonymulmuratgmail.com
Years_at_school: 1946 -1956
Date: 27 Jan 2015
Time: 09:08:29
Interesting website. Came across it having recently corresponded with another Old Boy -Victor Thomas - while researching the origins of a Lotus Eleven race car I had some involvement with in the early 60s I've scanned through some of the photos and located myself in a couple. Reading the various comments brings back memories of the Staff and pupils at the time. In my own estimation I was an average student When I left I became a de Havilland Engineering Apprentice, worked for them until the Autumn of 65 Emigrated to the States and worked for The Boeing Company. Spent all my working career in aerospace and aviation finishing up with Bombardier Aerospace (Design Engineering-New Aircraft Now for my sins I'm involved with introducing youngsters to the benefits and opportunities associated with following Technological Education path This in the Province of Ontario Many thanks to the folks who keep up this site Tony Howard
Name: Alex Bateman
Email: via Jeff
Years_at_school: 1980 - 84
Date: 26 Jan 2015
Time: 14:24:43
Like Henry I also enjoyed the Mock Interview Day, having eight pupils during the day. I had a similar experience to Henry although of mine one wanted to be an Educational Psychologist, one a Paediatrician, and another a Pharmacist, amongst other things. Whilst all mine had ambition and a fairly clear path ahead, they did little to promote themselves. I asked one what he thought his best achievement was, and the fact he had lived in three countries and learnt three languages by aged 12 didn't occur to him. But like Henry I was very impressed with all of them.
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash70pan at yahoo dot com
Years_at_school: 1962-9
Date: 24 Jan 2015
Time: 02:44:08
Yesterday Geoff Spring, Alex Bateman and I participated in a Mock Job Interview scheme at Harrow High. I conducted six interviews and was impressed with the calibre of all six individuals. One was outstanding. These were job interviews and I was therefore looking for personal qualities rather than high academic achievement, although I made clear that the techniques one needs for such interviews are as useful for college applications. I must say that all showed a general sense of maturity which I probably lacked at their age. I was not expecting much but I came away feeling quite good. ......PARA..... The only thing that worried me was that none of them had a high sense of ambition. None of those wanting to go on to a tertiary level of education were planning to go away. All were planning to stay at home in London. I met one girl who was a keen artist whoshowed me some of her work. She's good, but when I talked about applying to Central St Martins or Goldsmiths, she thought I was crazy. No one has ever pushed her to try harder. ..... Great shame.
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash70pan at yahoo dot com
Years_at_school: 1962-9
Date: 21 Jan 2015
Time: 12:37:18
I much admired the pure reason that Paul Nurse displayed in the Dimbleby lecture a couple of years ago. In that and again the other day, he dealt with matters which have profound implications for the political system. Unfortunately, we live in an age where the level of political debate is so very low and indeed, as Nurse said, is essentially cowardly. When one starts to accuse politicians of cowardice, they will inevitably fight back. His recent remarks had a sharp edged tinge to them and it strikes me that if we believe in the greatness of his achievements then we ought to be ready to defend his logic. There has already been one rather snide article in the Times last week by Matt Ridley which thankfully Nurse properly rebutted....................PARA..............A lot more to come chaps!
Name: Pete Fowler
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 56-62
Date: 19 Jan 2015
Time: 12:23:55
Peter Ward - I am not advocating a return to Grammars like HCS. And yes, I do know about good comprehensives, after all I spent 40 years in Education and taught at every level, from infants to post-grad. I even took detours, like working for seven years in Art Schools and spending five years coordinating, nationally, the use of computers for school children with special needs during the Baker Microelectronic Programme (MEP) years. Even to imagine that we have greater social mobility now, because of the excellence of some comprehensives, is an absolute illusion. It was only last year, after all, that Piketty published his tour de force which demonstrated, conclusively, that the only period of declining social inequalities since the dawn of capitalism were in the 1940-80 period. True, this was far more to do with the old aristocracy losing an awful lot of Downton Abbeys in the light of the disasters of wars; but it was institutionalised, as an aim of political life, in the Welfare State. Let me digress. Reasonably recently, in 2007, I spent several weeks observing a Year 1 class in Croxteth, Liverpool: I was asked in because of my expertise in the use of computers in education. I couldn't help, from the first morning, to compare what was in front of me with my own first year as a learner, in Cleethorpes, Lincs. 1949. After all, we lived in a terrace house in a terrace street and the echoes with the Croxteth 2007 children were tangible. My own 1949 class had no disciplinary problems; practically every child lived in a home with two parents; my classmates understood, instinctively, the etiquette of the classroom, possibly acquired from Sunday Schools; and many of us could already read, taught by Mum. The teacher, looking back, wasn't all that good, but it wasn't critical. In 2007 Croxteth, there were several children in that class who could hardly talk, let alone read. The idea, to these, of 'concentration' was quite alien, unless is was something on a screen. I would guess that 90% of the fathers in my Cleethorpes class were employed, usually on the Grimsby Docks or on trawlers. This ratio was exactly turned on its head in Liverpool. It was absolutely clear to me (and I incidentally told the Head that she shouldn't even think of using computers with these children, they'd hide themselves in a corner all day) that the world had turned. Children were being bred for factories that were no more. And then imagine if, through sheer talent, sheer willpower and sheer luck, that a child from that class made it through to A Levels. After all, some always do. Here they are eventually faced with university fees - whereas I not only did not pay fees, but received a full maintenance grant. More, I spent more or less every day of the holidays working my socks off in cigarette factories and frozen food factories earning what was then a fortune: 40 pounds a week in 1965, 12 hour shifts. Five years I spent as a London student, living in shared flats in Hampstead, Belsize Park and Swiss Cottage. And without borrowing a single penny from either parents or banks. Harrow County gave me a lift, a real lift - but it did so within a historical context when meritocracy was seen as a key goal, made possible by social mobility. At present, yes, you have amazingly good schools dotted around the place, and inspiring Heads. But the ladders of escalation have had their rungs cut out. Grammars, for all their imperfections - and none worse than condemning 80 per cent of learners to a second rate education - were one important rung in that ladder.
Name: Pete Fowler
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 56-62
Date: 19 Jan 2015
Time: 11:39:55
Such large questions, Peter Vincent. And so little space, we can't bore everyone. But, if you've read stuff I've posted before, there are areas of consensus, though not over the central fact. I stick by my guns with Paul Nurse: he was enormously helped by what the school could offer, and even more so by the educational context within which HCS existed. Yes, there were many aspects of the school that make us cringe and your example - where the scorned sixth former broke the central rule of Simpsonism (by denying Oxbridge) in deciding that, perhaps, Alan Turing's Manchester Computer Department might be a good degree choice - is an anecdote that I always use, myself, to illustrate the anachronisms that exposed the Good Doctor's ethos even at their high tide of the 1950s.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondAT yahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 19 Jan 2015
Time: 11:39:13
Doncaster Rovers - sounds far too much like somewhere infested by so-called young men wearing shortie Italian coats and woodpecker shoes, looking like seedy Hungarian tourists - and, worst of all, with hair less than 2 inches from the top of their collars! And another thing: I don't like the look on their faces. They should never have been in this country in the first place, let alone the football league!
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet,com
Years_at_school: 58 -63
Date: 19 Jan 2015
Time: 09:51:38
I welcome and wholeheartedly agree with Chris Esmond's comment on educational achievement and social mobility. But have some difficulty in accepting his implied claim that being an Arsenal supporter only adds icing to the cake. This would be understandable if Chris had advocated Doncaster Rovers, except he has probably never heard of them. He may have reason to regret his words, next season in the FA Cup, if Arsenal are drawn against Donny R at The Keepmote Stadium. At least, train access is easy for Arsenal supporters from nearby Kings Cross. And when they return beaten, they will not have far to go home to rue their defeat.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondAT yahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 19 Jan 2015
Time: 09:28:12
I really must put in my tuppence-worth here, having also worked with comprehensive school pupils for many years. Peter Ward's absolutely on the money about how there still seems to be such widespread lack of understanding as to what they actually achieve. Without wanting to be or sound in any way 'paranoid' or stuck in some ideological straitjacket, in my experience they largely do a magnificent job, inspiring young people who'd in my youth have been consigned to the 'scrapheaps' of secondary-moderns - or even the C and D streams of HCS - to believe in their abilities and gain worthwhile qualifications. To give just one example, I have taught three Bangladeshi pupils from a Kentish Town Council estate, each of whom has either got or is en route to a good degree, one now an accountant in a top job, one recently having landed her first job, as a private secretary to an MP, based at Westminster, the third well on the way to becoming a lawyer. Parents were uneducated, from a rural village in B-Desh, the father a restaurant waiter and now a minicab driver. (The icing on the cake is that they're all Arsenal fans - but enough of such frivolity, this is a serious matter). The sheer waste of ability, of genuine talent, that occurred at HCS in my time is utterly disgraceful. Believe me, things are infinitely better these days - not 'perfect', but far, far better.
Name: Chris
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 19 Jan 2015
Time: 07:10:17
A minor point about language requirements at Uni. As I recall most Universities required a modern language and Oxford & Cambridge required Latin in addition. However, many London Colleges did not require a foreign language of any kind. Certainly UCL did not.
Name: Pete Fowler
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 56 62
Date: 19 Jan 2015
Time: 04:42:39
Peters: am not running away, I simply can't get stuff to post here, always get that box telling me I'm using some forbidden symbols...it might be because I use a Mac, dunno....
Name: Peter Ward
Email: The Simpsonian-Carboniferous Period
Years_at_school: 58-63 (AD)
Date: 17 Jan 2015
Time: 18:13:19
With no personal disrespect intended to Peter Fowler, I fail to detect his logic circuits. Peter asks for a clearer 'route' for today's under-privileged youngster to reach higher achievement and success. I provided this in my last posting offering, in the last few lines, real life evidence (see previous.) Beyond this, I just happen to have an older grandson attending a genuine comprehensive school, in Tunbridge Wells. TW might sound 'posh' but the town harbours deprived parts, too. The Bennett School operates alongside and in direct competition with nearby Boys' and Girls' Grammar Schools...Skinners, The Judd and TW Grammar School for Girls (TWIGS.) Bennett chooses to take in a full mix of social background and ability levels, including Special Needs, and is classified as 'Outstanding' by OFSTED. Significantly, the school achieves first rate results at GCSE and 'A' Level despite its socially diverse intake. Thus, many students from varied backgrounds are sent on their way to Higher Education. What greater proof of 'a route' to social mobility is required? Or must fixed, archaic attitudes always prevail? I suspect many of the negative views on today's schools, expressed sporadically on this website, emanate from correspondents who have never had direct, professional dealings with schools. Opinion on developments in progressive education is thus second hand, at best. It may even be that closet Daily Mail or Express readers contribute to this online correspondence column. It's a free world in which to express opinion but deference to evidence is sometimes wanting. The demoted Michael Gove fell into the same trap. Opinion first, evidence second.
Name: Peter Vincent
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1966-1972
Date: 17 Jan 2015
Time: 15:09:08
Peter Fowler - what you say makes perfect sense and I don't think we are in much disagreement, if you read my comments carefully. Paul Nurse is a real somebody and Mr Neal was a great teacher. I don't object to the idea that Paul could be the greatest Old Gayt. What I do object to is the implication that this was due to HCS and the system it lived in. Paul succeeded despite HCS because Mr Neal was willing to put the time in to nurture him - not the school. The school, in his time mostly Square, would have looked down on him first for being a scientist and secondly for not achieving a scholarship. If you look into the archives of this forum, there is a report of one student achieving an unexpected place at Oxbridge still being a failure in Square's eyes. I was lucky to miss Square by a year or so, but even in the Avery years the C and D students were effectively given up on in the second year. The select intake into HCS was wasted on an Oxbridge race against Harrow School - a successful school should have been returning close on 100% getting to Uni direct from HCS considering it had, roughly, the top 25% of the top 20% in Harrow at age 11 to "nurture". So I am not belittling anyone who made a success at HCS, especially those who got off the C and D trapdoor - quite the opposite. But the trapdoor shouldn't have been there in the first place considering the ability of the people left standing on it.
Name: Pete Fowler
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 56 62
Date: 17 Jan 2015
Time: 13:29:43
Sorry, Peter Vincent, but I do find this QED thing a trifle hard to stomach. I fail to see why anything you gave written impacts in the slightest on my view that Paul Nurse might well be 'the greatest ever Old Gaytonian'. The fact that he felt alien in the place is neither here nor there. It is what he achieved since he left school that makes him such a serious candidate. Personally, I can relate to him, even though I achieved zilch in comparison: I, too, felt like a fish out of water. I was never even considered as a prefect. Like him, I came from a modest background, we never owned either a house or a car. But boys like us, transported from our backgrounds into HCS, were always able to find at least one teacher (two for me: D'Arcy and Golland) like Paul's Keith Neal who were able to give us time, support us and provide, in the fullness of time, a life long inspiration. Eyes were opened by such relationships, horizons broadened. We were able to fulfil the aims of a school geared to meritocracy (think of the song) and able, gaining from it, to jump out of our class backgrounds in a manner never open to my own parents. Paul Nurse sums up the very essence of that fluidity. Peter Ward - don't get me wrong. I have said many times on this site that the model provided by the Simpson regime at HCS would be a manifest absurdity in 2015. Its time has gone. But what is needed, despite the defence you make of today's comprehensives, is a clearer route for the able child of humble background to reach the stars in the manner that Paul so triumphantly has done.
Name: Peter Vincent
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1966-1972
Date: 17 Jan 2015
Time: 07:14:20
But the point of my note was, Mr Neal clearly was an inspirational teacher but it doesn't sound as though HCS put much effort into pulling any strings for Paul Nurse to get him into Uni when he was held back by needing a foreign language despite being a star science student (at least I assume he was)? So yes, the school did have some really good teachers (but not all by a long chalk). Yes there were considerable extracurricular opportunities, although these were often more to do with the dedication of a few masters rather than the school itself - cadets, scouts, stage crew, book room, swimming, judo etc. But as a system it failed miserably by converting a VERY select intake into relatively few university places.
Name: Peter Vincent
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1966-1972
Date: 17 Jan 2015
Time: 06:26:03
Hi Peter - sorry it was me. I was being so careful not to change anything from Paul's original that I forgot to put my details in!
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: The years of Bigham
Date: 16 Jan 2015
Time: 13:07:43
Why do people write anonymously on this website? It's either forgetful, or sad.
Name: Type your name here
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school:
Date: 15 Jan 2015
Time: 23:23:01
Dear Mr Dickins... I quote from Sir Paul Nurse himself. I have copied and pasted the whole section from his Nobel page, no editing: "I enjoyed my time at primary school because my teachers made the world seem such an interesting place and encouraged my innate curiosity. At age 11 in 1960, I moved to an academic state secondary school, Harrow County Grammar School for Boys. This was a mixed experience for me. It was a good, well-resourced school, but was very exam oriented and most of the other boys came from wealthier and more academic families which sometimes made me feel like a fish out of water. I was never very good at exams, having a poor memory and finding the examination process rather artificial, and there never seemed to be enough time to follow up things that really interested me. But there were good things about the school. I had an excellent Biology teacher, Keith Neal, who encouraged his pupils to study natural history and to do real experiments. I had a great time investigating the pigments of different mutant fruit flies by following experimental protocols published in Scientific American, and I also remember making my own beetle collection when it was still acceptable to make such collections. There were also good extra-curricular activities, particularly hill and mountain walking and more surprisingly, learning to fly. I am still a keen mountain walker and an enthusiastic glider pilot. I also made some very good friends who remained important to me into adulthood. It was during my time at secondary school that I abandoned religion. My mother was a Baptist, and as a young teenager I was also a committed believer. But I had real difficulties reconciling a literal belief in Genesis with evolution, and my attempts to accommodate the biblical account of creation by viewing it as a poetic metaphor suitable for an unsophisticated nomadic people was completely rejected by my church. I gradually slipped away from religion over several years and became an atheist or to be more philosophically correct, a sceptical agnostic. By the end of my time at school I had achieved examination grades which allowed me to go to University, but did not have a basic foreign language qualification which was compulsory for all University entrants. This meant that when I left school I had to work as a technician in a microbiological laboratory associated with the local Guinness brewery. This was a great experience for me because I had a very sympathetic lab head Vic Knivett, who rapidly realised that I could complete the routine requirements of my job in a couple of days each week, and encouraged me to carry out research experiments for the rest of my time. Unfortunately I continued to fail my French Exam and it was only the intervention of Professor Jinks at Birmingham that got me into a University. He had noticed my application for entry and asked me to visit his Genetics Department. After an extensive interview he arranged for my weaknesses in foreign languages to be over-looked and so I started a Biology degree at Birmingham in 1967." Mr Neal is rightly acknowledged and also opportunities available in the RAF cadets. But HCS itself or the grammar school system is not mentioned as being any kind of "nurturing" environment, quite the opposite as like me, Sir Paul was a fish out of water. His place at Birmingham was nothing to do with the school's efforts. QED.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 15 Jan 2015
Time: 18:03:09
The Biology teacher praised by Sir Paul Nurse was Keith Neal, son of the eminent naturalist Ernest Neal. In my time, slightly ahead of Sir Paul, Keith Neal taught Zoology 'A' Level whilst Bigham untaught Botany. I believe a second good, young teacher Mr Beauchamp, appointed initially as a Chemist, went on to teach Botany. It is likely that he also would have inspired Sir Paul. I was disappointed to read Peter Fowler's remarks lamenting the passing of the time when Grammar Schools aided the under-privileged to progress socially. This is old, indeed ancient ground on this website. Is he still not aware that today's Comprehensives run successful 'A' Level courses and get many students to good universities? I recently heard from a young woman whom I had taught when she was aged nine. I asked her about the other children sitting on her table in our Council Estate-based Primary School. All five now have good degrees. She was reading for an MA in English. Two other girls had gained top London degrees and one is now an underwriter in the city. The two boys on the table have ended up with Computer Science degrees and are doing well. These five passed on from our Primary School to local Comprehensives in Bromley. Not the Grammar Schools. Please, less of the repetitive old chestnuts that fly in the face of evidence. Be fair.
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colinddotdickinsatblueyonderdotco.douk
Years_at_school: 1947-1953
Date: 15 Jan 2015
Time: 14:17:49
Sour guesswork, Peter Vincent. Paul Nurse has consistently attributed his passion for his subject - and his success - from ever more exalted heights, to one teacher (whose name eludes me as I write in some impatience). And also to HCS. The absence of evidence of a conventional rise from his School and higher education CV in no way diminishes him, his achievements or the School. Nor does it deny Peter Fowler's admiration and gently made point about the benefits of the system which nurtured such as Paul Nurse. There are many Old Gayts from modest backgrounds who, whatever their distinction in School, achieved distinction in life. Find them on this website.
Name: Dave Buckley
Email:
Years_at_school: 53-61
Date: 15 Jan 2015
Time: 13:30:52
I see Michael Portillo was plugging the OGA again in todays (15th January) Great Railway Journeys by wearing an OGA blazer!
Name: Peter Vincent
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1966-1972
Date: 15 Jan 2015
Time: 10:41:07
I wonder if Mr Fowler is looking at the world through pink spectacles? In HCS terms, Sir Paul Nurse was very lowly as a science student. He was rejected by the big universities, and I don't think even had a scholarship to Birmingham (which I think he was initially rejected for as well) where he took his degree? So probably not crowed about by even Joe Avery who was in charge by the time he left. A quick check of the honours board photo seems to support this www.jeffreymaynard.com SLASH Harrow_County SLASH March2001-2.htm. I am not belittling Sir Paul's achievements, exact opposite as he fought against the odds to become a somebody with many honours. He did, of course, have the advantage of pursuing his dream without running up a massive debt in tuition fees so liked by recent governments which might very well have deterred him from ever getting started. He is more a model of someone who achieved great things despite HCS, rather than because of it - in my opinion. Did any staff at the school see his potential at the time, rather than in hindsight, or help to open doors for him trying to get into Uni?
Name: Pete Fowler
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 56-62
Date: 14 Jan 2015
Time: 14:12:04
Henry, what a credit Paul Nurse is to the school. He must surely be within a shout of being its greatest-ever old-boy. Given his lowly background, he's the perfect example of someone from nowhere being given the tools to go anywhere. Every time I see him on the box, I think of those sixth form classes; and every time I see him I think 'as a country, we are so missing the edge provided by the social mobility we ourselves enjoyed.'
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash70pan at yahoo dot com
Years_at_school: 1962-9
Date: 14 Jan 2015
Time: 02:15:12
On last night's Newsnight there was an interview with Paul Nurse. In it he dealt with the relationship between scientists and politicians. He touched on three topics, the benefits to science of a more open immigration policy, the benefits to science of European co-operation in research and the unwillingness of government to acknowledge well proven evidence on drug usage. He has criticised politicians for showing a lack of leadership on these issues in guiding public opinion. In effect, he has stuck his head above the parapet, particularly since he took a side-swipe at UKIP on the immigration issue..............PARA....... Some of you may recall his Dimbleby lecture a couple of years ago when he also touched on these matters, albeit in a less controversial way. His exposition then was very reasonable as indeed was his tenor last night although that does not come out in the Google reports that I have seen this morning. Sorry, I am not very good at giving precise computer links but there is a written summary on the BBC website and I suppose you can get the programme itself on catch-up. Well worth a look.
Name: Peter Leeson
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1951-9
Date: 09 Jan 2015
Time: 15:21:10
I remember the film club as a source of entertainment and even learning. After second-sitting lunch we would hasten down Spadger's Alley to catch the end of the second showing in the old hall. One learned to imitate Olympic walkers. To break into a run invited the appearance and wrath of Spadger Hayes and a forced wait in the corridor intil the bell rang for afternoon lessons. My belated thanks to all involved in selecting and showing the films.
Name: ye min
Email: yeyeye63athotmail.com
Years_at_school: 63-70
Date: 09 Jan 2015
Time: 10:39:25
hahaha Michael don't get me started, there may be children reading or oldsters who have a fragile disposition..gods wonderful! well I was 'groomed' by such people and have a fondness for 'Kings' belting through Northolt..but thepassion was Long Slow and Winding...and unrebuilt West Countrys...even tho i'm living in the northern wastes the garage takes me to the south...it keeps me _almost sane...
Name: Dick Worsfold
Email: rjworsfoldatgmail.com
Years_at_school:
Date: 05 Jan 2015
Time: 12:47:04
In response to Derek Wills query, I can add little to what I wrote in the tribute to Maurice Venn. Barry and I both started university the same year and we saw each other only once thereafter, most likely in the first summer vacation. I heard about his death from someone at Bristol during a conference. I rather fancy it was a road accident but certainly I couldn't swear to it.
Name: Jeff Maynard
Email: jeffrey at jeffreymaynard dot com
Years_at_school: 1962-1969
Date: 04 Jan 2015
Time: 21:49:13
Can anyone answer this query from Derek Wills: Hello, I was browsing the excellent HCS website, and saw that Barry Ottiwell "lost his life in Bristol". Can you tell me anything more about that? He and I were contemporaries and friends, and I always wondered what had happened to him... I stay in sporadic contact with Norman Biggs from my year. Great site - thanks! Derek Wills (1952-1960) PS - the Ottiwell remark was on a page about Mr Venn
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.con
Years_at_school: The Year of the Dinosaur
Date: 29 Dec 2014
Time: 11:50:17
As a fully paid-up member of Laurence Lando's rapidly ageing group I apologise and must try harder in the forthcoming year.
Name: Laurence Lando
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1957 -
Date: 29 Dec 2014
Time: 09:03:55
As a rapidly ageing group, we must be rather special. No one has seems to have died for almost a year!
Name: Michael Schwartz
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1965-1972
Date: 26 Dec 2014
Time: 10:40:03
Hello, Ye Min - I had a wargames army but not a train set. Is your layout God's Wonderful Railway or Long, Miserable and Slow? I did see that the Stanmore branch is featured in the current copy of Backtrack railway magazine. Michael.
Name: Chris
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 24 Dec 2014
Time: 09:41:09
I suppose old age must be taking its toll. Recently, I've found that I just don't "get" the humour in some posts.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondAT yahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 22 Dec 2014
Time: 15:15:45
In response to Norman Parker, now that you mention it I do recall that 'penguins at the pool' story - not that I was there of course, it was a school generation before my time. Like other HCS 'folklore' I heard about it via the Scouts grapevine, there being at least one senior scout in the Pioneers troop who'd been there at the time, lending authenticity to the tale. As for Mrs Amos's feathers, that's another hatter - er, I mean matter, of course - and I can't say I ever heard about that. However, I was never exactly high-profile in metalwork circles and I was a non-cadet, so I didn't have direct access to such accounts via those sources - although I do have a vague memory of Swanny's wife being the subject of a certain amount of comic repartee (again, via the Scouts). Thanks for sharing these anecdotes, Norman, they've brightened up this cold winter night in south-west France.
Name: ye min
Email: yeyeye63at hotmaildot com
Years_at_school: 63-70
Date: 21 Dec 2014
Time: 12:47:00
ha Chris..youre right some of us never grow up..despite that man in the model shop..he was rude and unpleasant and happy to take my money but not to be civil to me...and my investigations into psychedelics and the related musics and of course..girls and women...railways remain in my life...I now have a model railway in the garage and an understanding wife whose father also had a model railway...and there is a very pleasant ma in the local model shop.. I got there in the end...
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: christopherdotatkinson4threeatntlworlddotcom
Years_at_school: up and down spadger's alley
Date: 21 Dec 2014
Time: 05:43:38
Apart from drooling over the motor-bikes in Pinks, I think the Model Shop (in both its incarnations) was my main hang-out. Deeply into modelling and model aircraft - the Watford Road fields were great for free-flight. I didn't get an Airfix A-level, but I've made up for it since. Models of aircraft I've been associated with hang above my head in my office here at home - okay, some of us never do get to grow up :-)
Name: Michael Schwartz
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: Subdickensian
Date: 19 Dec 2014
Time: 14:03:42
Ye Min - your ordeal is not over yet. I did not know there had been more than one clash. The one I witnessed involved Mr Cross telling you and your friend, "You don't want to give us ulcers, boys." It went down in the rich folklore of Arthur Atkins, my closest friend from the lower orders of HCS.
Name: Andy Terry
Email: andrew.a.terry at googlemail.com
Years_at_school: 1966-1972
Date: 15 Dec 2014
Time: 00:45:17
Hi. Just recognised myself from one of your photos. Lower IV Arts 1971, I am on the back row, second from the left next to Mike Hardy. Regards Andy
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 40-7
Date: 14 Dec 2014
Time: 06:00:33
It is strange that so little of the origin of the pool seems to have been recorded. I have seen the photo of parents digging but that is about all. The council will not have contributed cash so the money dor construction would have been raised over a period of years. The pool was unfortunately excavated in clay without benefit of advice about soil mechanics - if such were available at the time. The inevitable happened during a long, dry summer when the clay contracted and the cement cracked. This event marked the end of the initiation of pupils to manhood by way of the shrunken scrotum.
Name: ye min
Email: yeyeye63at hotmail.com
Years_at_school: 63-70
Date: 14 Dec 2014
Time: 05:17:58
ahhh..Michael Shwartz..you were witness to my shameful past..i thought I had liquidated all witnesses and removed all the records from the files...yes. I never know that man's name..so were you in the inner sanctum of hallowed modellers? 'cross by name cross by nature' it seems..he kept throwing my mate and I out for no reason..even tho we spent a fair bit of our hard earned paper round cash in there..so one day we gave him a reason..a bit like HCS really being wrongly judged by those in power so in the end you think, 'what the hell...'
Name: Chris
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 13 Dec 2014
Time: 06:25:21
Colin, Yes there was a photo of oarents digging out pool with shovels (no mechanical aids) If I recall correctly it was on the wall in the corridor leading from clock to the old Geography Lab.
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash70panatyahoo dotcom
Years_at_school: 1962-9
Date: 13 Dec 2014
Time: 06:00:17
It is my proud boast that whilst still at primary school I swam in the old outdoor baths in Wealdstone when the stated temperature was 30 F. , although there was no ice. I was well prepared for anything at Harrow County. In my day, the pool was used on occasion by the girls from Lowlands Road, who had to use the rear entrance in Gayton Road.
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colinddotdickinsatblueyonderdotco.douk
Years_at_school: 1947-1953
Date: 12 Dec 2014
Time: 16:07:23
It was a little after my time, but it was well known to the OG's and I believe he either choked on is own vomit or swallowed his tongue. (Probably the former.) As has been mentioned, it led to swimming being barred for the first period after lunch. The swimming pool was a particular project of the OG's and I'm sure I've seen pictures of old boys at the time digging it out. As for temperatures, I had no idea that boys were swimming with the water in the thirties Fahrenheit. On the other hand, Harrow swimming pool opened May 1st and closed September 30th regardless. At primary school we had the occasional use of it in small numbers and my first dip with the school was in 1947 or 1948 early May and we all had to start with a width. I had learnt to swim and belted across when it was exactly 40 degrees. Chilly, but remember that small boys were wont to swim in the sea and emerge reluctantly, blue with cold, under parental duress.
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: christopherdotatkinsonfortythreeatntlworlddotcom
Years_at_school:
Date: 12 Dec 2014
Time: 09:14:54
The lad who drowned was Michael Archer, bit I can't remember the precise details. He lived just down the road from me in Wembley, and our families had been on holidays together.
Name: Norman Parker
Email: norman.parker23atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1952 - 59
Date: 12 Dec 2014
Time: 07:08:14
Does anyone remember the Emperor penguin colony on the ice flows, in the pool, in Jan 53? We used to help Swanny Amos throw fish to the unhappy immigrants. Mackerel and herring, as I remember. Jumping in to his whistle commands,the young ones entered the water at sub-zero temperatures. Thus,the colony did not survive the year. I recall Mrs Amos turning up some months later at a Coronation do, under a fine fashion hat of tight-meshed black and white feathers. As the event was held in mid-Summer, on the field, she collapsed during the playing of the National Anthem. Her hat was later successfully converted, in the metalwork shop, into a set of bagpipes for the CCF band.
Name: Keith Alexandre
Email:
Years_at_school: 1950-56
Date: 12 Dec 2014
Time: 06:11:05
It seems that these instances were all too frequent. However, when I started at the school we were still expected to go into the water no matter what the weather. I seem to remember one occasion when the temperature was in the 30's (F not C!) in a week soon after an early Easter holiday. Is this something else that the Square changed on his arrival - in order to stop boys getting too soft.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 40-7
Date: 12 Dec 2014
Time: 04:14:04
The event I referred to occurred in the mid-forties and was not at the HCS. The one Keith writes about must have been another. We used to be chased into the water when the water temperature was below 60F. The practice was an example of the long-gone philosophy that dunking boys in cold water contributed to making men out of them.
Name: Keith Alexandre
Email: keithdotalexandreatntlworlddotcom
Years_at_school: 1950-1956
Date: 11 Dec 2014
Time: 15:54:35
I have just read Brian Hester's e-mail dated 23 Novenber regarding the change in the rule re the temperature of the water in the swimming pool. I think that the tragedy he is referring to actually occured in our pool. The lad's name was Archer, I forget his christian name. I was there at the time. We were all suddenly ushered out and it was only later that we were told what had happened. It was this incident that prompted a change in the rules regarding temperature and also a prohibition on the first period after lunch for swimming.
Name: Michael Schwartz
Email: michaelwritesforyouatyahoo.ca
Years_at_school: Fantastic during the Greek classes, the rest - no comment
Date: 07 Dec 2014
Time: 19:48:56
Ye Min - am I glad I was not in your biology class! We were not ranked alphabetically so I could hide at the back. Three years of biology and then all the sciences were chucked. Incidentally, I was in the Harrow Model Shop in St Ann's Road and I seem to remember you being chucked out by the individual who ran the shop - Arthur Cross (appropriate name). My main A level was in Airfix kits...
Name: Peter Garwood
Email: peterdotgarwood777atbtinternetdotcom
Years_at_school: 1953-61
Date: 03 Dec 2014
Time: 02:47:14
Not sure whether this has been mentioned before but you can read more about about Hugh Skillen's wartime activities and other World War 2 details by going onto the MOD website, follow the leads to RAF Historical Society, The Bracknell Papers, paper 7 Air Intelligence, from page 92 on. The other papers are equally fascinating especially the details of the D day landings.
Name: Chris
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 02 Dec 2014
Time: 10:17:26
The more I read about Bigham's total incompetence and even ignorance of basic facts the more I would like to search University of Glasgow archives to see what qualifications he really did or did not have. Its on my list for my next trip to UK.
Name: chris atkinson
Email: christopherdotatkinson43atntlworlddotcom
Years_at_school:
Date: 02 Dec 2014
Time: 08:17:24
Guess you're right Colin, check out the surname ... something else green and slimy. Chris A.
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colinddotdickinsatblueyonderdotco.douk
Years_at_school: 1947-1953
Date: 01 Dec 2014
Time: 09:31:51
I see the buffoon is back under a female pseudonym. I wouldn't be bothering to respond, except that he mentions the word spirogyra, a word I first heard from Bigham's lips - only he couldn't pronounce it correctly (I checked after the lesson), presumably having only just encountered it in a text book. Also, I first heard of the olecranon process from Bigham. He couldn't pronounce that either. Funny the things you most remember about a "teacher".
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 40-47
Date: 01 Dec 2014
Time: 06:37:33
Until the arrival of Simpson (and Bigham), the school had an ATC squadron (551) that was very active and met every Sunday as well as during the week. Duke was CO with Brister as adjutant. Other officers included R.S.King, Robinson (both old boys) and Fooks (who had a MC). Hartland was a major contributor. There is a photo of the squadron listed on this page. At assembly one morning, ARS announced the ATC was to be disbanded and replaced with army cadets under Bigham. Although invited to transfer, we all declined except for one boy who yielded to temptation and transferred on promise of the top sergeant job. The change was likely all part of the new broom sweeping clean policy. Six of the seven old boys on the staff moved out during Simpsons first year.
Name: Chris
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 30 Nov 2014
Time: 16:08:22
Well said, Peter. I suspect that, despite recent revelations, Major Skillen's contribution is still somewhat undervalued. On the other hand, I'd bet a great deal that Bigham's war record was considerably overstated. In similar vein I think we all noticed the contrast on Remembrance Day between upstart Bigham and Group Captain "Spargo" Rawnsley, outranking Bigham and dripping with serious earned medals.
Name: Pete Fowler
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 56/62
Date: 30 Nov 2014
Time: 15:37:07
Life gets teejus, don't it, as some cowboy record when I was in school had it. Look: if we decide to do spoofs, then make them smart. Frankly, it's an insult to Hugh Skillen to have him thrown into the Bigham Pot. Skillen was, to me and others, a hero for turning down Simpson's request that he should run the CCF. Skillen was Simpson's obvious choice, a proper Major with a war record that was not only distinguished but has, with secrets gradually unfurled, grown in importance. His dismissal of the very concept of the CCF was, and still is, a statement of intent worthy of the deepest of respect. You can never, ever, lump him and his considerable reputation into a cess pit inhabited by pomp, pretention, prejudice, paranoia and perpetual proclivities for persecution.
Name: Dr Audrey Euglena
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 30 Nov 2014
Time: 11:33:25
My attention has been drawn to this guest site. Although a former student colleague of William Bigham in Glasgow prior to the Second World War I cannot safely vouch for his final academic qualifications. However, I did hear that under the presidency of Prof Carlos 'Clammy' da Monas, Bigham was asked to undertake post-graduate research into the filamentous alga, Spirogyra. This would suggest his botanical qualifications were at the very least authentic. I found him a conscientious colleague and was saddened when his researches were interrupted by wartime call-up. After the war, the algal basis of ice cream was established culminating in Margaret Thatcher's contribution to the production of Mr Whippy whirls. Whether or not the former Prime Minister and William Bigham ever collaborated on this project I do not know but understand he was subsequently awarded an OBE. Would this have been for services rendered to ice cream production?
Name: Chris
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 30 Nov 2014
Time: 10:24:46
Further to my earlier question re Bigham's qualifications. Doesn't it seem odd that he would be head of Biology Dept if his degree was in Physics and Chemistry?
Name: Chris
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 30 Nov 2014
Time: 10:22:44
I find it truly amazing that, with ARS' alleged commitment to meritocracy, arguably the least qualified, least talented and least committed teacher in the school enjoyed the influence that Bigham did. I would also like to know exactly what were his qualifications. The bio on the website says "Honours degree in Physics and Chemistry at Glasgow University" but in my time at school somebody claimed to have searched records and found he had only a pass degree in General Science - which was not well regarded.
Name: Dave Buckley
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school:
Date: 30 Nov 2014
Time: 08:03:25
Thanks Colin, you got in ahead of me!! During my time at HCS, the Colonel's nickname was 'Schwok' so it couldn't have come from an outside 'agency'! Ah well,what some people will do to waste time! Dave B.
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: christopherdotatkinson43atntlworlddotcom
Years_at_school: ah yes, I remember them well
Date: 30 Nov 2014
Time: 04:24:57
Okay Colin, thanks for the injection of a wee bit of sanity. Yes I did wonder a bit on the first posting, but then I got a bit soft as it went on. Blame it on extreme age and incontinence i.e. I was getting a tad p****d off. Chris A.
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colinddotdickinsatblueyonderdotco.douk
Years_at_school: 1947-1953
Date: 29 Nov 2014
Time: 15:40:24
Come on, you two Chris's and Ye Min! It's a spoof - rather more cunningly worded that earlier efforts by this idiot - but still done for his own amusement. It's odd how some people get their kicks.
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: christopherdotatkinson43atntlworlddotcom
Years_at_school: enough for me at the time
Date: 29 Nov 2014
Time: 13:19:37
I was surprised to see the implication that Col Bigham was admired by Hugh Skillen. I was taught by both and my recollection is that they were as chalk and cheese. I kept on the right side of Bigham in biology by being able to remember and write down the texts that were so tediously read out to us. I was also able to reproduce in full detail the drawings from the big red book (Maude Jepson ISTR). Joining the School Scouts was seen as a bad move, but you couldn't join the Cadets anyway in the first year. No, my memory of Bigham is pretty much as outlined here by others. On the other hand Hugh Skillen opened up French for me. The exchange visits he engineered meant you discovered the french as spoken by the french - argot was a bonus. Served me very well in later years, and I did enjoy the lessons (even if we did all tend to speak french with just a wee bit of a scottish accent). Somehow I just cannot see Hugh admiring Bigham for what may have happened during the war, and ignoring the fact that the man was plainly a walking disaster as a teacher. And, if this is all correct about Bigham, how come HCS managed to attract these ex-SOE types? Perhaps they were meant to be identifying future recruits for GCHQ? :-) Chris A.
Name: Alan Clarke
Email: ahbcclarkeatgmail.com
Years_at_school: None
Date: 29 Nov 2014
Time: 02:21:21
I had not hoped for a swift return on the subject of Col 'Bill' Bigham. I would be interested to learn of the views of others who appear to have come under his influence. This first response will send me back to my researches and contacts to ensure we are talking about the same man. Nothing I have learned about this particular SOE operative complies with the character described. Bill Bigham was very highly thought of by his wartime colleagues. One of these was a Major H. Skillen who made a vital contribution at Bletchley Park. The records hint occasionally at Bigham's terrible suffering in confinement when for many months he lived in fear of his life. I shall delve further into this crucial aspect as it may be he later underwent a life crisis brought on by impossible stresses. There would be nothing unexpected in that. Thank you to the two correspondents, so far, although they have rather set back my planning and publication may have to be delayed.
Name: ye min
Email: yeyeye63athotmail.com
Years_at_school: 63-70
Date: 29 Nov 2014
Time: 02:01:10
Mr Clarke it will be an intriguing book probably with a 'guaranteed' readership amongst the boys who were 'taught' by the Colonel. When I was 11 and in my first year and having biology for the first time he was terrifying, unpredictable, ie after our first year exams he asked who a certain boy was who had come first in the exam? He started to congratulate him and then saw the boy's ink stained hands and then clouted him around the head. By the second year I started playing truant to avoid his lessons and at the earliest convenience I dropped biology, not that I paid any attention to the lesson or the homework ie 'read pages 48-56...' I was busy trying to avoid his attention. Her made us sit in alphabetical order so no hiding at the back..How boys who wanted to study biology coped heaven only knows..you may be hard pushed to find positive comments about the man when he wsa at HCS.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondAT yahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 28 Nov 2014
Time: 16:19:23
Certainly, Mr Clarke. Whatever might (or might not) have been his war record, Bigham was a lazy, poorly qualified, uninspiring biology teacher, who seemed to resent that he actually had to teach something rather than simply enjoy the status of being the narcissistic commander of an Army cadet unit, metaphorically admiring himself in the mirror while he strutted around, nurturing an inflated idea of himself and his significance. In fact, he should never have entered the profession, let alone risen to be head of a department, and was held in contempt by other teachers of the subject (eg Mr R.D. Beauchamp, for whom the subject was a vocational passion). He was also a sadist who delighted in dishing out arbitrary, physically violent punishments, a puffed-up, self-important military martinet, especially on Fridays (where staff and boys used to wear cadet or Scout uniforms) and as such, his way of being so impressed the repressively inclined Head that he was given a daily place at the 'top table' in the dining hall, along with the Head and the Deputy Head, where, no doubt, he had due influence on the oppressively authoritarian nature of the regime. Hopefully, we will never see his like again, poisoning the atmosphere of state (or any other) schools.
Name: Alan Clarke
Email: ahbclarkeatgmail.com
Years_at_school: None
Date: 28 Nov 2014
Time: 11:41:06
I have been advised to contact this site in the hope that I might gain positive responses concerning a book I am currently researching. The subject matter is Lt Colonel WM 'Bill' Bigham, a Scotsman whose secret Second World War exploits, until recently, have been subject to 'D' Notice classification. Whilst most of these have been lifted it appears that other significant defence files have been 'lost' or 'mislaid.' This is frustrating as one suspects underhand practice at work protecting other reputations, in one case at the very highest level of wartime government. Bill Bigham was promoted to Colonel many years after the cessation of hostilities with Germany before the award of CBE by The Queen. Both these events have the appearance of quasi-compensation, ultimately recognising services that had been kept secret for nearly two decades. During the war, Col Bill Bigham worked under the code name 'Schwok'. This is the title that appears amongst former Gestapo prisoner files discovered in Hanover, in 2013. It has been suggested to me that Col Bigham may have had later associations with the former Harrow County Grammar School for Boys, in the county of Middlesex, as it was then known. I have tried contacting the school, now under a different name, but there seems little interest in past history. Are there any former pupils still alive who might be willing to contribute recollections of a man who served so bravely for his country? This web site would appear to be the ideal forum for discussion. In anticipation.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondATyahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 28 Nov 2014
Time: 05:58:18
Re the precise use of the pipe, it must have been as a snorkel rather than a periscope, of course. I reckon the latter idea was most definitely a case of 'Chinese whispers' - Harry was one of those 'large' characters who'd at times tend to attract rather far-fetched stories, which were not always based on fact.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondAT yahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 27 Nov 2014
Time: 17:31:33
I should add that Harry gave clear hints regarding his swimming exploit in an A level History class, several years later (which I noted here some time ago), but as I said, at the time of the event in question (and now and again, in later years, when privy to gossip on the school 'grapevine')I only heard rumours, which I didn't bother too much about, it seemed far away from the 13 year-old world I was living in at the time. But hearing strangely oblique references 'from the horse's mouth' and putting 2 and 2 together, it became obvious that the rumours about what had happened around midnight at the school pool during that Scout Camp were in fact absolutely true. By the way, how bizarre it is that we're hanging around discussing such circumstances, 53 years later - what a remarkably odd place that was!
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondAT yahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 27 Nov 2014
Time: 03:51:35
Did that Harry Mees swimming episode take place during a Scout Camp on the school field, early 60's? I vaguely recall a rumour about such goings-on, in '61 it probably was, but didn't take much notice of it at the time. Tough as teak as he was, and, as a curious mixture of grounded, 'working-class warrior' (I rather like that phrase!), practical common sense, intellectual rigour and superbly anachronistic eccentricity, it's not hard to credit Harry with such an escapade. After all, he was the man who, in middle age, after running a Scout night hike, went home and instead of going to bed, insisted on sprawling on the floor in front of the telly to watch the Oxford v Cambridge rugby match. He deeply resented having lost his youth to the war and somehow tried to recapture it, where he could (like many of us, I guess?). Using his pipe as periscope in a midnight swim would be exactly the sort of thing he'd go for, the crazy old so n so!
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondAT yahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 27 Nov 2014
Time: 03:49:45
Did that Harry Mees swimming episode take place during a Scout Camp on the school field, early 60's? I vaguely recall a rumour about such goings-on, in '61 it probably was, but didn't take much notice of it at the time. Tough as teak as he was, and a curious mixture of grounded, 'working-class warrior' (I rather like that phrase!) practical common sense, intellectual rigour and superbly anachronistic eccentricity, it's not hard to credit Harry with such an escapade. After all, he was the man who, in middle age, after running a Scout night hike, went home and instead of going to bed, insisted on sprawling on the floor in front of the telly to watch the Oxford v Cambridge rugby match. He deeply resented having lost his youth to the war and somehow tried to recapture it, where he could (like many of us, I guess?). Using his pipe as periscope in a midnight swim would be exactly the sort of thing he'd go for, the crazy old so n so!
Name: Ronald Wrighton
Email: ronald.wrighton at bbc.co.uk
Years_at_school: 1947 - 1954
Date: 26 Nov 2014
Time: 01:46:48
Have just discovered your excellent website. Particular interest in the CCF material. I have a number of additional photos you might be interested in. Also would like to buy a copy of the 1975 book - please advise how I do that. Ron Wrighton
Name: ye min
Email: yeyeye63athotmail.com
Years_at_school: 63-70
Date: 24 Nov 2014
Time: 11:37:26
don't remember Amos. I had Messrs Neuf ? and Naylor. Remember my first games lesson with them on the first Friday of term being stung by a wasp and being to scared to interrupt or put my hand up until they had finished speaking..think we had Mr V B Edwards the following year. and the swimming pool where I didn't learn to swim... I sort of enjoyed rugby and could run reasonably fast and avoid being tackled but was damned if I was going to spend any more time in school than was absolutely necessary..thus a potential sporting career was nipped in the bud at HCS !!!
Name: Terry James
Email: thjandpgjamesatgmail.com
Years_at_school: 1954 to 1961
Date: 24 Nov 2014
Time: 05:15:00
Oh, that ice bath of a swimming pool! White cross on swimming trunks. Not funny. Curious thing about old Mees. In class, he had the habit of examining his pipe. Sometimes holding it up vertically, turning the bowl towards us and looking up the mouth end. Or so it seemed. Perhaps the former suggestion that he used the pipe as a periscope on his infamous swim might be correct. It may have been Harry's innovative way of seeing what was going on at the back of his class. Not that he had problems with discipline. He was scary when in the mood.
Name: Peter Vincent
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1966-1972
Date: 24 Nov 2014
Time: 04:33:55
I had to laugh at the mention of the pool being cold because it was late at night! I don't remember it ever being anything but icy, whatever temperature was displayed! However, in fifth form I did voluntarily go swimming with some classmates at lunchtime - belated thanks to the masters who supervised to allow this at all in the summer months. However swimming in PE lessons was a different matter! I had to bluff that I could swim, but not very well, to avoid the dreaded "X" on my trunks until I learned how to one day by myself.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmail.com
Years_at_school: 40-7
Date: 23 Nov 2014
Time: 17:43:22
The history of the pool is not widely known. I was told that parents did much of the digging. Practice was to proceed with swim classes no matter what the temperature or weather. This changed to the requirement that the water had to be at least 60F when someone died in the pool at another school, I believe Harrow Weald but am not certain. I doubt if any of us including Amos had heard the word hypothermia at the time. Amos kept himself in good physical shape. He sometimes replaced a master who was ill and would teach us how to convert pounds-shillings and pence into decimal currency. The skill was useful about twenty years later.
Name: Steve Grimes
Email: via Jeff
Years_at_school: 1958 to 1964
Date: 23 Nov 2014
Time: 15:29:59
I remember the swimming pool. I enjoyed swimming lessons. They were a nice break from the usual HCS drudgery, even though I could already swim well at the time. I think the pool was built with money raised from our predecessors so it was a shame that we could only swim for around two months a year during warm weather. It was a great pity the pool couldn't be covered over and heated to modern standards due to bolshie Gayton Road residents on the other side of the fence. Had we been able to use the pool in cold weather it could have been a very useful facility for the school. But hey ho; it never happened and the rest was history. As to Amos, I can clearly recall him ripping hawthorn twigs from bushes at the top of Watford Road and geeing up stragglers on cross country runs by thrashing them on their bare thighs. I had my fair share of that before I found a way of skiving off Wednesday afternoon games. Did it do me any harm? Not really, but the memory lingers on.
Name: Dennis Taylor
Email: dandruff.taylorattiscali.co.uk
Years_at_school: 54-61
Date: 23 Nov 2014
Time: 14:27:49
I did not expect such a swift response to my question re-the feared PE master. Thank you, chaps, although I don't recognise any names. I was only at the school for 5 terms before moving to Singapore. My only claim to fame was my dandruff but that has long since passed along with my hair. But the name stuck. Perhaps Harry Mees was undergoing mild hypothermia when the rescue ambulance was summoned? His feat took place definitely around mid-night when the school pool would have been cold. Glad to learn it has been filled in. What should have been an enjoyable physical experience was made miserable by that horrid man Amos. Education, and swimming, in Singapore was very different even enjoyable.
Name: Dennis Taylor
Email: dandruff.taylorattiscali.co.uk
Years_at_school: 54-61
Date: 23 Nov 2014
Time: 14:27:43
I did not expect such a swift response to my question re-the feared PE master. Thank you, chaps, although I don't recognise any names. I was only at the school for 5 terms before moving to Singapore. My only claim to fame was my dandruff but that has long since passed along with my hair. But the name stuck. Perhaps Harry Mees was undergoing mild hypothermia when the rescue ambulance was summoned? His feat took place definitely around mid-night when the school pool would have been cold. Glad to learn it has been filled in. What should have been an enjoyable physical experience was made miserable by that horrid man Amos. Education, and swimming, in Singapore was very different even enjoyable.
Name: Alan Cooper
Email:
Years_at_school: 1956-63
Date: 23 Nov 2014
Time: 12:25:44
Thanks for creating such a fascinating website.
Name: Chris
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 23 Nov 2014
Time: 09:11:21
It wasn't unusual for Swanny Amos to draw blood or to produce wheals that took days to fade whacking bare legs with a switch when proceeding to Watford Road pitches for games. In swimming pool lessons took place if temp was 60f or above. a 30 minute lesson at those temps comes close to risking early symptoms of hypothermia. In fact, it was quite common on cold days for there to be an obvious loss of dexterity in some boys by the end of the lesson. Hard to see how any adult could take pleasure in such actions.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmail.com
Years_at_school: 40-7
Date: 23 Nov 2014
Time: 06:55:40
Who could there be but the incomparable Swanny? The nearest I ever saw of his getting to swimming was when he wore his swim suit - a one piece 1920's outfit with legs covered half way down his thighs. For the most part he simply encouraged us into the water with a switch in one hand and a hose of cold water in the other. But he did get us all swimming. He also organized the 'parades' that got us moving into school in an organized manner. Dramatic moments occurred when Williams would open the sash window of his study 'One moment Mr Amos' and proceed 'It has been brought to my attention that certain boys etc' and conclude with 'such boys will be severely punished - thank you Mr. Amos' and the window would crash shut. The performance reminded me of famous news reels of Mussolini orating from an upstairs window.
Name: Robert Tabb
Email: robert.tabb73atgmail.com
Years_at_school: 56-63
Date: 22 Nov 2014
Time: 22:26:51
To Dennis Taylor - you must mean Swanny Amos mentioned here many times as a very strict PE Master. I never fell out with him thank goodness!
Name: Robert Tabb
Email: robert.tabb73atgmail.com
Years_at_school: 56-63
Date: 22 Nov 2014
Time: 22:26:48
To Dennis Taylor - you must mean Swanny Amos mentioned here many times as a very strict PE Master. I never fell out with him thank goodness!
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom'
Years_at_school: 40-7
Date: 22 Nov 2014
Time: 15:38:40
A quick glance at Google maps show how much the site of the old school has changed. Every vestige of the swimming pool is gone in favour of a car park, presumably for staff. In pre-Simpson days we had an leaving th E. W. Webb, or Eggie, who had an enviable record as a biology master. Egggie would swim one length of the pool after another under-water. Unfortunately he practiced yoga and sported a spade beard. He and Simpson took one look at each other and Eggie was off to teach on the Isle of Man leaving the field to Bigham. In one memorable class he stripped to the waist before standing on his head on the table. He then crossed his legs in the lotus position before twitching his various abdominal muscles. We all sat boggle eyed.
Name: Malcolm Barnes
Email: malcy127atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 55-61
Date: 22 Nov 2014
Time: 08:53:16
Yes, the Harry Mees story was certainly passed round at the time but suffered exaggeration. The number of lengths went up with the telling. And I never worked out how the pipe kept going. Perhaps it did not. Does anyone remember the grass snake family around 1960 in the old pool? How did they survive the chlorine? Or perhaps no one bothered with such Health and Safety non-necessities in those far away days. Certainly there were frog tadpoles in the Spring. Maybe they were what the snakes were after. Do grass snakes eat frog tadpoles? Faced with choice I would rather meet a grass snake head on under water than Harry Mees. Did he use the pipe as a periscope? One wonders Harry served in submarines during the War? He certainly knew his naval ropes, knots and spars as photos on this site testify.
Name: Chris
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 22 Nov 2014
Time: 07:20:19
Harry Mees swimming was mentioned on 31 July if you care to space down
Name: Dennis Taylor
Email: dandruff.taylorattiscali.co.uk
Years_at_school: 1954-61
Date: 22 Nov 2014
Time: 04:05:41
Discovered this valuable web site by chance. The photos and ancient accounts bring everything back vividly. Such memories. Thank you. I could find no mention of dear old Harry Mees' famous mid-night underwater length in the outside pool smoking his pipe. I think an ambulance was called but rather hushed up. Just the thought of that pool makes me shiver. It is a wonder no-one died of shock when forced into its freezing waters by the cruel old PE master. Do not remember his name. I think he also smoked a pipe.
Name: Chris
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 20 Nov 2014
Time: 13:51:47
Brian, I suspect your photo is of wrong School - Harrow not Harrow County
Name: Pete Fowler
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 56/62
Date: 20 Nov 2014
Time: 12:54:55
This is for Richard Attwooll - Richard, I couldn't get any permutation to work to get your email address, hence posting here. I remember you well in that B3 room with Don Kincaid as our !D form master: I had no idea that you'd left so early. The reason I remember you is that you were first on the register every morning...have a search through the photographs on this site, you'll find, under 1956 !D, your face there on the front row. Richard Boyd, a fellow ID-er, adds some comments that mention you.
Name: Brian
Email: Briansaperia at tiscali.co.uk
Years_at_school:
Date: 20 Nov 2014
Time: 09:52:55
I have an aerial picture of Harrow hill showing your school still surrounded by fields and just a few houses. Any interest?
Name: Richard Attwooll
Email: richard.attwoollatbell.net
Years_at_school: Not even a term 1956
Date: 19 Nov 2014
Time: 07:53:56
Ian Hall scrapping in the coke pile before assembly and turning up later black and blue. Sign language in the lunch room. Trying to fit as many people as possible in the urinals. Swimming a length of the pool to qualify for something. Later hot Bovril at the pool. Coming to school on The Rattler. 3 coach train from the Stanmore area. Wondering whether next term I would be Army, Navy or Air Force. My father transferred to York so regrettably I never got the educashun I deserved. Ha!
Name: Paul Romney
Email:
Years_at_school: 56-63
Date: 17 Nov 2014
Time: 09:01:23
If anyone wishes to re-visit Dick Worsfold's uniquely kindly reminiscence of Bigham, just scroll down. It's dated 26 August 2011.
Name: Alan Thompson
Email: pushticat at shaw.ca
Years_at_school: 1944-51
Date: 16 Nov 2014
Time: 22:20:49
Just a line for all the outraged King's Cross lovers out there. I must have had a senior moment when I said I walked around King's Cross 'four' years ago. It should have been 'fourteen'. No doubt things have changed a good deal in that time and just as well. I was certainly impressed by St.Pancras station when I was there in 2010. But they should provide transport for seniors to get about, so much walking is involved. I plan to visit the UK this coming spring and will make a point of going to both Camden Town and Kings Cross to see the improvements and report back. Also my birthplace in Evelyn St.,Deptford. That should be interesting! But I can't help wondering, if things are so good there where did all the poor people go?
Name: Michael Schwartz
Email: michaelwritesforyouatyahoo.ca
Years_at_school: Psychologically scarring
Date: 16 Nov 2014
Time: 14:40:48
'well, sir, Wilberforce seems to have had it sussed...' My favourite reply was in a text on Julius Caesar. Mr C I Anderson, who taught me blues music, asked a class, "What were Julius Caesar's last words? "You really socked it to me, Brutus" was one reply... Michael.
Name: Laurence Lando
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1957 -
Date: 16 Nov 2014
Time: 06:53:13
Nothing to do with HCGSB; but we have just returned home from a trip to view the Rembrant exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery. It was simply wonderful, with works of art from all over the world. Don't miss this event.
Name: Pete Fowler
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 56/62
Date: 14 Nov 2014
Time: 13:41:42
These were precisely the names, Peter, that we would shout at Harry Mees and Bill D'Arcy (dunno why we called him Geoff)....'well, sir, Wilberforce seems to have had it sussed...' True, there were one or two names that we would also call out that have not survived the rigours of historical analysis in quite the same manner as The Sermon on the Mount - Lenin and Trotsky spring to mind. But, Peter, we were not taught by Jesus or Gandhi: we were taught by human beings living in human times who were, like all of us, subject to the foibles that mark each and every generation. And I will maintain to the end that there was a world of difference (Paul Romney's point) between the nice guy trapped in an anachronistic value structure; and the utter bastards who saw nothing as more pleasurable than reducing a child to tears.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 14 Nov 2014
Time: 11:42:47
Peter F...our views are not a million miles apart. But I suspect your view does not allow for social reformers of their time...Jesus C, Mandella, Gandi, Wilberforce, Nightingale, Elizabeth Fry, Philippa Fawcett. I, too, can go on and on. A fair debate, anyway.
Name: Pete Fowler
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 56/62
Date: 14 Nov 2014
Time: 05:46:33
Peter, it would take a Saint or a superhero to go against the values of the time in the manner you seem to demand: the Americans might, as an example, be prepared to forgive Washington and Jefferson their lack of understanding of 21st Century attitudes to race given that they managed to lead a revolution against a huge imperial power, beat them in a war and then establish a new country that has been more than a little successful. As for HCS, I was, ultimately (some time after we left) more than prepared to 'forgive' the alleged transgressions of JSG and many others since they did manage, rather well, to teach me, to teach others and, indeed, to present me with many of the foundation stones of my subsequent life. One name that has not arisen here but should have done is that of Paul Oliver, the starriest, I would argue, of all of our teachers at that time. Paul has whole Web Sites and Facebook pages dedicated to his work and he has a genuinely stellar international reputation. And yet, when asked by someone or other, Paul continued, as did JSG, to defend the Simpson regime stoutly. I might have been surprised, shocked even; but I wasn't. Because their foundation stones were not the same as mine; and mine included, off the top of my head, the Welfare State, the removal of National Service, the Cold War, the rise of Television and the Mass Media, Teddy Boys and Elvis, the collapse of organised religion, drugs, Marlon Brando and Kerouac, the challenges to apartheid, the American Civil Rights Movement...need I go on?
Name: Chris
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 12 Nov 2014
Time: 11:09:53
I share the positive opinion of Heap Webb. As an occasional recipient of his slaps I'd say they were so light almost like pats (However, he'd still get fired today) He taught woodwork. It was "Wilkie Collins" who taught metalwork. Webb taught me History in 1st form. I also remember one occasion he sat in for an absent English master and instead of just babysitting the form (as normally happened) he actually taught a whole lesson on Anthony's speech from Julius Caesar - and he taught it well. He did not hide his contempt for Thoorn, Simpson etc.
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash70panat yahoodotcom
Years_at_school: 1962-9
Date: 12 Nov 2014
Time: 06:11:36
Pleased to report that all is well with the world. Went down to Camden yesterday and got me a rum'n'raisin at the new Marine Ices from a very pretty Italian girl.
Name: tcHqF
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk
Years_at_school:
Date: 11 Nov 2014
Time: 09:44:35
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Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 11 Nov 2014
Time: 08:44:58
For Peter Fowler. Thank you for your response. We are in certain areas of agreement. However, I would refer you to a piece written by JS Golland in these archives. In it, he pretty well admits to turning a blind eye to the bad goings on in 1950s..60s HCS. I do not find that impressive. You question my logic on the deeds of those of the past being judged by later generations. And cite a reference of your own making to George Washington being considerably racist. Indeed, Washington's anti-slavery credentials appear very low. Pardon the pun, but in history he appears to have been white-washed. But do generally accepted norms of the time excuse this? Your logic would appear not to apply to anti-slavers such as Wilberforce and the Quakers. They rejected current social mores so why should later generations excuse others who went along with the accepted norm? Having just read about the Sonnerkommando SS Divisions romping around Belarus and Poland in the war, one questions in revulsion the evil individual mentality that drove these monsters. Surely, each individual must think things out for him or herself at the time and not necessarily go along with the generality. Perhaps like me you have occasionally wondered how you might have responded to Hitlerism if you(we)had been born in Germany in, say, 1920? Just right for the next War! The pressure would have been on to join the Hitler Youth before later getting locked into military fighting units committing atrocities all over occupied Europe. Would we have had the courage, as teenagers, to stand up and say 'no'? A very hard call. So I am not suggesting it is easy to fight against the norm. Far from it. It comes down to individual conscience at the time. Easily written, of course, by someone who had the fortune to be born into a decent Western democracy at the close of the Second World War.
Name: steve manning
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school:
Date: 10 Nov 2014
Time: 21:38:11
Thank you Messrs Min & Vincent. The issue of 'prefect power abuse' seems to be going the way of Savile & Rochdale. I, in no way, wanted to imply that Paul Nurse was in any way a part of the physical abuse that I was subjected to by the prefecture of 63-65. Apart from George Cowan, O'Donague?, Bilson and the other usual suspects, I had very few HCS would-be role-models. I now have two ex-HCS heroes. Geoffrey Perkins & Prof. Sir Paul Nurse.
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colinddotdickinsatblueyonderdotco.douk
Years_at_school: 1947-1953
Date: 10 Nov 2014
Time: 14:31:45
Spot on, Paul (although I don't recall a kindly word about Bigham from Dick Worsfold - or anyone else). Schofield I only new from him joining the OGCC in which he played for the best part of a season until he decided it was beneath his dignity to play in a side containing some of the schoolboys who sometimes made up our 2nd XI numbers. The measure of the man, I think. But a typical example of Paul's other type was dear old Harry (Cob) Webb. A typical moment from him was a quick slap round the face followed by a twinkly eyed, "The quickness of the hand deceives the eye, eh Boy?" There was no malice or cruelty in him and, considering his provenance, he was remarkably good. He left school at 14 to become a builder's labourer and by dint of night school, hard work and a natural talent he qualified as a teacher - I think of metalwork, but somehow he also taught maths and became a form master.
Name: Paul Romney
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school:
Date: 10 Nov 2014
Time: 05:49:52
There is obviously a big difference between the thugs and sadists (Bigham, Schofield, etc.)and teachers who were essentially human but did not feel an inhibition against a timely slap round the noggin. No one here is defending the former. But I recall that, a few years back, a contributor to this site (Dick Worsfold, was it?) even managed to pen a kindly reminiscence of Bigham.
Name: Peter Fowler
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 56/62
Date: 10 Nov 2014
Time: 04:07:35
First, Peter, we didn't excuse them at the time. We fought like mad. We even published a scurrilous magazine (The Seeker, 1961) that lampooned the school structure and were denounced by an apoplectic Headmaster as 'cynics and cosmopolitans' as he screamed lines from Milton's Areopagitica at us to prove our worthlessness. Neither I or any of my closest friends were ever even considered to be made Prefects. Second, and much more to the point, I cannot accept your logic. Times do change. Moods switch, tides ebb and flow. I remember writing an essay at University proving, beyond a shadow of doubt, that Thomas Jefferson and George Washington were racist pigs. Easy to write when there was a more-or-less universal acknowledgement at the time that white people were naturally superior to blacks: these two guys might have been 'liberals' at the time but we would denounce what they said as 'racist'in 2014. More, cultural shifts, when they occur, are often enforced by legislative changes: it was Martin Luther King who said, 'you cannot force a change in behaviour by persuasion - but you can by legislation'. The behaviour exhibited in HCS by some teachers would now not only be culturally unacceptable: it would be illegal. Finally, I stick to my guns with Golland, Mees and some of the others: they were very sensitive to cultural changes; they knew times were changing. I have an email in front of me, having tracked it down, from JSG in November, 2000, where he says he was 'enormously proud of us when we published The Seeker - but could not say so at the time'. Lafferty, a younger man, might have gone that one step further. Because the times had moved one step on.
Name: Paul Romney
Email: paulromney03ataim.com
Years_at_school: not the best of my life (56-63)
Date: 10 Nov 2014
Time: 03:50:19
The only time I got a prefect's detention (in 1957 from Ken Childerhouse, for fighting with T** L***), it was half an hour. I'm pretty sure prefects were not authorized to use physical violence.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 09 Nov 2014
Time: 16:25:48
I'm very unsure of Peter Fowler's remark re-not judging the behaviour of one generation by the standards of another. Today's educated young German might not be too impressed with the 1930s-1940s behaviour, deeds and attitudes of his or her old grandparents. In an era of fairly overt 1950s British anti-black racism my parents always taught me to counter such thinking. If they could do it so could have their 'mildly' racist peers. HCS is a good microcosm, in point. As far as I know, James Lafferty and Gethin Williams were not known to behave badly towards pupils. So why should we find excuses for the bullying and evil tempers of certain of their colleagues? Surely not by feebly suggesting it was the way things were?
Name: Peter Vincent
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1966-1972
Date: 09 Nov 2014
Time: 09:14:09
... quite a torture but luckily any unlikely excuse to Joe Avery would get you out of it (even if you used the 140 same as him, which I did not).
Name: Peter Vincent
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1966-1972
Date: 09 Nov 2014
Time: 09:13:06
Ye Min - when I started in 1966, I remember some of the senior prefects had a petition to Joe Avery to reintroduce caning by senior prefects - so I suspect this must have been permitted in Square's time? Joe was not interested. Prefects certainly could award 1hr detentions in my time (or were they called impositions) but you had to take a detention slip home and get it signed by your parents. Yeh right, as if I would do that. Late detention was 30 mins with George Cowan (and although he was certainly tough, who knew the name of every student and was, IMHO, completely fair) - "The ploughman homeward plods his weary way" on three lines was q
Name: ye min
Email: yeyeye63athotmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 63-70
Date: 09 Nov 2014
Time: 04:49:48
Ah Steve you are so right It was 63, s finger slip between my mind and what I need to do, call it old age... oh yes I recall prefect impositions, each class had a prefect assigned to them...and did they give you detentions as well? I'm sure they did. Hell, there was so much punishment it would be surprising if they missed that opportunity!
Name: steve manning
Email:
Years_at_school: 63-whenever
Date: 08 Nov 2014
Time: 20:35:22
I agree with everything you say,Ye. We did,of course start in '63.But who's counting? I would like to hear some memories of prefect power. I'm not sure now if there were such things as prefect detentions. There were certainly prefect 'impositions' WTF. There is a picture, I believe of Paul Nurse as a prefect somewhere on this site. I hope he gave me some stick as it would've been great fun to know that. as he presented my daughter with her degree whilst getting his Hon. Doctorate at Newcastle this summer
Name: ye min
Email: yeyeye63atotmaildot com
Years_at_school: 64-70
Date: 08 Nov 2014
Time: 14:27:08
yes Peter..I agree and share your observations..thirty years ago I had a row with my father for about two hours and in the end he said 'he didn't know any better..' and I could accept that. I hated being at HCS and surprisingly became a teacher for 17 years and the template? not to be a teacher like the ones who taught me. I am still working with young people, now those with mental health difficulties. I am a father and a grandfather. Likewise, my template for fatherhood was not to be like my own father. HCS has an effect on us whether we liked it or not.
Name: Peter Fowler
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 56/62
Date: 08 Nov 2014
Time: 13:10:57
Chris, your first sentence is right - you cannot judge people of a previous generation by applying the values of another. It took me years to realise that my own father would, until the day he died, happily use words like 'nigger' and 'wog', let alone 'poove' and 'nancy boy', not because he was a fascist pig, but because this was a perfecly acceptable way of behaving in the days of Empire. Of course I argued, like mad - but he could never see beyond the norms and the values that had shaped him. He hit me, too, reasonably regularly as a toddler: I know only too well that this was intensely counter-productive because first, it did me no good whatsoever; and, second, and more important, it opened up a gap between father and son that was never resolved. My entire ethos of bringing up our own children was influenced by his behaviour, and we would never, ever, dream of using corporal punishment. I sincerely believe, as a result of this, that I have a closeness to my children that entirely escaped my parents and their generation. If we then move on to HCS, the whole regime accepted the authoritarian undertones of that period; and, in that period, it was genuinely believed - wrongly in my opinion - that the odd clout around the ears would, somehow, do some good: it was a hangover from Victorian England. Instead, it made the boys in my generation - late 50s into the 60s - shiver with disgust. How pathetic it seemed to me when Schofield opened the door to take his run with the slipper; how naff when Bigham reduced boy after boy to tears. Those two would have been sadists in any generation, and would have been out on the streets today before you could say 'marthamatics'; but others would have simly absorbed the lessons of the generations and behaved differently. Jim Golland, who took me through every year at HCS until my A Levels, Harry Mees - ditto - and Geoff D'Arcy would all have easily managed, in any generation and with any set of concomitant values, because each of them had the rarest of gifts: to bring their subjects to life, to bring the very best out of their pupils and to inspire. And none of them, had they entered teaching even ten years later, would have dreamed of hitting a boy.
Name: Peter Vincent
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1966-1972
Date: 08 Nov 2014
Time: 11:47:11
Chris - you are so right. But in our time if you went home and told your parents that you had been bashed by a teacher, there was only one likely outcome - another thrashing because you must have deserved it! I doubt if too many former pupils have a concern if they got thrashed when they deserved it. How different it became by the time I arrived in 1966 with gentle Joe Avery in charge, with only himself authorised to inflict corporal punishment (also made a typo there and said capital!) which he kept for emergency use only. As a stagehand, I had a good almost personal relationship with both Jim Golland and Harry outside school hours (as well as Jim Maddison) authorised to address them on first name terms - but beware if you didn't appreciate that in the classroom there were different rules! Even Harry lost his temper with me one day in class when I was being a teenager, despite being in his saintly stage crew. However, without the stage crew HCS would have been a very difficult place!
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash70pan at yahoodotcom
Years_at_school: 1962-9
Date: 08 Nov 2014
Time: 08:36:12
The Genetic Research Centre to which Peter Ward refers is presumably the Francis Crick Institute which will be run by Paul Nurse. It's really quite nice to take a walk along the canal from Camden Lock eastwards towards King Cross- it's a lot quieter than the other way through the park. The great thing about London today is to see how areas like Kings Cross can scrub up so well.It doesn't take much for Georgian, Edwardian and Victorian architecture to shine through again. We're lucky that London is so great a city.
Name: Chris
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 08 Nov 2014
Time: 05:53:12
I suppose we cannot judge events of yesteryear by today's standards. However, I can't help but think of the masers today who would not only be sacked but also prosecuted. Jim Golland hitting over the head with a book is one. Even Harry Mees who once hit me around the head three times on the rugby pitch so hard that I was so confused that I went "home" to a house we'd left two years previously, obviously quite seriously concussed (I still think he was a wonderful teacher) Think of Twink Bradley and his "dry cleaning", Runt Schofield taking a run from the corridor to use a slipper. Swanny Amos drawing blood on bare legs with a switch on the way to Watford Rd, Bigham finding it necessary to cane large numbers of boys nearly every lesson and believing that reading from our issued textbook constituted teaching. And, even if relatively innocent (as I think it was) Thorne's bum patting and hugging would have been cause for concern. Today, if my grandchildren were subjected to any of these things I would want the offenders jailed and banned from ever teaching again.
Name: Peter Vincent
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1966-1972
Date: 07 Nov 2014
Time: 14:18:46
Actually my most vivid memory of Jim Golland was when I spelled committee incorrectly in an essay one day. He got hold of a giant dictionary and bashed me on the head with it three times - "DOUBLE M" bash "DOUBLE T" bash "DOUBLE E" bash. Some of the words must have got through as I have always spelled it correctly since! Or should that be spelt?
Name: Type your name here
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 06 Nov 2014
Time: 04:09:51
Slightly harsh, Mr Vincent. I had thought (note my 'I think') Mr Grimwig in Oliver Twist was into eating hats when, in fact, he consumed heads. Clearly, I lack your advantages in not having received the peerless teaching of the saintly Golland. My 'O' Level teacher was a fiery, red-haired Scotsman 'Hamish' Sutherland. But no complaints. With his energy and enthusiasm for his subject he soon had us eating out his hands. Or was it hats?
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondATyahoo.com
Years_at_school: Early Cretaceous
Date: 06 Nov 2014
Time: 03:27:54
As it's my birthday and I'm in France, far from my solicitors, I'll pass on responding to Mr Alan Thumpsome for the moment. Besides, Peter Ward has comprehensively provided the relevant points re Camden Town and Kings Cross, so I'll respond to the rest of 'My Bad's nonsense in a day or two.
Name: David Jackson
Email: david at jack-son dot co dot uk
Years_at_school:
Date: 06 Nov 2014
Time: 02:51:14
Aaaah! Marine Ices. Rum & Raisin Ice Cream - hope they're still making it. Food of the Gods. Camden Town, Kings Cross & St.Pancras are indeed much changed, mainly for the better. I rather prefer Toronto to Vancouver, but they are both interesting cities, inhabited by extraordinarily nice people. Neil Young is from Canada, and that's good enough for me. On my last visit the Vancouver Public Library were having a sale of CDs at a ridiculously low price, and I hoovered up a load that looked interesting, mainly by Canadian "roots" type artists that I'd never heard of, and they mostly proved to be excellent.
Name: Peter Vincent
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1966-1972
Date: 05 Nov 2014
Time: 16:10:20
Tutt tutt, Mr Ward. The phrase was used by Dickens in The Pickwick Papers. If I knew as little of life as that, Id eat my hat and swallow the buckle whole. Mr Golland would be very disappointed in you. I did think it was also used in David Copperfield (by the lodger who's name I can't remember) but I think I am mistaken.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: Carboniferous Period
Date: 05 Nov 2014
Time: 15:40:15
What an amazing spat between Mr Thompson and Mr Edmonds. Actually Mr Esmond, I do believe. Having insulted poor little Camden Town which is now a delightful area, Mr T turns his fire on Kings Cross and the gasometers, boarded-up shops etc. High time, Mr T, you returned to old Blighty for a short visit. Kings Cross is now a stunning part of London. St Pancras station a restored jewel running Eurostar expresses out to the Continent. Kings Cross station, itself, very recently restored with a remarkable glass ceiling covering the old road and all old buildings preserved, cleaned up and used. The vile 1970s shopping centre has gone and that area is now a floodlit patio in front of the beautifully cleaned station front. Lovely at night. Next to St Pancras is the wonderful new-ish British Library building and behind that, just to be opened, a vast new Genetics Research Centre. The Victorian and rightly preserved gasometers have been saved and will soon be homes (yes, homes) and behind them, close to the Regent's Canal, is the delightful London Wildlife Trust sanctuary open to the public. I suggest Mr T moves on a few decades and googles the area on-line. He will be pleasantly surprised. I seem to remember somewhere in his unfavourite Dickens someone periodically threatened to eat his hat. (In Oliver Twist, I think.) Our Canada-based friend appears to be talking out of his hat. Which London area will he next try to rubbish? I suggest London Bridge and close-by Hays Wharf.
Name: Alan Thompson
Email: pushticat at shaw.ca
Years_at_school: 1944-51
Date: 05 Nov 2014
Time: 14:50:43
OK, OK, Enough already. Victorian!
Name: Alan Thompson
Email: pushticat at shaw.ca
Years_at_school: 1944-51
Date: 05 Nov 2014
Time: 13:36:59
Mr. Edmonds: Of course the villas put up in Camden Town for the Pooters of this world were Edwardian, not Georgian, space being provided by the clearance of the slums in order to construct the railway. I must have been thinking of "The Scarlet Pimpernel", who certainly did not live in Camden Town but then neither did the Pooters. I knew you would catch me on that one. My bad! Finis.
Name: Alan Thompson
Email: pushticat at shaw.ca
Years_at_school: 1944-51
Date: 05 Nov 2014
Time: 12:53:45
Mr.Edmonds: Gracious me, sir, with each post you begin to sound more and more like Dr. Simpson immediately prior to administering punishment. Either that or you are deliberately "sucking your thumb at me, sir". And there is no need to proselytize on behalf of Canada. I have lived there almost 50 years and read the 'Globe and Mail'. I have also read, and re-read my recent posts and see nothing there at which you could take exception. As you doubtless guessed ,my son being at Carleton from 1985-89, was not "based" in Toronto but in Ottawa, but the nightlife being worse there than in Toronto,in his opinion and *at that time*, meant that many weekends were spent in Toronto where he could savour the fleshpots and the other aspects of entertainment available " to those so inclined". As for Camden Town I was not, of course, thinking of the flashing lights and 'artistes' that may be found along the towpath by Camden Lock nowadays or the tourist filled pubs but the rows of dirty terrace houses and decayed Georgian dwellings found there 60 years ago. I am glad, indeed delighted, to hear that all is cleared away "shipshape and Bristol fashion"-at half a million a pop, no doubt. Three years ago I had to wait a couple of hours at Kings Cross for a train to Bristol and took the opportunity to have a long walk around the area. Kings Cross, of course merges into Camden Town. I was appalled to see the boarded up shops, the dirty pavements and down right squalor of the area. Stinking rusting gas holders perfumed the air together with the smell of the diesel fumes from the highway. Perhaps some of the wealth you say is now in Camden Town will spill over to its neighbour. I have made a point of listening to this Ron Sexsmith you think so highly of: I'm afraid he is just another warbler to my ears but if you say he's a genius I'm sure you're right. As I said before I bow to your superior knowledge of this sort of thing. You want blood as well? My tastes in music lie elsewhere Times must truly be hard indeed if you have to source your quotes from a misguided creature like Gradgrinch. I would have thought Joe Friday's "All I want is the facts" would be more up your street. Now, Mr.Edmonds, it is plain we will never agree so I am going to call a halt to our interchange. I find your style extremely pedantic but then,as a pedant myself, I understand. I shall turn to "Friends Reunited" in the hope of finding, well, friends.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondAT yahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 05 Nov 2014
Time: 12:12:52
Marine Ices has moved down the road, Henry, about 300 yards or so, towards Camden Town tube. Pity really, I liked that place in Chalk Farm, it had a unique vibe - although I hadn't actually been there for a few years. And yes, Palmer's has been shut for some time. But new places keep on opening, it can be hard to keep up (not that I try too hard, I kind of let it all wash over me).
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondAT yahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 05 Nov 2014
Time: 12:12:48
Marine Ices has moved down the road, Henry, about 300 yards or so, towards Camden Town tube. Pity really, I liked that place in Chalk Farm, it had a unique vibe - although I hadn't actually been there for a few years. And yes, Palmer's has been shut for some time. But new places keep on opening, it can be hard to keep up (not that I try too hard, I kind of let it all wash over me).
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash70panatyahoodotcom
Years_at_school: 1962-9
Date: 05 Nov 2014
Time: 10:34:37
I took a walk through Camden Town a couple of days ago. Sad to report that Marine Ices seems to have closed. So has Palmers, the rather exotic pet shop in Parkway. For the rest, it all seems to be just as rock'n'roll as ever. Jazz Cafe seems to be fine.
Name: cgrisesmondATyahoo.com
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 05 Nov 2014
Time: 07:13:00
Finally, in leaving it "to adolescents and those who like it", do I detect a perhaps chronically embedded negative attitude to 'pop music' there, Alan T? I'm not stupid enough to 'demand' you like something, of course, but perhaps you might not be aware that the term 'pop' has for a long time covered a whole spectrum of genres and ranges of talent, from the puerile 'manufactured-for-profit' dross, through to quite sophisticated work of genuine high artistic quality, so-called 'adult pop', that at times can border on 'genius' (an overused word, but valid in a few cases that might not necessarily be widely known by the public. Ron Sexsmith, for example, who was recently awarded an honorary degree from his hometown university for his services to music, can still be seen doing his washing at his local Toronto launderette - no massive wealth and refreshingly no oversized ego there, just a delightful, intelligent yet self-effacing, humorous man with artistic integrity and a supreme talent for songwriting and performing. As I've said, it so happens that Canada has been particularly blessed by such musical talent in recent times, which is why I've mentioned that Toronto, for example, might well not be as "boring" as it might appear to some people. And by the way, that city also has other attractions well worth visiting, eg a fine museum of natural history and world cultures, theatres and top ice hockey.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondAT yahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 05 Nov 2014
Time: 03:54:29
On a similar note, may I ask, Alan Thompson, when exactly was your son based in Toronto? In recommending its high-quality live music scene, I'm referring to how things are NOW (and since the mid-to-late 90's), not necessarily before, of which I know little or nothing.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondAT yahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 05 Nov 2014
Time: 03:38:12
Well, Alan, despite your modesty, I would say the high regard for you of your pupils in a long career is enough to earn at least the description "fairly distinguished". But I'm afraid, just as the horrible old tyrant Gradgrind overestimated the significance of "facts", in the light of your absence from the area for over FIFTY YEARS, your rather damning remarks about the contemporary Camden Town area betray a serious underestimation of their value. Surely a basic tenet in and out of academic life, whatever the discipline, is: Beware of making statements about things of which you know nothing. That's the way of ignorance and its inevitable outcome, prejudice. Camden Town in fact has been an extraordinarily vibrant place for several decades, attracting millions of tourists to its world-famous market, relaxed street-life and night-time entertainment. It's also very much a mixed community of residents, including a certain amount of 'gentrification' that you appear to regard as highly desirable. "Facts", Mr Thompson, "facts" - that's what you need, sir, "facts"!
Name: Alan Thompson
Email: pushticat at shaw.ca
Years_at_school: 44-51
Date: 04 Nov 2014
Time: 15:36:40
I should have added that I would never have called myself a 'fairly distinguished educator'. My students thought that I was a good 'teacher and administrator'. Or so I am led to believe. I do not claim to be an expert at anything, and certainly not of popular music. I leave that for adolescents and others who like it. .
Name: Alan Thompson
Email: pushticat at shaw.ca
Years_at_school: 1944-51
Date: 04 Nov 2014
Time: 15:26:27
That would be 1962-63. I have never liked Charles Dickens and am sure that an existence containing only facts would be incredibly boring. Not that there is anything wrong with my imagination. I am sure you will correct me if Camden Town has now been gentrified beyond recognition. Perhaps like the Dockland where I was born.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondATyahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 04 Nov 2014
Time: 14:44:36
Alan Thompson, perhaps you could tell me exactly when you drove through Camden Town, as it may be that your 'imagination' is not necessarily to be trusted. As Dickens's Mr Gradgrind says, "Now, what I want is Facts...Facts alone are wanted in life"! As an apparently fairly distinguished educator yourself, I'm sure that in this context you'll agree with him and appreciate the overriding need for clarity rather than mere conjecture?
Name: Alan Thompson
Email: pushticat at shaw.ca
Years_at_school: 1944-51
Date: 03 Nov 2014
Time: 21:51:53
Chris Edmond: I must bow to your superior knowledge of the Toronto music scene although my son, who was at Carleton, tells me that in his day it was not so hot. It would be inappropriate for me to give my views on other points you mention. I did not come here for argument. I used to drive from my 'room in Bloomsbury' through Camden Town on the way to see my girl-friend at Westfield. It was in a state of decline then. I don't imagine it is any better now.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondAT yahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 03 Nov 2014
Time: 16:33:17
Alan, I'm not sure whether your comments about Toronto were intended as a sort of oblique critical response to mine on one aspect of that city, but in case they were, here are a few more of mine (if they weren't, well, treat mine as just more info!). Did you notice that Laurence Lando found Toronto to be "boring" rather than "beautiful", which prompted me to recommend its lively contemporary music scene? As I said, the latter is teeming with talent, generally of far higher quality than its equivalent in London, ie Camden Town (where I have lived for many years), and as such, well worth checking out, if so inclined. As for drugs, frankly, they are ubiquitous all over the world wherever predominantly young people are out enjoying themselves, just as earlier generations (eg yours) relied on alcohol to fuel such leisure excursions. Personally, I'm all for moderation and I'm no certainly no 'druggie', but anyway, for the most part, whatever others may or may not be 'on' doesn't interfere with a good night out enjoying top-rate performers at venues like the aforementioned Dakota Tavern, Toronto and plenty of others in that city.
Name: Alan Thompson
Email: pushticat at shaw.ca
Years_at_school: 1944-51
Date: 03 Nov 2014
Time: 12:52:16
Laurence: What an incredible way to mark a retirement. Don't be misled by the beauty of Toronto, however. It has just recently dumped its cocaine-sniffing, alcoholic, prostitute frequenting Mayor, the City Administration is corrupt and so are the police. Racial tensions are high and the music scene drug laden. Years ago, whilst researching material for my M.Ed. degree I hitch-hiked to Greece and found the Greeks to be a polite,cultured and hospitable people (rather like the British used to be) and made so many friends that I returned, with my family, often. Come the end of July we would pack all five of us in the Morris Minor and then off, through France, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, sometimes Germany. Always something new to see and the kids loved it. At 10 years old my son Jeremy must have been the youngest in history to tumble down all the steps of the well at Mycenae without breaking his neck. Happy days, and unless I am struck by the odd meteorite, we'll be off there again in the Spring. Just the two of us now. I did go on a fact-finding trip to Malaya, Singapore and Honk Kong some years ago. Dr. Simpson would have been quite happy there.
Name: Martin Goodall
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1959 to 1966
Date: 03 Nov 2014
Time: 09:32:01
As an exact contemporary of Chris Esmond I entirely agree with him. It was abundantly clear that the ethos and values to which ARS so desperately clung were already outdated at the time we were there in the 1960s. I certainly do not mourn the school's passing. It was consigned to the dustbin of history in 1975 - where it belongs.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 265 million years ago
Date: 03 Nov 2014
Time: 05:07:20
Thanks, Chris Esmond. (See previous ten entries, or so.) Your comment is spot on and I could not have expressed things better. Interestingly, you define old, out-dated HCS attitudes to the human race and education as 'pre-historic'. This is so, but cumbersome old dinosaurs continue to roam this guestbook. Perhaps they are in need of a quick meteorite strike. Heads down!
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondAT yahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 03 Nov 2014
Time: 03:39:25
Laurence Lando, do you enjoy rock and or 'adult pop' music? If so, a little investigation would have revealed Toronto as having a tremendously alive music scene, with top-quality artists who are refreshingly short on 'ego' and big on talent. To name a few: Blue Rodeo, The Sadies and, of course, the incomparable Ron Sexsmith (my particular favourite, also of such luminaries as Elvis Costello, Ray Davies (ex Kinks), Emmylou Harris and Paul McCartney). If you're ever there again, try the Dakota pub in the 'bohemian' part of town, on a Sunday night, it's a bit special!
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondATyahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 03 Nov 2014
Time: 03:29:00
Thanks, Peter Ward, for your - in this environment - radical thoughts on the human race. It seems blindingly obvious to me that unless we abandon these rigid boundaries of nationality, religion, race, colour etc. then we are ultimately doomed. What's needed now - and with the utmost urgency - is (to put it rather simplistically) not so much more Nobel Prize winners and elite scholars as more mature human beings who see through their conditioning (again, to spell it out: of their particular nation, religion, race, colour, class, sex etc.), who are conscious of being first, human beings sharing the privilege and wonder of life on this extraordinary planet, rather than merely the 'products' of a particular conditioning by, shall we say, vested interests who don't have the welfare of all at heart. Any attempt at education that doesn't put the nurturing of such a consciousness as a top priority is unworthy, it's going to be part of the problem rather than the solution. That's why the current ethos and practice of the new school in the old HCS buildings, for the benefit of its multi-cultural, mixed gender clientele, is infinitely more valuable than the nature of the regime I and most others coming here experienced (or, in many cases, 'endured'). Not that the old school didn't have its good points - but as far as the pressing needs of the human race are concerned, its general approach has long been utterly redundant, 'prehistoric', as it were.
Name: Laurence Lando
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1957 -
Date: 03 Nov 2014
Time: 02:38:47
Alan, on retirement we visited two countries that had long been on our wish-list. One was Canada. We flew into a very boring Toronto, and visited Niagara Falls. Sounded so over-sold, but was simply magnificent, especially the Maid of the Mist. The town of Niagara on the Lake, could have been in Surrey. We then flew to Calgary, visited Banff, Lake Louise and wonderful Jasper. Got on the Rocky Mountaineer and had a great journey over the Rockies to Vancouver. What a beautiful city. Rented a float plane to fly over the mountains into the hinterland. Vancouver must be one of the world's best cities in which to live. The other trip was, last year, to Japan. Spent a few days in Tokyo and went by Bullet train to Kyoto. Hard to explain how wonderful was this city, with Golden Temples, cherry blossum and of course the Geisha! Went by train to Hiroshima, and walking through the area of ground zero leaves you with deep thoughts on the waste of war. Back in Kyoto, we experienced an earthquake! Would like to visit New Zealand, but too far to travel, so we will visit New York for Thanksgiving instead. Which travel wishes do you and our colleagues still have to complete? Best wishes.
Name: Alan Thompson
Email: pushticat at shaw.ca
Years_at_school: 1944-51
Date: 02 Nov 2014
Time: 14:23:34
Laurence Lando: Thank you for your kind words. They are few and far between here. I do apologize for misspelling your last name. I must have been thinking . of Landru, the French serial killer. Murder is very much on my mind when I come to these pages. It must be a result of my violent upbringing. In reply to your question, Canada is such a huge country that the snowfall varies considerably across it. Here in Victoria, British Columbia we are lucky(?) to get two or three weeks a year and then not much. Our climate is very much like England but warmer-and getting warmer. We grow grapes, peaches and apricots in our backyard for example. I would be remiss if I did not mention the only case of concern I have with a teacher at HCGS. My English and form master in Form 2 was a mild inoffensive man with poor class control until the last 15 minutes of Friday afternoon when he would read us from Sherlock Holmes. The whole class would be spellbound as he described the action in "The Speckled Band". My flesh still creeps when I think of it. Of course the story does contain a caning- of a very nasty poisonous snake. Well, as part of his (pastoral?) care he informed us he liked to get to know his pupils by going on a cycling trip with them. I think the late Fr. Tony Andrews was first on the class list and I was the last. No matter who I asked I could get no information from any one who had been on the ride as to what happened. I put off my participation as long as I could but eventually could not put it off any longer. After a short ride we stopped for a packed lunch and the master then started to ask me what I can only describe as some very personal questions which I now recognize to be of a dubious nature, As a fairly innocent 2nd former I hadn't much idea what he was talking about and we soon went home. There was no physical contact but the affair left an unpleasant taste in my mouth. When I told Mum she wanted a full confrontation with the man but I persuaded her against it. Fortunately at the end of the year he left to become an Anglican priest, if you can believe it. Apart from that I have no gripes against any staff member. Perhaps I was just lucky. I think I was fortunate!
Name: Laurence Lando
Email:
Years_at_school: 1957 -
Date: 02 Nov 2014
Time: 09:02:04
Alan, my surname is LANDO. Your contribution is most informative. I too miss the essence of the Grammar school. I read that we need our state education to improve, yet only have a very few Grammar schools. My grandchildren go to schools in the independent sector, neither comes remotely near the quality offered to boys from all sectors of the community by HCGSB. When does the snow arrive in Canada?
Name: Alan Thompson
Email: pushticat at shaw.ca
Years_at_school: 1944-51
Date: 31 Oct 2014
Time: 15:15:56
Laurence Landro: Certainly during my time at school we lived in a time of violence. After all we had corporal punishment in the junior and secondary schools, judicial flogging in prisons, judicial birching of juveniles between 9 and 16, and judicial breaking of necks (hopefully)-all legal and above board. And we had just finished a bloody war to ensure people could write on forums like this. I can recall doing homework under the kitchen table in case of an air raid. But used to it? I don't know but the only one that would affect those at HCGS would be the first. Punishment canes were sold openly at hardware stores in Wealdstone, even our local toyshop sold them so there, was, presumably a demand for them. My mother was a gentle soul but had high expectations of behavior for her two boys both at school and at home and was prepared to enforce it if she thought it necessary. She was not alone. Since I can recall no case of bullying amongst pupils I must assume that the frequent mentioning of it here refers to teachers. Most unusual behavior on their part was, I believe, dismissed as eccentricity-a quality for which English schoolmasters were renowned. I remember rumours of a certain biology teacher circulating but no other. I do notice from the caning book that the number of offences committed by students after 1950 did seem to include some unheard of in my day. Truancy, homework not done etc, seem to more relevant to a Secondary Modern school rather than a Grammar School. However I did get into mischief a few times so shouldn't criticize. I just wish people would not refer to Gayton High (or whatever it's called this week) as the *successor* to HCGS rather than the "replacement" for it which it really is. It may be an excellent school in its way but HCGS is gone, dead an buried. Only the shell remains. I did retire to Canada by the way but have myriads of young relatives who keep me informed of the latest education fad. I hear David Cameron wants to bring cp back.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter-ward16at btinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 30 Oct 2014
Time: 02:05:07
Fair enough, Laurence. Yet I detect you have may not quite accepted my main point (you are free do so, of course.) I still advocate abandoning questionable, general concepts such as multi-ethnicity. This has surely has had its day. Far better to think of people as of one race only, thus ignoring skin colour, language etc. Although by all means retain imported non-Western cultures. Our own culture is big enough to tolerate and accept. Jazz is a good case in point. Likewise, West Indian poetry and African literature. Thus, the better term to use, in 2014, is 'multi-cultural' rather than 'multi-ethnic.'
Name: Laurence Lando
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1957-
Date: 29 Oct 2014
Time: 04:44:34
Peter, apologies if you took my accurate comment as a slur on any individual. The current school has many pupils from many ethnic backgrounds. None I would suggest needs to divest their culture. To use your own example. I would assume that the Jewish boys would have been proud to be identified as such, and assimilated into the wider school community. Perhaps the large number of languages spoken at the school today is a better indicator of the diverse nature of the multi-ethnic community. In your time at the school I would assume just one language was the first language of the vast majority of the school, including those Jewish boys of which I am proud to be counted.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 28 Oct 2014
Time: 18:19:32
Laurence Lando...I am unimpressed with your response (see previous.) To quote you...'I actually wrote a "multi-ethnic school population" not the slant you put on the comment.' I suggest you read back exactly on what you declared ie 'To attend a school in Harrow today would be to expose you to a multi-ethnic population.' The term 'expose' is used carelessly and invites wide interpretation. I don't recall feeling 'exposed' to the many, gifted Jewish boys in the HCS of my time. Many enriched the life and reputation of the school. Presumably, they would have felt hurt and humiliated if non-Jewish boys (the majority) had used such language about them. Why can't we understand that, decades on, we are all of one human race and might be advised to cast aside questionable 1970s inventions such as 'multi-ethnicity?' That's certainly how my 16 year-old grandson and his 21st century friends view humanity. They have no truck with out-moded concepts such as 'ethnic background.' I have a professional musician friend who is half-Spanish and half English. He is married to a North Korean concert pianist and they have two small girls at Primary School. The so-called multi-ethnicity of these children is of no consequence to their friends at school.
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash70panatyahoodotcom
Years_at_school: 1962-9
Date: 28 Oct 2014
Time: 11:05:56
Peter Fowler omitted to say that Colin Dickins is bloody good at the Times crossword.
Name: Clive Farmer
Email: clivefarmer39 at virginmedia.com
Years_at_school: none
Date: 28 Oct 2014
Time: 07:40:54
Re my last comments I misquoted my email address . it is as quoted here Clive Farmer
Name: Clive Farmer
Email: clivefarmer at virginmedia.com
Years_at_school: none
Date: 28 Oct 2014
Time: 07:38:20
I attended Stationers' Company's School Hornsey 1950 1955 . The Headmaster was Mr S C Nunn who according to his Teachers Council Registration taught at your school 1926 - 1930 .I am building a profile of him to commemorate his service in the First World War Does anyone have any information about him please. especially any photos ? Clive Farmer
Name: Peter Fowler
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 56/62
Date: 28 Oct 2014
Time: 02:58:29
I would only like to comment on one aspect of the message from Alan Thompson: his scorn for the 'patronising' note struck in Colin Dickins' note to him. Anyone not familiar with this exchange, go down a few messages and the two are next to each other. I could hardly believe my eyes: Colin is from a generation above me and we have very different views, right down, I would have thought, to political fundamentals. But, in the spirit of our common school heritage, we have been more than able to retain a completely civilised - and, indeed, warm - relationship since the time Jeff put this site together in 2001. Colin - this is addressed to Alan - has performed a myriad of tasks for the OGs, and always with a graceful and articulate distinction: he has been a lynchpin of the various branches of the OGs for decades. He hasn't got, Alan, a patronising element in his body; and you really should have been more careful before lambasting the entire membership of this web site with your intemperate views.
Name: Laurence Lando
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1957-
Date: 28 Oct 2014
Time: 02:06:49
I actually wrote 'a multi-ethnic school population', not the slant that you put on the comment. You also write of the current advances in the school of today. Not so, their are no advances, indeed the school that engendered Nobel prize winners, leading members of the professions and a positive social mobility for boys of modest means, is a part of history. My memories of gratuitous violence are recorded in these records, as are the life-long friendships established whilst at HCGSB.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 27 Oct 2014
Time: 17:24:30
Dear oh dear. The current school, on the old HCS site, no longer canes and bullies and includes in its ranks 'multi-ethnics' (not my term.) Shock horror. What is society coming to? How sad that some older folks appear not to be able to cope with advances in recent decades. Their inflexible minds appear to be perfect products of a defunct system that denied individual thinking. Have they not noticed that society has moved on? They have most certainly been left behind, witnessed by their own confessions. RIP.
Name: Laurence Lando
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1957-
Date: 27 Oct 2014
Time: 09:06:49
Good for you Alan Thompson. You stick up for the staff whether they were brutal or not. You comment that your own dear mother had practice with the cane. I do wonder if pupils of the school during the time you indicate were just used to violence. I might think that the classroom bully was in full flow. One thing I do consider is the social mobility made possible by the grammar school system. Your email address ends in .ca, and I wonder if you live away from these shores. To attend a school in Harrow nowadays would expose you to a multi-ethnic school population, that just did not exist in your days. I too miss the ethos of HCGS for boys, but reflect its demise with some sadness.
Name: Alan Thompson
Email: pushticat at shaw.ca
Years_at_school: 1944-51
Date: 25 Oct 2014
Time: 16:09:22
Mr.Dickins, I did not realize that I needed your approbation to post here nor do I like to be patronized. I came here looking for old acquaintances and friends with whom I might share a few common experiences. We may be all "Old Gaytonians" but some are evidently more Gaytonian than others since the term now appears to cover a multitude of schools. From now I shall simply refer to myself as an "HGCS Old Boy"-with an accent ,perhaps,on the old. My friends will know the difference but it's really no surprise that so few of them want to post here. I may even start a website.
Name: Malcom Barnes
Email: malcy127atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1955 to 1961
Date: 24 Oct 2014
Time: 10:52:25
I have just discovered the site. Many congratulations. So much history here. Even Simpson's caning book. How did this happen? The older 1940s members seem not to have experienced Doctor Simpson who grew increasingly tyrannical. Perhaps he started well but before turning into a ranting monster. My generation must have suffered the worst of him and the various thugs at his right hand. Vilification? No.Just the truth which,like the cane,hurts. Truth must out as in recent child sex abuse revelations in alleged top notch Prep Schools of yesteryear.
Name: Roy Goldman
Email: roygraceatbigponddotnet.au
Years_at_school: 1943 - 1949
Date: 23 Oct 2014
Time: 21:37:19
The A to D form hierarchy that Alan disliked so much has been kicked around on this website a few times. As a 1943 2C entry, I never experienced that sort of feeling at all. Certainly the school was short of teaching talent because many young teachers, although in reserved occupations, left to join the armed forces at the outbreak of war. At meetings with parents prior to the entry year, Cyril Atkins the School Secretary had meetings with them, explaining the school's shortage of staff in some educations and the decision to make up the the entry year structure of 2A Latin and French, 2B German and French, 2C Extra Chemistry and French and 2D Extra Physics and French. Of course a credit in French was essential at that time in order to matriculate. He also stressed that because of the shortage of Latin teachers, parents who saw their sons becoming doctors would be given priority for the Latin stream. This then left the decision a simple one - two languages or one language and extra science. For many parents including my own, the latter was a simple decision.
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colinddotdickinsatblueyonderdotco.douk
Years_at_school: 1947-1953
Date: 22 Oct 2014
Time: 15:05:58
How sad, Alan. I'm not sure what you expect of such a guestbook as this, nor what you want. I'm only three years younger than you, presumably, but have enjoyed sharing the experiences of men of many different eras. Through the Guestbook I have established a strong friendship with Roy Goldman in Australia (your era, I think) and years after our first contact met him several times when he has visited the UK. I have enjoyed Brian Hester's contributions from Canada (also your era?) and exchanged thoughts with him. Also, inevitably if you engage with these exchanges, with many younger men who have become good friends through this medium. What do we have in common? We're all Old Gaytonians and that's enough for us. I could take up with you some of the points you raise (particularly the occasional vilification of some who can't defend themselves), but for the moment I think the foregoing will suffice. Do you want just to read? Or do you want to engage?
Name: Alan Thompson
Email: pushticat at shaw.ca
Years_at_school: 1944-51
Date: 22 Oct 2014
Time: 10:18:23
Dear Mr. Maynard, I have returned to this forum after a number of years only to be so disappointed that I shall leave it again shortly. There seem to be very few of my schoolmates who use these pages and much of what is posted means little to me. Perhaps all my friends are dead,a distinct possibility,or never became computer literate. But I chiefly object to the practice of allowing some of subscribers to make unproved and scandalous accusations against former members of staff who are no longer able to defend themselves. I grieve for the families of those concerned. Perhaps this is the new British way of doing things. My dear mother, an East Londoner and one whose proficiency with the cane rivaled even that of Dr. Simpson,left school at 14 but wanted the very best in education that she could get for her two boys and when offered the choice between Harrow Weald County and HCS unhesitatingly chose HCS. My older brother Donald was placed in 2d and I eventually in 2c. Despite these alleged setbacks we both did well at school and both graduated from first-rate universities with a good degree. Donald subsequently became a civil engineer and quantity surveyor. After commissioned service in the RAF I went into teaching after getting an M.Ed. and eventually a headship. Not bad for two kids from the alleged down trodden c and d streams. Donald was athletic and enjoyed 1st XV rugby football and cross-country. I liked rugby but could only make the 2nds. I hated the CCF but put up with it since National Service lay ahead and I thought it might be useful in getting a commission. It was. I was also an officer in the Debating Society and Sixth Form Society and a founding member and Secretary ,with Paul Oliver as sponsor, of the Afro American Music Society. I enjoyed my time at HCGS. A lot of hard work and a lot of determination went a long way in those days. The school was to there to provide services to those who wanted to get on. Who learns the Calculus at 15 now, as was common then with Billy Duke? I was not, incidentally, a model pupil and was caned three times but in them days you rolled with the punches. Anyone who remembers me, unlikely I know, is welcome to email me but please no Harrow High-lovers.
Name: zNucX
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk
Years_at_school:
Date: 15 Oct 2014
Time: 14:00:31
-
Name: Peter Vincent
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1966-1972
Date: 03 Oct 2014
Time: 02:48:49
Chris - the thing I remember the most about this experience was that in the first match I went to see, Darmstadt Exiles hammered the opposition, which was a German team. But the Germans were big enough to cheer and applaude the Exiles off the pitch which the Exiles then did for them. Afterwards all players and supporters adjourned to the bar and mixed. Now that was sport - even if it was rugby (or should it be Rugby?).
Name: xPhVqtF
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk
Years_at_school:
Date: 02 Oct 2014
Time: 06:49:34
ultram overnight no prescription - ultram 319
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: christopherdotatkinson43atntlworlddotcom
Years_at_school: '48 to'53
Date: 01 Oct 2014
Time: 05:19:07
Don't get me wrong Peter, I quite enjoyed playing Rugby at School, But then I was in the School Scouts and the CCF and I quite liked Biology as a subject - so perhaps I had a major masochistic streak from an early age. Rugby in the RAF was fun; the small station I was on in Germany didn't even have enough former players to make up a team. We recruited the rest from the MT Section - those who had grazed knuckles (from where they dragged on the ground) in order to make up the numbers. Got my comupance just before demob up in Gloucestershire, playing against a team of local young farmers. Silly me, had my hands open and seized the ball - fatal mistake, as about ten young heifers all jumped on me at once.
Name: Martin McCluney
Email: martin13945atgmail.com
Years_at_school: 1955-1963
Date: 30 Sep 2014
Time: 03:09:13
Terrific website, Jeffrey. Such a mine of information. It stirs up memories of carved names on ancient padlocked desks, Simpson administering a thrashing for three examples of my name in Golland's English room, paying money into the Pavilion Fund for years and never a sign of such a building - was it ever built at Watford Road? What happened to the money? Tapper and Higgs playing some great rugby for Middlesex. and later for Wasps I think. Our own 1sts beating Harrow soundly in 1960 and 61. Our pipe band winning the McBrayne Trophy at the Harpenden games every year with Don Allen keeping us company. Touch rugby in the quad, buns and doughnuts too, truncated prefect gowns, totally inadequate careers advice ( "Oxford and Cambridge are both good buy personally I prefer...") and oh yes the woodpecker shoes...
Name: Peter Vincent
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1966-1972
Date: 30 Sep 2014
Time: 03:01:36
Chris has it exactly right. For years I played lots of different sports and loved them all and continued playing football at a decent "park" level well into my 30s. But one sport I never touched again was rugby - which HCS gave me a hatred of just as Chris describes. When you did get to the fields after a whacking from one or more prefects on the way, the PE staff wanted you to stand around for ages in the freezing cold while they lectured about something rather than just letting us get on with a game. In the 1970s, I worked in Germany and some of those I worked with were in a rugby team "The Darmstadt Exiles". I reluctantly went to watch and was amazed by the passion and enthusiasm - and high levels of sportsmanship during the game and comradeship between the teams after. I realised that without the HCS experience I could easily have played it myself and enjoyed it despite not weighing a ton - as seemed to be the main requirement for the HCS teams.
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: christopherdotatkinson43atntlworlddotcom
Years_at_school: generally enjoyable
Date: 19 Sep 2014
Time: 06:36:45
I'm paying the price now for indulging in my youth in a 'contact sport' - or so the surgeon says. My main re collections are of a frozen Watford Road field full of ruts that played havoc with the ankles, and of trying to do up fly buttone with frozen fingers after a cold shower in the pavvy. Rugby in the RAF was so much more civilized.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwheseratgmaildotcom'
Years_at_school: 40-7
Date: 18 Sep 2014
Time: 06:36:20
Richard Buckley's recollections of rugby run close to my own. Cross country running was not an option until about 1946 when Crinson organised it so we had no alternative to rugby. Whatever heated water in the pavilion had broken so we used one of the Harrow School facilities. After an hour or so of puffing up and down the field and getting thoroughly mired we all stripped off and trooped in for the communal hot bath - twelve of us at once. With a waive of his magic wand, Swanny directed each of us in turn to stand under a cold shower where we stood shivering until our private parts were judged to have shrunk sufficiently. This event effectively finished my interest and participation in the game for all time.
Name: Peter Garwood
Email: peterdotgarwood777atbtinternetdotcom
Years_at_school: 1953-61
Date: 17 Sep 2014
Time: 06:52:43
I did not see any meaningful movement.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 17 Sep 2014
Time: 05:43:29
Slight correction. Can obits be active?
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 17 Sep 2014
Time: 05:42:36
Cab obits be active?
Name: Peter Garwood
Email: peterdotgarwood777atbtinternetdotcom
Years_at_school: 1953-61
Date: 17 Sep 2014
Time: 01:01:55
Yes, The Arsenal football club after last night's pathetic showing.
Name: Jeff Maynard
Email: jeffrey at jeffreymaynard dot com
Years_at_school: 1962-69
Date: 16 Sep 2014
Time: 20:16:25
Laurence is quite right - I need to update the obits. Does anyone have any sad news of recent deaths? - Jeff
Name: Laurence Lando
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1957-
Date: 16 Sep 2014
Time: 00:29:56
Jeff, does that include the Obits?
Name: Jeff Maynard
Email: jeffrey at jeffreymaynard dot com
Years_at_school: 1962-69
Date: 13 Sep 2014
Time: 19:41:49
To Joseph Gertner - Yes - this site is active! - Jeff
Name: Joseph Gertner
Email: j.gertner at rcn.com
Years_at_school: 1953-1960
Date: 13 Sep 2014
Time: 11:52:54
Great pictures bringing back amazing memories and old names Is this site still active?
Name: Richard Buckley
Email: richardatspaceplanner.co.uk
Years_at_school: 1959-65
Date: 13 Sep 2014
Time: 04:29:32
I vowed never to again post on this site because surely everything to be said about the Simpson regime has been said many times over and there's nothing new to add. Just old gits (myself included) reminiscing about things that should now be forgotten or laid to rest. We all turned out OK didn't we? However, my wife said something over EMT today which reminded me of something I haven't seen mentioned on this site. She bemoaned how when at school (a top North West London girls' grammar school at least the academic equal of HCS she insists I say) she and the other girls had to run down a main road in their little wrap-a- round skirts and airtex tops to play netball on the school playing fields. It reminded me how I utterly loathed having to get changed for rugby in that malodorous and antiquated pavilion on the school field and then having to run the length of Watford Road in the freezing cold to get to the playing fields opposite the foul smelling Harrow School Farm (funnily enough, I now live in the country and rather like 'good country smells' although this year they are particularly pungent in my part of Gloucestershire). I never ceased to be astonished when I got to the fields how so many boys absolutely loved diving in the mud and getting filthy and enthusiastically scrumming down with other boys to chase the stupid funny shaped ball. I hated it. When I was bit older, I joined the 'shadow' cross country group, boys who were meant to be playing rugby but simply joined the cross country runners and followed them around Northwick Park as far as the gap in the wire fence surrounding the site of the proposed new hospital (not knowing that in a only few years time I would have four children born there). Then we'd wait by The Ducker for the proper runners to complete the course and catch us up and we'd follow them back to school. For some reason we were never caught and only now does it occur to me that perhaps Amos, Underwood and Neuff turned a blind eye to what we were doing. It meant they didn't have to bother with boys who didn't want to play rugby in the first place and we were getting at least a modicum of healthy exercise. As I have long suspected about Simpson, perhaps they were craftier than they let on.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 13 Sep 2014
Time: 03:05:19
See previous three contributions. And wasn't there also a St Swannie's Sports Academy run by an ascetic old monk who cut down birch twigs from nearby trees and religiously set about his young novices?
Name: Paul Phillips
Email: paulatbrianpau.co.uk
Years_at_school: 1971-76
Date: 11 Sep 2014
Time: 23:51:38
I believe the school to which Peter and Chris referred to has a sister academy about which several film documentaries were made firstly in black and white and latterly in glorious technicolour. To which I refer St Trinians
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondAT yahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 11 Sep 2014
Time: 01:46:13
Yes, Peter, I well recall that place, or at least the lurid tales about it...All pupils over the age of 16 were forced to spend at least 45 minutes of the lunch break in The Havelock Arms, with a dozen or more teachers at the bar noting both the number of pints drunk (the required minimum was three) and how many cigarettes smoked (at least four) per boy. Then there were the daily Art and Self-Expression classes, where desecrating walls, windows and, of course, the cricket sight-screens, was absolutely mandatory. We heard that the Head's harangues on "wishy-washy, pseudo-respectable, so-called 'middle-class' pansies who wouldn't dare to paint an obscene cartoon of myself or any of my staff" were legendary, indeed a regular feature of the morning assemblies - to be followed by mass wild dancing to one of the school's many rock bands, at maximum volume, of course. Those few unfortunates who couldn't fit in to the free and easy regime were made to feel like criminals, often paraded in front of the school by the Head, who lambasted them as examples of "petty-minded little bourgeois conformists" who needed "to grow some balls and stand up for the free spirit of humanity", shouting that they "shouldn't have been here in the first place", they belonged "with the rest of the goody-goody wasters who'd passed the 11-plus" and thought they'd "therefore got it made!" Oh yes, that was a living hell-hole all right....
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58 to 63
Date: 10 Sep 2014
Time: 16:20:00
I think, on the other side of Gayton Rd and opposite the private Harrow High School, was St Square's Academy. There, boys were discouraged from wearing school caps whilst shortie raincoats and winklepicker shoes became mandatory uniform. Standard, dark blue gaberdine macks and toe-capped shoes were strictly forbidden. Flouting the rules by wearing these provocative garments triggered automatic canings. Smoking in the street, school toilets and on buses was much encouraged; the Headmaster, a hopeless nicotine craver. It is well known that the same gentleman insisted boys should wear what he termed 'woodpecker' shoes. I remember, with my mother, spending a hot, tiring and fruitless Saturday afternoon in Harrow High St searching for the alleged woodpeckers. Puzzled shopkeepers silently shook their heads and courteously suggested we might try other more specialist emporia, in London for instance. With no success we eventually found, to my relief, a woodpecker shoe manufacturer in Dunfermline.
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: christopherdotatkinson43atntlworlddotcom
Years_at_school: ages ago
Date: 10 Sep 2014
Time: 11:17:42
I think the Girls School was Peterborough and St.Margarets which was part of the E.Ivor Hughes Foundation as were Buckingham and Atholl. My wife, Heather, was the School Secretary at Atholl and then at Buckingham until we moved away in 1999. What interest me, now that we live in a village near to Peterborough, is why were there all those references in Harrow to Peterborough? Any connection eludes me. I haven't found any references backwards from Peterborough to Harrow.
Name: Laurence Lando
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1957 -
Date: 10 Sep 2014
Time: 09:26:38
Is the Obituary Column dead? RIP.
Name: Laurence Lando
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1957-
Date: 10 Sep 2014
Time: 09:25:17
Is the Obituary Column dead? RIP.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondATyahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 10 Sep 2014
Time: 01:21:49
Buckingham College...I actually had a temporary teaching job there in '91, can't remember much about the place except the Head seemed ok but wondered why I wanted to work in the UK instead of abroad, where he'd spent much of his career. Strange thing to say really, to one of his staff... As I'd hardly ever been back to the Harrow area since leaving HCS in '66, and then only very briefly, it was a rather odd feeling to wander around those once familiar streets, playing a role so different to that of 25 years before....
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colinddotdickinsatblueyonderdotco.douk
Years_at_school: 1947-1953
Date: 09 Sep 2014
Time: 04:03:31
Quite right, Peter. It was Quainton Hall's uniform I described, and they are still in Hindes Road. As are Buckingham College, who also have premises in Rayners Lane in what used to be Athol House School. I'm now stuck to recall anything about Chester College except the name, but I enjoyed your account of your later brother-in-law's ingenuity.
Name: Peter Garwood
Email: peterdotgarwood777atbtinternetdotcom
Years_at_school: 1953-61
Date: 08 Sep 2014
Time: 11:25:55
I remember two schools in Hindes Road, Buckingham College and Quainton Hall, I believe they are still going. I stick with my suggestion that Chester College was halfway up Sheepcote Road on the left. My brother in law, sadly no longer with us, blagged his way into a very well paid job by saying that he went there and obtained 2 A levels and 6 O levels, had lost the certificates and couldn't remember which university exam board it was. He knew that the College had closed.
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colinddotdickinsatblueyonderdotco.douk
Years_at_school: 1947-1953
Date: 08 Sep 2014
Time: 08:49:24
Well spotted at a great distance, Brian. I live in Northwood and we are apprehensive of an even greater traffic jam during the school run. Small women driving large 4x4's unpredictably. I think Chester College may have been in Hindes Road, Peter. Their blazer may have been stripes of black, pale blue and white. If I remember correctly, Peterborough was a girls school and their uniform included brown blazers. There was a girls school called Harrow College whose colours were sort of aquamarine blazers and hats with mauve tassels on their hats. ((Very becoming! Had two transient girlfriends there.) They were located somewhere near Roxborough. Harrow High School (boys) was on the opposite corner from us. Their colours were navy blue and gold quartered caps (actually six panels). Up on the Hill was Purcell Music College (now located in Bushey) and I have a sneaking suspicion there was another girls school nearby. Could that have been Peterborough - or Harrow College?
Name: Brian Hester
Email: Write brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 40-7
Date: 08 Sep 2014
Time: 06:04:02
Heathfield girls school is probably the only one of the many private schools we knew that has not slid off the map. Heathfield was held in great esteem by my peers on account of its reputation for having the best looking girls. The school occupied a prime site close to the station so the owners sold it off and moved the school to the former Pinner County school. Now I see the school is to merge with Northwood Girls School and the name is to be dropped. Perhaps Reg Dwight aka Elton John can be persuaded to buy his old school.
Name: Peter Garwood
Email: peterdotgarwood777atbtinternetdotcom
Years_at_school: 1953-61
Date: 07 Sep 2014
Time: 08:51:18
The school halfway up Sheepcote Road, on the left was Chester College. I think their blazers were blue with white stripes or was it black and white.... long time ago.
Name: Chris
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 07 Sep 2014
Time: 07:00:14
I remember two other schools on Sheepcote Rd, one with brown unifirms and one with blue
Name: Brian Hester
Email: ntianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 40-7
Date: 07 Sep 2014
Time: 04:53:21
The school on Sheepcote Chris refers to might have been the 'High School for Girls'. The uniform included a blazer of a lighter shade of green than HCS and a wide straw boater that was very unpopular.
Name: Chris
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 04 Sep 2014
Time: 17:22:44
Unlikely to be confused but wasn't there also a Peterborough High School nearby on Sheepcote Rd?
Name: Dave Buckley
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school:
Date: 04 Sep 2014
Time: 14:21:06
I think the school Derek might be refering to, is the High School which was on the opposite corner from HCS. As Brian Hester stated in a previous post concerning the name of HCS....'The 'High School' name could not be used until the private Harrow High School across the road went out of business and was demolished.'
Name: Chris
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 04 Sep 2014
Time: 09:57:41
Randall Williams was Headmaster 1919-45. No Headmaster was named "Cave" Nor was such a person Headmaster at Harrow School. There were a number of relatively small private schools that could have been the one he attended. Harrow Weald County opened in 1933 but no idea who the Headmaster was. Possible that Harrow Archives might be able to help Email: localhistory.library@harrow.gov.uk Address: Harrow Museum Heritage Centre Pinner View Harrow HA2 6PX Tel: 020 8861 3074
Name: Derek Camp
Email: derekcampatbtinternet.com
Years_at_school:
Date: 04 Sep 2014
Time: 05:39:12
My father attended the Boys High School, Harrow - probably in the 1930's. He was born in 1916. His name was Abbott James Camp. During his time the headmaster was a Mr Cave. Is this your school? If so, I would like to find out more about the school at that time. I have some photographs with a cricket team. Many thanks for any help you can give.
Name: Graham Wilson
Email: grahamdotwilsonatucddotie
Years_at_school: 56 to 63
Date: 31 Aug 2014
Time: 00:31:07
Just catching up
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash70panatyahoodotcom
Years_at_school: 1962-9
Date: 26 Aug 2014
Time: 08:45:19
Margaret Thatcher was the Education Minister 1970-4 so presumably she signed off on the closure of H.C.G.S.
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colinddotdickinsatblueyonderdotco.douk
Years_at_school: 1947-1953
Date: 25 Aug 2014
Time: 15:27:14
Thank you for the Paul Nurse link, Brian. I knew the story but I hadn't heard him tell it. Well worth the listen. For others looking for it the link is themothdotorgslashpostsslashstorytellersslashpaul-nurse I have heard him speak, though, at the excellent Centenary Lecture he gave at the School and also on TV from time to time. [Para] On the topic of the School name (your earlier e-mail), the full name was originally Harrow County School for Boys and the word Grammar was interpolated in, I think, the 1940's (HCGSB) but it was frequently abbreviated to Harrow County or Harrow Grammar. When it was put to the sword by Harold Wilson and Shirley Williams in 1975 it became Gayton High School taking pupils from 12 to 16. In 1998 it became co-educational and, as it is now, Harrow High School. It now has a flourishing VIth form.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 40-7
Date: 24 Aug 2014
Time: 18:14:14
For an interesting piece about Sir Paul Nurse talking about his background see Themoth.org
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 40-7
Date: 24 Aug 2014
Time: 06:35:11
My recollection is that the school became Harrow County Grammar for a short while after the Harrow County name was dropped. The 'High School' name could not be used until the private Harrow High School across the road went out of business and was demolished.
Name: Peter Vincent
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1966-1972
Date: 23 Aug 2014
Time: 10:01:03
In a family discussion, it was claimed that between Gayton High and Harrow High, the school was briefly called "Harrow Grammar". Any truth in this?
Name: Jeff laporte
Email:
Years_at_school: 1978
Date: 20 Aug 2014
Time: 00:47:40
I loved the swiming at lunchtime good old days
Name: Laurence Lando
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1956-64
Date: 19 Aug 2014
Time: 10:12:24
Michael and Brian do have some nostalgia for the gowns. My contention was that they were used to make an excellent Grammar school to have the appearance quasi-public school. Michael gives the example of Ken Waller, I will respond with Bernie Marchant, both of whom could wear the gown by right. On the other hand, many wore the gown for effect, one of these was Clarkson, a vicious man, who meted out corporal punishment for pleasure. That the school gave many social mobility is not disputed, it has my thanks for that. The school that is present on the site of HCS, is not even a shadow of the one lost to the lowest common denominator of comprehensive education. Those few remaining Grammar schools seem to attract the brightest pupils, and their results match many of the best Independent schools. The large number of pupils from the Indian sub-continent and the far-east, have made the Grammar schools a target for the latest immigrant section of our community. Local lads no longer get a chance to pass the entrance exam, tiger mums see to that! Worth not birth, still applies even if you have to move home to get within commute to a school of excellence.
Name: Michael Schwartz
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school:
Date: 18 Aug 2014
Time: 10:08:37
Yes, I watch Foyle's War as well, thanks to TV Ontario. Its author, Anthony Horowitz, grew up in Stanmore. i have recently enjoyed another local connection: I reviewed two CDs by Canons Park's mot famous composer, Handel, for Toronto's WholeNote magazine. On occasion, I have found myself in the local pubs enjoying fish and chips and dark beer while reading the solidly British Motor Sport magazine. AndI tell myself I have emigrated...
Name: Roy Goldman
Email: roygraceatbigpond.net.au
Years_at_school: 1943 - 1949
Date: 17 Aug 2014
Time: 20:03:47
Hi Brian, Apart from HCS and a shared Professor of Geostatistics we now share re-runs of Foyles War. The BBC obviously believes in giving our two fsr-flung outposts of the empire an occasional dose of decent drama. I suspect though that in our case, an episode of FW is swapped for a few hundred Skippys or Prisoners or Home And Aways.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhsteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 40-7
Date: 17 Aug 2014
Time: 06:50:38
You make some good points Michael. To me, having the masters wear gowns was just part of the scene, but having prefects wear half gowns was a bit out of place. The comprehensive schools that were supposed to replace the grammar schools have not maintained the academic standards we took for granted. On the whole I enjoyed life at HCS although I accomplished nothing to justify my name being inscribed on a wall somewhere. The school was a failure in not providing career advice. What little I got was wrong. Just how distant my time at school was has been emphasized by a re-run of Foyle's War on TV here. A lot more has changed than the education system!
Name: Michael Schwartz
Email: Papyrus is more my style
Years_at_school: 1965-1972
Date: 16 Aug 2014
Time: 13:44:32
I am picking myself up from the floor. I am in disagreement with Lawrence Lando, who appears to see gowns as a way of creating a minor public school. I never had strong feelings about gowns - they were just gowns and that was that. Certain individuals would never get through today's teacher training and, looking back, were not fit to wear them. Then there was Batman (Mr Waller) and if anyone had the right to wear a gown it was he. And then there is one P Fowler, who has written, "...despite my own views on the flaws in that system, we had our greatest ever period of social mobility: the message of that terrible song was very, very important. There's ample data out there now to show that the 1945-75 period was the only time in UK history when the gaps between the richest and the rest narrowed significantly; we have now reversed to 1920s levels of inequality." We agree on something, Peter? I believe Peter's views were borne out a few years ago when the LSE concluded that if you were born into a poor area then you were doomed to stay within it or a similarly poor area, as social mobility is lower in the UK and the USA than anywhere else in the developed world. Michael.
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school:
Date: 16 Aug 2014
Time: 13:03:10
Aaaargh Sorry about that. Finger trouble or incipient insanitary - don't know which.
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: christopherdotatkinson43atntlworlddotcom
Years_at_school: '48 to '53
Date: 16 Aug 2014
Time: 04:01:13
Got a strong feeling that,yes, when I was at HCS it was a different country. In recent posts I seem to detect a frisson of discontent with time spent at HCS. Years on from me, and I don't seem to see too many from my years making any comments - perhaps too many have already dropped off the branch ;^) I hereby confess to having enjoyed my time at HCS; I got on well with the teaching staff bar one. It would be invidious to mention names (but I still managed to get decent biology results). I didn't then fret about the School song - and I don't now, it was as Pete Fowler has said 'of its time'. As far as I'm concerned 'worth not birth' summed it up very well for my generation. I'm also eternally grateful for all the non-scholastic 'education' and other opportunities that the HCS environment nurtured in those days. It came as a pleasant surprise to me to find out how far the HCS 'network' extended when I was in the RAF and on overseas tours and,yes, I took full advantage of it. So I'm sad that later inhabitants found HCS lacking in so many ways. It was, in a sense, elitist in my time insofar as I believe you had to achieve 11+ plus results in the upper quartile to get in. Anyhow, is there anyone else out there from the dim and distant past? Come on and tell us if an introduction to Mechanical Drawing and the Afro-American Music Society had any sort of impact on your post-HCS years.
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: christopherdotatkinson43atntlworlddotcom
Years_at_school: '48 to '53
Date: 16 Aug 2014
Time: 03:58:41
Got a strong feeling that,yes, when I was at HCS it was a different country. In recent posts I seem to detect a frisson of discontent with time spent at HCS. Years on from me, and I don't seem to see too many from my years making any comments - perhaps too many have already dropped off the branch ;^) I hereby confess to having enjoyed my time at HCS; I got on well with the teaching staff bar one. It would be invidious to mention names (but I still managed to get decent biology results). I didn't then fret about the School song - and I don't now, it was as Pete Fowler has said 'of its time'. As far as I'm concerned 'worth not birth' summed it up very well for my generation. I'm also eternally grateful for all the non-scholastic 'education' and other opportunities that the HCS environment nurtured in those days. It came as a pleasant surprise to me to find out how far the HCS 'network' extended when I was in the RAF and on overseas tours and,yes, I took full advantage of it. So I'm sad that later inhabitants found HCS lacking in so many ways. It was, in a sense, elitist in my time insofar as I believe you had to achieve 11+ plus results in the upper quartile to get in. Anyhow, is there anyone else out there from the dim and distant past? Come on and tell us if an introduction to Mechanical Drawing and the Afro-American Music Society had any sort of impact on your post-HCS years.
Name: Type your name here
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school:
Date: 13 Aug 2014
Time: 10:01:23
Should have written: " Then, when at 16 I and an HCS friend made OUR (not "my"!) first, anxiety-ridden forays into the world of 'boys and girls' (!)
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondAT yahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 13 Aug 2014
Time: 06:45:54
By the way, that friend of mine, written off at 11 as an academic 'no-hoper' eventually got into a private school, thanks to his parents' sacrifices (father was a taxi-driver) and did pretty well there.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondATyahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 13 Aug 2014
Time: 06:32:49
Interesting dialogue this, thanks to both of you. It was absolutely true that many in the lower streams at HCS felt they weren't really valued by the meritocratic elitist regime of the late 50's - mid-60's (my time there), the huge respect given to the very few teachers who showed they cared for these pupils - Lafferty (English) being a prime example - serving to confirm the general, negative rule. Even now, I personally know two 'old boys' of that era who still bitterly resent such discrimination (as well as other oppressive aspects of the school), one even refusing to discuss his schooldays, regarding them as an utter 'nightmare'. Such disrespect for young people is rightly described as 'criminal', Peter Ward making a telling point that, most paradoxically, it created another flawed system of 'winners' and 'losers', under the guise of ambition to challenge the pre-existing unjust educational and hence social status quos. Re the similarly divisive, resentment-generating Grammar-Sec. Mod. set-up, this was well evident to me on a daily basis, the usually quiet road I lived in at the time being a main thoroughfare to the local Sec. Mod., whose pupils tended to give out a tangible sense of general negativity, resigned resentment at their lot, which essentially stemmed from being branded as 'failures' - at age 11, for God's sake! The concerned parents of a friend of mine at that time and later were actually reprimanded by our primary school head for questioning their son's impending 'relegation' to that level with the classic, "Some people have to be dustmen"! Then, when at 16 I and an HCS friend made my first, anxiety-ridden forays into the world of 'boys and girls' (!) at my local Church Youth Club, I found my peers to include a group of the 'educationally unprivileged', ie 11-plus 'failures', who, shall we say, were not exactly 'welcoming' of me and other more fortunate lads, in fact it was clear that they were boiling with resentment, incipient violence when they encountered us. There was no meeting point, it seemed - and no club leader to bring us together. Not a lot of fun there then.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 57-63
Date: 12 Aug 2014
Time: 04:40:26
Peter, good to have dialogue. You rather misrepresent me as I never stated the class system did not exist. Born on Merseyside and raised in industrial South Yorkshire before landing in leafy, suburban Middlesex, my eyes were immediately awakened to the North-South divide. Never mind the more commonly defined divisions of social class and background. What I am trying to put over is that I never personally believed in class (not its existence but its authority.) The Randall Williams ethic fails on two points. Through the words of his song, he reveals to his brand new pupils that they are relatively less advantaged and low born. This can foster dangerous feelings of inferiority and subsequent under performance (rife at the HCS of my day.) Herding eleven year-olds immediately into A,B,C and D divisions works against his clamoured ethos; a contradiction he would not have spotted. RW then goes about encouraging a Meritocracy which unthinkingly creates its own social and economic divisions over those eg who attended Secondary Modern schools. The Meritocracy would become its own elite - a notion much promulgated in the Fifties, Sixties. I would be more impressed with Randall Williams' thinking if he had addressed the state and private educational argument right across the board. This, like the politicians of his day, he signally failed to do. RW, Simpson and their like were ultimately swept away by the reforms of later decades. Just for the record, a far higher percentage of today's young people enter and achieve Higher Education than at the height of the mid-twentieth century Grammar School era. What does this tell us about HCS's failures with the alleged less academic portion of its pupils? The As and Bs but not the Cs and Ds. It was the competition ethos of conventional, unoriginal minds of Randall Williams and Simpson and Co. that skewed the argument. Young people can be encouraged to bring out their talents and energies without making it undeclared warfare between inevitable winners and losers.
Name: Peter Fowler
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 56/62
Date: 12 Aug 2014
Time: 03:12:58
Peter, we simply differ. You write as if there were no class system in this country, no need for the immense changes that occurred in 1945 and with the 1944 Education Act. With the Grammar Schools, despite my own views on the flaws in that system, we had our greatest ever period of social mobility: the message of that terrible song was very, very important. There's ample data out there now to show that the 1945-75 period was the only time in UK history when the gaps between the richest and the rest narrowed significantly; we have now reversed to 1920s levels of inequality. The idea of the meritocracy, the heart of the Williams message, led to tremendous leaps forward both here and in the States. Incidentally, I have never, once, heard the school song on this site and only realised a while ago that it must be that Jeff forgot to code it for Macs.
Name: Laurence Lando
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1956-64
Date: 11 Aug 2014
Time: 09:45:58
Most interested to learn how so many were reviled at the 'Worth not Birth' ditty. The problem with it was it was so overly pompous, and trying so hard to equate our school with the many grand Public Schools. The wearing of gowns by the staff was another attempt to make a power house of learning, into a minor Public School. The one thing we must never forget is that the grammar school system, did allow many of us from disadvantaged backgrounds, to use the system for social mobility. In my time at the school, HCS for boys was a throw back to the inter-war years, violence a plenty, glittering staff among the many awful masters. Yet life-long friendships were made and the examination results achieved, resulted in a better life for ensuing generations. I am still grateful for having attended such a school, despite its many foibles.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 57-63
Date: 11 Aug 2014
Time: 05:49:19
With respect, I think Peter Fowler misunderstands me. My point being that the toffs on the hill bowled along without giving us a moment's thought. Thus, the implication that we were from the lower orders came from words of the foolish school song, itself. Joining HCS as a lively thirteen year old from South Yorkshire, I had not the slightest feeling of alleged inferiority and perceived status. It was the initial singing of the silly verses of the song that first introduced the possibility of my lowliness. Forget the boys up on the hill. No wonder the dreadful thing was finally dropped and swept out of sight. But not out of mind and certainly not out of hearing. I am sure that Thorn was the composer, surely that is well established. Such a pity that we have to put up with Thorn's grotesque when we opt into the HCS site. I generally keep my audio jack out of the PC but occasionally get caught out before ripping it from its rightful place. I have the same feeling for The Archers sig. on BBC Radio Four. It doesn't do too many uninvited dumty-dumty-dumty dums before being silenced. My idea of Hell would be to sit in a darkened cell, in chains, subjected to alternate playings of the HCS song and The Archers sig. plus episodes. 'Oh God, is that Brian underneath the tractor and is that Melissa with him?' Etc.
Name: Peter Fowler
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 56/62
Date: 11 Aug 2014
Time: 05:21:40
Peter Ward misunderstands me - my use of the word 'scum' might be an exaggeration, but it seems entirely appropriate to me when discussing the attitudes in a school song so overtly defiant. Its very first words ('Our pride is not..') mark it out as a mission statement and the whole lyric is surely concocted as a response to 'Forty Years On", with the HCS emphasis on the future juxtaposed with the Harrow School's emphasis on the past. We, our song says, are the future. Sure, Peter, you may find it a silly song and I don't think it's ever occurred to me to want to sing it since I left school - but what I said, and what I stand by, is that the song was extremely appropriate for the mood of the country in 1945; and entirely resonant with the rise of the meritocracy in the 1950s and 1960s. True, my own view of public schools echo exactly those of Alan Bennett; and I have been saddened to see the crushing of the meritocracy since the 1970s - but my reason for 'defending' the song (though I'm not even sure I did) was that it stands as a perfect historical reflection of a key moment in the development of this country. The fact that it's yukky is besides the point.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 40-7
Date: 10 Aug 2014
Time: 17:52:29
HCS enjoyed very close relations with Harrow School during WW2. We used the school's laboratories for physics, chemistry and biology as well as one or two classrooms. The ATC used the shooting range on Saturdays. Williams was close to the Headmaster and had him address us at assembly. Our sixth for was invited to hear a famous speaker address Harrow School in the Speech Room. We saw very little of the Harrow boys and when we did, they ignored us. Randall's had an unsuspected medical problem that caused him to give up school work and take a job elsewhere. Williams did not enjoy the same relationship with the successor. I cannot imagine Simpson continuing an relationship with "the hill". Williams seemed happy enough to sweep the school song under the rug but was pressured into the revival which Simpson was happy to perpetuate. I would like to know more about e music. Did Thorn really compose it or was it something performed at pep rallies for an American college football team?
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 57-63
Date: 10 Aug 2014
Time: 16:31:06
Saddened, even puzzled, by Peter Fowler's defence of the long-abandoned HCS school song. What evidence do we have that the boys 'on the hill' looked down upon us as scum of the suburbs? I doubt if our existences ever crossed their minds. Just as we didn't worry about them. As it happens, on a Scouts' exercise we bumped into some of them, fully robed, and they were entirely pleasant and civil. Surely, the weakness of the ditty, apart from Thorn's foul music, is the ill-founded notion we were expected to think of ourselves as of low birth. Then to rise above it. Personally, I never gave a hoot about my own origins. Like most others at HCS these were perfectly respectable. It seems to me that Randall Williams' foolish words were trying to brainwash us into thinking we were inferior to those above. Thus, the battle cry and Virtus non Stemma and all that stuff. The notion stems direct from RW and his kind. Sorry, Randall,I think you got that one wrong. Some of us are born without inferiority complexes.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 40-47
Date: 10 Aug 2014
Time: 09:44:33
You are correct Peter about the 'song' becoming outdated. Attitudes and values in Post WW2 years in UK were very different from those of today. The writer and composer of the song acquired their values and standards in pre- WW1 days. The ways societies express their values change, as most of us must admit.
Name: Pete Fowler
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 56/62
Date: 09 Aug 2014
Time: 08:33:35
I've always found the school song a marvellous and exact summary of the HCS ethos of the 1940s and 1950s. It has, basically, two target audiences: the snobs and over-privileged good for nothings at the top of Harrow Hill; and the boys of HCS itself. Come on, it says: if we work hard and play hard - and it'll be damned hard, needing the 'strength of men' - we can reach the very top ('win life's glorious meed') despite the fact that we've come from nowhere. 'Tis worth, not birth' - a brilliantly precise two fingered gesture to the old boys' network 'up there' that looked down on us, in every way, as the scum from the suburbs. The fact that the song is quite awful, with its over egged pomposity, is, I would argue, part of its nostalgic charm. Nobody could sing those words now, but then we lived in Another Country. Incidentally, I always thought 'meed' was the alcoholic beverage and thought it rather odd, even as a fifteen year old, that our aim in life included getting plastered.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondATyahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 09 Aug 2014
Time: 07:31:30
Brian, it was way past its sell-by date even by my time at HCS (59-66). I hadn't a clue what many of the words meant, it just sounded like a load of pseudo-posh gobbledegook, frankly - still does, now that I can decipher the nonsense.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 1940-7
Date: 09 Aug 2014
Time: 07:02:14
Thorn is only credited with the tune of the school song. Randall Williams provided the words. Use of the song had been discontinued when I joined the school. It was only in the mid-forties that several boys 'discovered' it and asked for it to be revived. Williams agreed reluctantly and we were all handed copies of the words. It suited the times but is out of place today. I wonder whether the music was of Thorn's creation or was 're-cast' from somewhere else.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 57-63
Date: 09 Aug 2014
Time: 04:01:33
Shame on you Chris Esmond! George Thorn was one of the great musicians of his era. He played his organ with relish and enthusiasm.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondATyahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 09 Aug 2014
Time: 01:48:08
Yes, the school song still rings out loud and clear - and I make sure the volume is off when I enter this site. I mean, what a load of unspeakably meretricious, sanctimoniously moralistic old cobblers! Not surprising, I suppose, given its author.
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colindotdickinsatblueyonderdotcodotuk
Years_at_school: 1947-56
Date: 08 Aug 2014
Time: 15:53:12
It still does open with the School song, Ken. Did you have the sound turned on? (How are you? Long time no hear.)
Name: Ken Spedding
Email: ken at kenspedding.com'
Years_at_school: 1946 to 1952
Date: 08 Aug 2014
Time: 09:06:04
Great site - have not looked at it for several years and lots of new stuff. It used to open with the school song - I miss it!
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: christopherdotatkinson43atntlworlddotcom
Years_at_school: 1948-53
Date: 05 Aug 2014
Time: 05:31:14
Harry really was something else. In 1971 I came back to UK and took over as GSL of the 4th. I think my main management task at each year's Camp on the School Field (COSF) was directing other Leaders to stop Harry trying to lug around all by himself the telegraph poles we used for the aerial runway. Just as Jack Beet's middle name was 'Rover', I suspect Harry's was 'Pioneering'. My son picked up the 'Harry' effect in later years ... "Roight young Atkinson, oi taught your father and now oim here to teach you". What a character, he'd probably have roared with laughter to have heard the surgeon who carved my back apart ask - accusingly - if I'd ever played a contact sport in my youth. Chris A.
Name: Chris Whitehouse
Email: crtwataol.com
Years_at_school: 1957-62
Date: 31 Jul 2014
Time: 14:52:06
What a guestbook. I hardly expected a response to my enquiry about Harry Mees. Certainly not so soon. Hello Chris after all these years. I remember you. Cricket, I think. Your comments are of interest but somewhat circumstantial. It seems Harry may have made subsequent oblique references to the incident in the pool that famous night. His rescuers debated whether or not to call for an ambulance but two of the first aiders took charge. After poolside emergency treatment Harry was carried to the sick room close to the back of the New Hall. We organised two hour stints through the night to be with him. In the morning Harry was apologetic yet grateful. He begged us not to inform his wife regarding the incident and we honoured his request. One of the lads recovered his pipe from the bottom of the pool. Unbelievably, Harry Mees put in a full day's teaching behaving as if nothing had happened. I can't help wondering if the staff at the new school are made of Harry's stuff. Probably none of us were.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondATyahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 31 Jul 2014
Time: 12:37:37
About halfway down I should have written "...but don't go telling that..." (not "...but don't telling that..."!).
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondATyahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 31 Jul 2014
Time: 11:20:49
That classroom was A6, not A2.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondATyahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 31 Jul 2014
Time: 11:03:54
I was at the early 60's Scout camps on the school field, ie '60,'61 and '62, and I can't recall having heard about this incident - at the time. However, 'Chalky', I did have the privilege of being taught by Harry in the 6th form, '63-66, and your story has almost certainly cleared up a peculiar 'mystery' of those faraway, yet sometimes strangely ever-present years. It's evoked a memory of one of his lessons in that gloomiest of classrooms, A2, in Advanced 6th, I think it must have been, where, in what context I've no idea at all, he referred to "late-night illicit swimming" as one of the "greatest joys in life", continuing, in that gruff would-be threatening manner that was very much part of his persona, "But don't you fellas dare telling that to the powers-that-be - or the Chief Scout!" No one seemed to know what he meant, of course, until someone asked him, to which he almost hissed - utterly lugubriously - "You heard me - and you can put that in yer pipe and smoke it!" Then he, somewhat uncharacteristically, exploded in mirth, shaking with laughter for about 10 seconds, before muttering to himself rather than to us, "I swam rings round 'em - ha!" Or something like that. No one had a clue what he'd meant and as far as I know, never asked him about this again. I guess we just put it down to the 'eccentricity' of a remarkable character. Which, of course, it was!
Name: 'Chalky' Whitehouse
Email: crtwataol.com
Years_at_school: 1957-1962
Date: 31 Jul 2014
Time: 04:19:13
Have recently discovered this remarkable archive and find myself most moved by accounts of Harry Mees, my old History teacher. Alas, but inevitably, Harry has passed on. My own memory of the great man was his midnight swimming feat in the outside pool at a school camp. 1961 possibly. Does anyone recall this? Harry swam just over two lengths of the pool underwater but had to be hauled out. There were about half a dozen of us present and for a while we feared for his life. He had earlier claimed to be able to blow smoke rings from his pipe, underwater. This was not possible to verify that night as it was so dark. A remarkable man and greatly missed.
Name: Alan Springford
Email: alanspringfordathotmail.co.uk
Years_at_school: 1967-1973
Date: 28 Jul 2014
Time: 13:35:58
First time I've looked at the site!!
Name: LYNN MCEWAN
Email: lynnatyahoo.co.uk
Years_at_school: 0
Date: 27 Jun 2014
Time: 08:12:14
.My reason for leaving a message is that I am a niece of Ernest Amor ( past Chairman of Kodak ) I was so interested in your site when I discovered Uncle Ernest was Head, boy, had won a county scholarship Had a 1st class degree and was notably Chairman of Kodak. Fascinating reading . Thank you.P.S I think my cousin, Ernest son was also at Harrow and Eton. Will now check your site. Brian Amor.
Name: PJkZyB
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk
Years_at_school:
Date: 26 Jun 2014
Time: 23:15:47
-
Name: Dave Buckley
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 19 Jun 2014
Time: 05:02:40
In reply to the post before last, Jeff has disabled the forward slash to stop 'spam' postings. That is, you cannot copy-paste a URL straight in to thenguest book or post a message containing a website address, but you can put most of it in but adding 'forward slash' where necessary.
Name: Peter Vincent
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1966-1972
Date: 18 Jun 2014
Time: 13:01:20
Great to see Hugh Skillen's name on the roll of honour at Bletchley Park. How ashamed I am that we used to take the mickey out of his Scot's French accent and joke about how he could have survived in occupied Europe with it. However everyone knew that his regiment and rank were genuine, but of course we had no idea what a key roll he played (I think also with Y service?) but firmly our side of the lines. RIP to a great man, and one who could keep a secret.
Name: Chris
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 18 Jun 2014
Time: 07:33:18
There is now an online honour roll for those who served at Bletchley Park during WWll. Hugh Skillen's entry can ble located at rollofhonour.bletchleypark.org.uk forward slash search BTW I love this site BUT why is it the only site I've seen where the forward slash is prohibited?
Name: Bob Blackburn
Email: With Alex Bateman
Years_at_school: 1943 - 1949.
Date: 08 Jun 2014
Time: 04:02:38
Thanks Roy, What makes you think I did pass French ? I blame Sorbo, he put me off French for life. Beakey did his best and Harry Skillen likewise, all to no avail.I might have broken the record for the oldest 5th Former. Good to hear from you, Cheers Bob.
Name: Bob Blackburn
Email: With Alex Bateman
Years_at_school: 1943 - 1949.
Date: 08 Jun 2014
Time: 04:02:35
Thanks Roy, What makes you think I did pass French ? I blame Sorbo, he put me off French for life. Beakey did his best and Harry Skillen likewise, all to no avail.I might have broken the record for the oldest 5th Former. Good to hear from you, Cheers Bob.
Name: Roy Goldman
Email: roygraceatbigpond.net.au
Years_at_school: 1943 - 1949
Date: 07 Jun 2014
Time: 16:31:06
Bob Blackburn says he started school in 1043. Bob I remember you struggled repeatedly to ger the required credit in French to matriculate but was not aware it took you that long. Cheers Roy.
Name: Bob Blackburn
Email: With Alex Bateman
Years_at_school: 1043 - 1949
Date: 07 Jun 2014
Time: 15:25:56
Remember well the V2 e3xploding overhead. Pushing my bike past the school gates when it exploded very high in the sky. Few years ago on a 'War Walk' told by a guide that the slave labourers putting rockets together were sometimes able to sabotage the sensors on the rockets to cause them to explode when they hit the denser air on the way down. Do not remember any debris falling near me thank goodness. Brother Ken was one of the prefects who were doodle-bug watching on the school roof, I was in a form room on the top floor and we were told to get under our desks if the bell was rung. Not really a lot of protection.
Name: ANDREW CROOK
Email: acrookatnorthwoodprep.co.uk
Years_at_school: 1974-78
Date: 07 Jun 2014
Time: 13:04:49
Came across the 3A class photo from 1976 in the archives and have offered my name for inclusion. I had forgotten most of the others but was certainly friendly with Colin Goymer and Ian Grovesnor at the time. Played cricket with Graham Sainsbury and David Gray most break times. Sang in "The Mikado'in 1975. Went to Harrow Weald Sixth Form College thereafter and became a teacher myself so I have a lot to thank HCGS for, not least the teaching of Mr Marchant, Mr Lloyd-Jones and a female History teacher? Kind regards to all my fellow Old Gaytonians and thanks to the archivists. Andrew Crook
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 40-47
Date: 05 Jun 2014
Time: 13:23:57
Thanks Chris for the interesting historical snippet about Eisenhower. It would seem unlikely that we'll ever learn the content of Churchill's other speech. Our form took School Certificate exams several weeks after D-Day. Flying bombs (V1) were coming over regularly. The sixth form provide spotters on the school roof whose job it was to ring a bell when they saw a flying bomb coming in our general direction. At that point the curtain were drawn and we all had to crouch under the fold-up desks that were reserved for exams, until the second bell told us all was clear. We did this twice, once in the trigonometry exam and once during the French dictation. We all did well in both these subjects as we discussed the trig paper with our neighbours amidst all the distractions and the dictation had to be gone through again so we had a second cut at it. At a later date, when I was walking towards what was then Sopers, I saw a V2 rocket explode several thousand feet up in the air. Chunks of metal came clanging down all around me but nobody was hit. I suppose the war-head overheated on re-entry.
Name: Chris
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 05 Jun 2014
Time: 09:56:30
Brian, I think you are correct that Churchill's speech in the event D-Day failed has not been released. However Eisenhowers note has been. It read ""Our landings in the Cherbourg-Havre area have failed to gain a satisfactory foothold and I have withdrawn the troops," Eisenhower wrote. "My decision to attack at this time and place was based upon the best information available. The troops, the air and the Navy did all that bravery and devotion to duty could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone."
Name: Peter Vincent
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1966-1972
Date: 04 Jun 2014
Time: 12:51:33
James - if my maths is right, it is nearly 45 years since I was a third former and watched the Apollo 11 moon landing live on TV in the middle of the night (I think we still had a few days of term left). Six years later I was working in the operations centre of the European Space Agency in Darmstadt (West) Germany and part of the team for the COS-B mission (and slightly involved with Apollo-Soyuz).
Name: brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 40-47
Date: 04 Jun 2014
Time: 08:18:44
One of the 'where were you when' days I my life was seventy years ago on June 6th when George Thorn announced at school dinner that 'boys who can behave themselves' would be allowed to hear the speech that Churchill was to make. We all sat in rows on lab stools in what was then the 'New Chem Lab' and heard the news of the D-Day landings. Many years later it transpired that Churchill had two speeches ready - one was for the successful landings, which we heard, the other was in the event of failure. The text of the second speech has never to my knowledge been disclosed.
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash70panatyahoodotcom
Years_at_school:
Date: 02 Jun 2014
Time: 12:08:25
Yes, the Royal Free is very good. A mate of mine, suffering from cancer, spent his last days there. Another friend who has just suffered a stroke was well looked after at UCH. However, you still have to engage with the doctors and nurses if for no other reason, to thank them for their efforts on behalf of your loved ones. I wish your dad well.
Name: Jeff Maynard
Email: jeffrey at jeffreymaynard dot com
Years_at_school: 1962-69
Date: 01 Jun 2014
Time: 20:16:51
My father (age almost 91 with pneumonia) came out of hospital on Friday after a four week stay. Very impressed with the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead and the National Health service.
Name: Michael Schwartz
Email: michaelwritesforyouatyahoo.ca
Years_at_school: 1965-1972
Date: 01 Jun 2014
Time: 10:17:46
In reply to Brian Hester, I was indeed sorry to read that Jeff and his family are going through a period of difficulty. I can bring some good news - last Monday I became a Canadian citizen. Yes, I am very proud. Michael.
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colindotdickinsatblueyonderdotcouk
Years_at_school: 1947-1953
Date: 28 May 2014
Time: 15:12:34
An interesting reminder, Chris. Bang in the middle of my time at HCS, and I clearly remember introduction of the rule about headmasters or nominated teachers only to administer corporal punishment. I never heard of the catch-all "any forms of correction likely to affect adversely mental or physical development" - just as well perhaps; there were one or two knuckle-rappers, Twink had his own special trick of running knuckles up the back of a recalcitrant's head, Cob Webb would administer a quick, light slap on the face, saying with a friendly smile, "The quickness of the hand deceives the eye, eh, boy?" and Campbell would dot you on the top of the head with his prosthetic right arm. Only the last one really hurt. Incidentally, I think the rule of head teachers admninistering corporal punishment was already widely established, possibly because it emphasised the magnitude of the occasion. I was beaten twice each at three schools (two primary) and it was always the head teacher, and always on the hand. Reference to girls reminded me of my Longfield primary school, in which we had a Jewish refugee called Sarah Doctorzak, separated from parents and family and whose position I only dimly understood at the age of 7 or 8. She was an engaging, robust self-sufficient type and on one occasion was summoned to the stage to have each leg slapped once. She took it with indifference and returned to her place with a slight, amused smile on her face
Name: Chris
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 28 May 2014
Time: 13:06:30
An interesting find: In July 1950 Middlesex County Education Committee adopted a ten point policy on Corporal Punishment. In part Corporal punishment must be inflicted only by headmasters, headmistresses and specially authorised teachers. Boys can be caned on the hands or buttocks. Girls should be given corporal punishment only in exceptional circumstances, and on the hands only. Punishments banned include boxing the ears, rapping knuckles and "any forms of correction likely to affect adversely mental or physical development." Totally ignored at HCS
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 40-47
Date: 27 May 2014
Time: 05:58:42
Our webmaster is currently in UK to see his ailing father. I am sure we all wish them both well at what must be a trying time.
Name: Bill Peter
Email: bncpeteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 60-67
Date: 25 May 2014
Time: 00:54:54
Sad to hear of the death of Cliff Meyler. We lived around the corner from each other and used to travel to school together. He was a very keen cricketer and played for the school team.
Name: Dave Buckley
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 23 May 2014
Time: 06:14:36
Only pigeons? What about a traffic cone - as per Wellington's statue in George Square Glasgow?
Name: Chris
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 23 May 2014
Time: 06:02:11
Peter, you supply the statue - I'll supply the pigeons
Name: Peter ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1958-63
Date: 22 May 2014
Time: 10:10:36
I was somewhat saddened to read recent remarks about the alleged behaviour and apparent mindset of Dr AR Simpson. It seems whilst ARS has his followers there are far more detractors. Of course, no sensible conclusion on relative numbers can be drawn from the widespread comments or articles spotted throughout this web site. Like many controversial figures, it can be argued that Simpson was the curate's egg; although perhaps an extreme example. An ex-HCS friend recently pointed out that we had left the school just over fifty years. Time, perhaps, for a Simpsonian rethink? If his ardent admirers are prepared to back their case, I would be prepared to mount an appeal for a commissioned statue of the great man. I am unaware if the small triangular garden at the front of the school exists but, if so, this might be an appropriate spot for dutiful homage. I have close contacts in the sculpture world so am in a position to move the proposed scheme forward. If Dr Simpson's admirers are truly grateful for the positive influence the say he made on them in their early years they might wish to respond generously. Of course, an appeal would have to follow full legal procedures as we would not wish a repeat of the Pavilion Fund debacle during Dr Simpson's reign. Maybe that fund exists in some dusty account? If this is the case, it might be used to get the Alexander Simpson Memorial Appeal off to a good start. My email address appears on this contribution. I look forward with anticipation to a response, yea or nay. others might wish to comment more publicly on the site, itself.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondATyahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 21 May 2014
Time: 05:48:59
Simpson refused to announce this achievement, just because Paul Romney didn't receive any money as well? Honestly, I can barely believe such nonsense! Truly, words fail me.
Name: Paul Romney
Email:
Years_at_school: 56-63
Date: 19 May 2014
Time: 07:21:08
The story which Richard Buckley says may or may not be true is reported at first hand by Jim Golland on this site, and I for one am happy to take it as true. In my own case, Square offered my failure to win a money award as his excuse for not announcing my Oxford admission to the Assembly. This was said on his own initiative during a chance meeting in the corridor afterwards, not in response to any anguished protestations of mine. If it was done to make me feel small, it failed miserably, since I knew how lucky I was to have got into Oxford at all with two mediocre A Levels. No doubt my performance on the Oxford entrance exam had something to do with that, but I've always ascribed it mainly to Harry Mees, who put in a word for me at his old college. What was very characteristic of Square was his resentment of my leaving HCS at Easter to earn a bit of money instead of staying on quite pointlessly until the summer. Of course, nowadays one realizes that school funding may have depended partly on numbers enrolled at the end of the year -- in which case he should have bribed me. I earned 6 quid a week at the London Zoo, and he could probably have bought me for half that.
Name: Dave Buckley
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 53 - 61
Date: 19 May 2014
Time: 03:48:26
Following on from from the last posting, there certainly is a brick just marked 'Harry'. Apparently, when asked why he hadn't put his full name, Harry replied (to the effect) 'will they forget me that quickly'! By the way, the posting a message earlier about Harry Mees, was from my brother.
Name: Peter Vincent
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1966-1972
Date: 17 May 2014
Time: 22:45:37
To Chris - there is a 10 minute video about Harrow High School on their home page www.hhsweb.org You will see glimpses of both New Hall and Old Hall in their new guises, students in front of the Sixth Form Entrance and lessons in some of the same ancient classrooms we had as well as some much more modern buildings. If you are in the UK, the school welcomes old boys to have a look around if you phone or email in advance so they know you are coming, and have the head girl or boy show you around. If you get to the performing arts building, make sure you check the sponsors brick for one marked "Harry".
Name: richardatspaceplanner.co.uk
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1959-65
Date: 16 May 2014
Time: 10:30:35
In response to Brian Hester's post of 29th March, I became quite friendly with Harry Mees in his final years. He had moved to Cirencester with his third wife who, sadly, like the first two, predeceased him. My wife and I moved to a village just outside the town from Wembley Park in 2002. Whilst clearly not an enthusiast for the 'Simpson style' of management, he praised him for never interfering in the running of the History Department whilst he headed it. He thought this was quite something. As he said, "Remember, in those days, not only did you call him 'Sir', so did I, a Head of Department!". He told me how he had set up an extra Scout troop as a 'home' for boys desperate to escape belonging to the Cadets. Simpson knew that this was the purpose but didn't object. He said how he had heard on the last day of his term as Headmaster that Dr. Simpson was about to leave without saying goodbye. He had dashed up to Simpson's study to wish him well because there didn't seem to be any sort of leaving ceremony. Which, I guess, is how Simpson wanted it. As I have said elsewhere, even allowing for the way things were in those days, Simpson was a very peculiar man. Whilst he never tried to be a Mr. Chips, there is something not entirely right about a Head who is not given a farewell dinner by his Common Room. The story that he reduced to tears a boy who had unexpectedly got a place at Oxbridge because he had failed to get a scholarship or an exhibition may or may not be true; the point is, we find it believable. But I do think he was a good picker of men. There were many superb masters on the staff who could have taught anywhere. He may even have been a very good manager. But he really was extremely odd! Harry also told me the full story, complete with the Board of Trade Railway Inspectorate's report, of the time his brother was the guard on a train running amok up and down the Severn Tunnel, that he told to uproarious laughter at a meeting in the mid '60s of the Sixth Form Society.
Name: Chris
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 16 May 2014
Time: 08:35:38
I was at HCS 1953-60. Obviously things have changed a good deal. If, sometime in the future, somebody has the time and opportunity I (and I suspect many others) would really appreciate a photo or video tour posted on the website.
Name: John C Green
Email: jomogreenATbigpond.com
Years_at_school: 1947-1954
Date: 30 Apr 2014
Time: 05:04:04
Greetings, Congratulations on this fine website, discovered by chance. It has brought back many memories, particularly those refering to Dr Simpson's reign. After graduating at UCL I taught Maths and coached distance runners and sailors until the end of '99 at Eliots Green GS, Watford GS, Lenana School in Nairobi and Brisbane GS in Queensland, where I now live with my wife Moira. Regards, John Green
Name: Jon Grunewald
Email: jongru(at)btinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1967 to 73
Date: 07 Apr 2014
Time: 13:52:02
Sadly Cliff Meyler, who was at the school about 7 years before I was, died on Monday 10th March at the age of 65. He will be much missed, not least by his many friends in the Pinner Players Theatre Company where he was an outstanding actor.
Name: Callum Kerr
Email: ckerratskorpionzinc.com.na
Years_at_school: 1970-77
Date: 03 Apr 2014
Time: 03:14:09
Photo of Class 2A, 1971 submitted by Pete King - a few more names to go with it - some I am not sure of others definite... Back row, third from left Phil Zeligman, then Loius Pilgrim then Packer - he sadly died not long after this, ill with something?cancer?. 3rd Row 2nd from left - ?Downing? then after Steve Bird, Chris "Titty" Allen, Karl Smol and I think ?Lawrence Levy? 2nd Row behind the teacher Emsleigh on the left and Geoff Maynard I think and is the lad beside Simon Pithers ?Robinson? Front row third from left the name Martin Hall comes to mind, but I'm not so sure, and second from the right the names Russell David or Lithgow come to mind... my word but it was quite a time ago!!!
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 40-47
Date: 29 Mar 2014
Time: 06:00:17
It amazes me that Simpson's history of achievements and failures as headmaster should continue to prompt as much animated discussion as it does. His first year at school as my last so much of what he did happened after my time. Presumably for perceived talents he has hired away from an obscure school in Scotland. A free hand to run a school with a reputation for excellence and one that was about to be expanded - what an upward step in his career. The many members of staff who had performed well under the previous heads, were now ready for retirement and the core of younger masters, many of whom were old boys, did not adjust to the new order so moved on leaving Simpson able to choose his own staff and impose his own style of management without resistance from the Common Room. His remote and autocratic style of management brought Simpson into direct confrontation with the massive social changes that followed the war. 'Adjustment' was not a word in his dictionary but he got results and did build the school. In the process he provided the role model for the Doc Martin of television fame. I doubt the man had friends. He certainly kept himself remote from his staff. Exposed to Simpson as youths, we experienced a shock but it was good training for life's experiences. In my working life I was exposed to several managers who. in comparison made Simpson, look like a rabbit.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 28 Mar 2014
Time: 03:36:50
I have privately corresponded with a former HCS friend accusing him, in a mild way, of being the originator of the mythical or misunderstood Zach Rose. He denies this and I have no reason to disbelieve him. Whilst no fan of Dr AR Simpson, I think it's a shame if an apparently honourable person rises to his defence to praise a dead man for his perceived good works in life. Dr Simpson and his cronies have been greatly vilified on this blog so it seems unfair when someone bravely leaps to his aid only for that bold person to be accused of spreading mischief. Admittedly, Mr Rose's alleged email address appears unsafe or unknown (I have checked) but, in the interest of free speech, I do believe we should encourage Simpsonophiles to speak up. Only by this means can the true reputation of Dr Simpson be made secure and accurate for final judgement. Dr Simpson was a Headmaste, the old word, out of his time and might have been an educational sensation in ancient Athens. 1960 AD was arguably a few historical bridges too far for him but only by about two and a half millennia.
Name: TChris R
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 26 Mar 2014
Time: 10:46:23
I must say that I automatically assumed that Zach's comments were pure satire from a fictional person. Realistically that is the only possible assumption if the message is read attentively.
Name: Pete Fowler
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 56/62
Date: 25 Mar 2014
Time: 09:14:10
'Zach Rose' is fiction, surely. Placed there as an act of mischief. If he isn't, it would be nice for him to post an actual and not a made-up name.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondATyahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 24 Mar 2014
Time: 17:39:49
Oops, the name in the second line should be Rose, not Roae! Profuse apologies for one or two other minor errors, totally inexcusable of course, for someone who endured 6 years under Square's (sorry, also, for offending your delicate sensibilities, Geoff Fisher!) regime. Perhaps I, too, "should never have been" there "in the first place"....
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondAT yahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 24 Mar 2014
Time: 17:19:18
Just remembered, the classroom was A6.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondATyahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 24 Mar 2014
Time: 17:17:56
In response to Zach Rose's post of February 18, expressing his gratitude for Dr Simpson and his regime, citing how much he owes to the teaching of Classics by the former Head, not least in terms of the heights of scholarly achievement he, Mr Roae, attained, I'm reminded of one of those incidents for some reason etched in my memory, that I can clearly recall, even nearly fifty years later. It was in a 6th form History period, in room A2 (or was it A1? Anyway, in that particularly small, rather claustrophobic place at the dark end of the A corridor, entered via swing doors). Harry Mees - first-class honours degree at Oxford, head of department, chief of the school Scout group, major figure behind the scenes in school drama productions, ie a major presence in the institution, respected by all, even 'loved' by many - responding to an informal discussion of DR Simpson's latest reactionary statement or measure, declared, with barely concealed passionate contempt, "Hrrrummphh!" (approximately). "A classical education sends you up the creek!" It was a moment of no little drama, appreciated by the small number of students present. And one that in recalling here, I commend to you, Zach Rose, as worth bearing in mind. AS the ancient Greek aphorism, often discussed by Plato and others, says, "Know Yourself"... And to use the current vernacular, 'I hope this helps'.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 09 Mar 2014
Time: 04:02:02
WW Eagars as a conjuror? I think not. This offered explanation fails to take into account the fact that both players used the same ball. To my knowledge, no other Subbuteo player managed to curve the trajectory, followed by a sudden dip under the bar. Eagars' great feat was hugely advantageous as the back of the goal allowed for the passage of a wire attached to the back of the goalkeeper's base. The gap was restricted in height so it was impossible for goalies to fly into the top corners. Thus, Eagars' shooting predominance. To my knowledge, he was only beaten once. WW was arguably the Real Madrid equivalent of his day. Certainly, he was our sporting idol. Perhaps he was in the wrong job but I do not know if Subbuteo ever went professional. He may have operated under a pseudonym and I recall in the European Subbuteo Championship a French ace, M.Oeufy. This may be pure coincidence. Oeufy developed a rather cynical, bruising team that intimidated opponents in the subsequent fashion of Don Revie's Leeds Utd. One may postulate that Revie's childhood and embryonic footballing ideas emerged on the green beige cloth of the tiny Subbuteo pitch.
Name: Dick Worsfold
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1951-1959
Date: 08 Mar 2014
Time: 11:26:54
The inimitable Eagers indeed. Interesting to hear of his skill at desk games. Teaching French was certainly not one of them. The brilliant move of appointing a man with a speech impediment as a language teacher was excelled only by the lunacy of the lower forms in each stream receiving his ministrations. They really needed the best teachers. He was also skilled in smoking a cigarette down to the last quarter of an inch and saving the stub in a Swan Vestas matchbox. Happy Days indeed
Name: Peter Vincent
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1966-1972
Date: 08 Mar 2014
Time: 07:41:07
Hmmm Might he have also been an amateur conjurer and had a special ball which he substituted then removed? Just a little weight on one side...
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 07 Mar 2014
Time: 11:29:39
Subbuteo was perhaps a more dangerous game than P. Vincent suggests. I trust his brother recovered from a severe blow from a ball in the eye. One HCS player had to retire with a sprained wrist only ten minutes into a game. Sadly, there was also a degree of corruption associated with these hard-fought matches. I later discovered that a small betting ring was in operation and that the game between Bolton Wanderers and West Bromwich Albion had been fixed in WBA's favour. I previously failed to mention Mr Eagars' curled free-kicks from outside the box. No-one came up with an adequate scientific explanation of the parabolic flight of the ball into the top corner of the net. The nearest modern equivalent in the main game is Luis Suarez, at Liverpool. WW Eagars may have been several decades ahead of his time.
Name: Peter Vincent
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1966-1972
Date: 07 Mar 2014
Time: 11:14:05
And... my younger non-HCS brother holds the record of retiring injured from a Subbuteo game when the ball him in the eye!
Name: Peter Vincent
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1966-1972
Date: 07 Mar 2014
Time: 11:12:09
Interesting that when I played for the IBM team one of our opponents fielded 12 men and were not only thrown out of the league but also kicked out of the FA (not first time apparently)!
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 06 Mar 2014
Time: 13:26:15
Responding to Peter Vincent, the Subbuteo non-shooting line, as he describes it, is no doubt correct. Just for the record, I am not quite in the army blanket and chalk generation but I think I now recall this extra line stretching from touch line to touch line, half way inside each half. Of course, this does not invalidate my account of Mr Eagars' disputed goal. Although it suggests that he was definitely in the wrong. Maybe he tried things on, a little, having extra authority. He once fielded twelve players on the pitch which was spotted late in the second half when his Brentford were 4-1 up against Queen Park Rangers. The match was re-played after a heated exchange and QPR won 1-0. Justice was served. Mr Eagars never played again and gradually the Subbuteo games faded out in these Civics-type sessions for non-cadets or scouts.
Name: Peter Vincent
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1966-1972
Date: 05 Mar 2014
Time: 08:49:11
In Subbuteo football you can only score when the ball is inside an additional line half-way between centre line and goalline. This is probably the line you are thinking about rather than halfway? However if this is pre-printed pitches era, when the norm was to chalk a pitch onto an army blanket, then it might have been different. Many years ago, "soccer" in the USA used this same "Subbuteo" line but someone realised that this prevents them ever playing on the world stage, so was abandoned (as far as I know).
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1958-63
Date: 05 Mar 2014
Time: 08:06:24
I must apologise (see previous) as I failed to enter my name on the WW Eagars soocer report. Mr Eagars was equally adept at tuppeny hapenny football. I don't think we played competitive matches, only friendlies. 'Eggie' used worn, polished Victorian coins, still in legal circulation in 1962. They had the advantage of sliding over wooden surfaces with great ease.
Name: Type your name here
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school:
Date: 05 Mar 2014
Time: 08:00:25
Interested to see the footballing reference to WW Eagars, formerly of Chiswick GS. Our Eagars, if we are talking about the same person, was a dab hand at Subuteo table football during his alleged Citizenship lessons. I remember he got very cross after scoring from behind the half way line as the great goal was disallowed by the boy ref. This brave young person claimed Subuteo rules did not permit such a possibility (perfectly legal in real soccer.) I can no longer recall the correct ruling. Mr Eagars' team played in Brentford red and white stripes and my own Doncaster Rovers lost to him in the quarter finals of our mock 'FA Cup' competition. Brentford went on to lose to Watford in the last minute of the Final. One of Mr Eagers' players came unstuck and fell out its plastic base. No substitutes were allowed in those far-off days. Thus, handicapped Brentford went down 1-3. Eagars shook hands with victor and took his defeat well.
Name: Type your name here
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school:
Date: 05 Mar 2014
Time: 08:00:23
Interested to see the footballing reference to WW Eagars, formerly of Chiswick GS. Our Eagars, if we are talking about the same person, was a dab hand at Subuteo table football during his alleged Citizenship lessons. I remember he got very cross after scoring from behind the half way line as the great goal was disallowed by the boy ref. This brave young person claimed Subuteo rules did not permit such a possibility (perfectly legal in real soccer.) I can no longer recall the correct ruling. Mr Eagars' team played in Brentford red and white stripes and my own Doncaster Rovers lost to him in the quarter finals of our mock 'FA Cup' competition. Brentford went on to lose to Watford in the last minute of the Final. One of Mr Eagers' players came unstuck and fell out its plastic base. No substitutes were allowed in those far-off days. Thus, handicapped Brentford went down 1-3. Eagars shook hands with victor and took his defeat well.
Name: Type your name here
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school:
Date: 05 Mar 2014
Time: 07:59:08
Interested to see the footballing reference to WW Eagars, formerly of Chiswick GS. Our Eagars, if we are talking about the same person, was a dab hand at Subuteo table football during his alleged Citizenship lessons. I remember he got very cross after scoring from behind the half way line as the great goal was disallowed by the boy ref. This brave young person claimed Subuteo rules did not permit such a possibility (perfectly legal in real soccer.) I can no longer recall the correct ruling. Mr Eagars' team played in Brentford red and white stripes and my own Doncaster Rovers lost to him in the quarter finals of our mock 'FA Cup' competition. Brentford went on to lose to Watford in the last minute of the Final. One of Mr Eagers' players came unstuck and fell out its plastic base. No substitutes were allowed in those far-off days. Thus, handicapped Brentford went down 1-3. Eagars shook hands with victor and took his defeat well.
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: christopherdotatkinson43atntlworlddotcomWrite word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 48 to 53
Date: 05 Mar 2014
Time: 03:58:00
Mr Eagers?? He also taught 'citizenship' on Friday afternoons if you weren't otherwise engaged with the Cadet or Scout activities. Somehow the thought of him playing in a football team doesn't gel. But who knows, stranger things etc etc...
Name: Robert Paige
Email: roberttpaigeataol.com
Years_at_school: A Visitor
Date: 04 Mar 2014
Time: 22:15:17
Re: Edmund S. Ions and "Sherlock Holmes In Dallas" Once again my apologies for the intrusion and thanks for getting me on the right track. I am sorry but I must have confused Harrow when it was really Heaton. Best wishes to all and again thanks for letting me visit. I would still be interested in knowing if anyone else has ever read the book.
Name: Steve Grimes
Email:
Years_at_school: 1958-64
Date: 04 Mar 2014
Time: 15:05:03
I came across this photograph of Chiswick GS 1st XI Football Team 1944-5 showing a "Mr. W.W. Eagers" back row 2nd from left. www.flickr.com slash photos slash finlandia_175 slash 8748559125 slash in slash set-72157632250250334 Can anyone hazard a guess if this the same W.W.E who used to teach French at HCS in early 1960's (with the aid of a form secretary, egg noise and red book)? Herr, hum?
Name: Robert Paige
Email: roberttpaigeataol.com
Years_at_school: A visitor
Date: 04 Mar 2014
Time: 14:06:13
Thank you very much for the information, Peter Fowler. They really do clear up a few points. Really , this had nothing to do with this website except for the connection with the Harrow student and Mr. Ions. I had been exchanging contacts with Mr. Ions but apparenly fell out with him after I made some critical remarks in a review about his book "Sherlock Holmes In Dallas" about having some curious errors. The curious thing is that York have no records of Mr. Ions . I have contacted them by e-mail. Once again I am indebted to this website for allowing me to post these questions. My apologies if this has been too trivial and off-topic. Mr.Ions is still alive and well and has posted several lengthy rebuttals to the critical remarks of his book. In short, they were to the effect in regard to the critical remarks that there wasn't much of the "Sherlock Holmes" and from my point of view there wasn't much of the "In Dallas" in the book. Also some of the readers expressed their opinion that the title was just used to attract readers of Sherlock Holmes and perhaps readers from Dallas to buy the book. And that is the reason for the method for my madness. It is really just a bit of a tempest in a teapot, but thanks for "filling in the blanks." It was I who had written to the webmaster to have that "snobbish Edmund Ions" remark removed (at the request of Mr.Ions.) If you should wish further details IMHO it would be best by PM to my e-mail address. Thanks again for letting me visit the website. It is most interesting to read the comments. A lot of them are a lot like life in the USA while a lot of them are quite different. LOL.
Name: Peter Fowler
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 56-63
Date: 03 Mar 2014
Time: 11:19:55
Robert, just play around with Google. Edmund Ions was at Heaton Grammar School, Newcastle, before WW2; he taught at York University where one of his students, a contributor to the Heaton old boys' site, was taught by him (a John Charlton). Charlton says that he was 'taught by an old Heatonian, the very snobbish Edmund Ions.' The date reference - ie when this Charlton was at York - is given as 1967. So we know that Ions taught at York in the 1960s. We also know - Amazon - that he wrote Sociology books at the same time. Therefore, contact York if you want to take this further (though it is quite likely he is dead) and say he was a Sociology lecturer in the 1960s. I'm not sure why this has got anything to do with this site.
Name: Robert Paige
Email: roberttpaigeataol.com
Years_at_school: A Visitor
Date: 02 Mar 2014
Time: 21:36:07
Thanks for the information, Chris R. But at the present I would like to find out what year the student attended York . I'm not sure of the year. Unfortunately, that comment has been deleted.: In his first letter to me Mr. Ions stated that he found the comment of "the snobbish Edmund Ions" to be offensive and requested that I write to the webmaster (I assume it was Mr. Maynard at the time) and have it removed, which was done. The thought was that if I could find the year in question this might help York in their search for Mr.Ions.It does seem a bit odd that they would not be able to -quote- "Go back that far."- unquote. My High School in Dallas,Texas, USA has records of faculty, students and notable visitors going back to the first records dating back to 1925, when the school first opened. (Mostly from the old annual year books.) It does seem odd that nobody at York had ever heard of Mr. Ions. The reason I asked if anyone has read Mr. Ions book was that I might get their comments on it from the British point of view. Thank you again for your reply. As a last resort I may go to the reference you supplied. Mr.Ions might even be residing elsewhere now.
Name: Chris R
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 28 Feb 2014
Time: 19:45:39
Robert, 192.com claim to have full contact info for Edmund S. Ions living in Oxford. Of course they want a small fee for giving this info.
Name: Robert Paige
Email: roberttpaigeataol.com
Years_at_school: A Visitor
Date: 28 Feb 2014
Time: 12:35:00
BTW. Have any of you have ever read Sherlock Holmes In Dallas by Edmund Aubrey ? Or, as we say in Texas have any of y'all ever read the book and have any comments ?
Name: Robert Paige
Email: robertttpaigeataol.com
Years_at_school: A Visitor
Date: 28 Feb 2014
Time: 09:25:14
Some time ago there were some comments from a former student that he had -quote-Studied Political Science (?) at York (?) under the snobbish Edmund Ions - unquote.Would you have any information as to what year or date the student in question was at York (?) ?. I have been trying to write to Mr. Ions but have been unable. Also I have written to York and they have no records of Mr. Ions ever being at York. So perhaps if the year and date were known it might narrow down the search. Thanks. Details later if you are interested.
Name: JOHN WELLS
Email: johnseagullsathotmail.co.uk
Years_at_school:
Date: 24 Feb 2014
Time: 09:22:17
I am th son-in-law of Reg Gigney, joined 1929, and was an enthusiastic sportsman desite havig health probblems. while he was welldocumnted about hs rrugby and cricket and football interest he also claimed to have been cox to the boat Crew. Do you heany photos of the boat rew betwen 29 and 33, or any other mentions of hi please. he ws mentione in a Ruby prgrammme i think thank you john wells
Name: Peter Vincent
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1966-1972
Date: 23 Feb 2014
Time: 00:37:06
Anyone spot Andy Kelso former teacher at HCS's successor Gayton High on the BBC News today? See http:SLASHSHLASHm.bbc.co.ukSLASHnewsSLASHuk-northern-ireland-26305837. A few years after my time but I am pretty sure it is him - I believe he was a drama teacher?
Name: Peter Fowler
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 56/63
Date: 21 Feb 2014
Time: 04:17:08
A guy called Paul Vernon has set up a rather wonderful Facebook site on Paul Oliver's writings, a great tribute set of pages. I'm writing this just in case someone like Bob Garrett is not aware of it...and I do wonder if Paul knows.
Name: Geoff Fisher
Email: gfisher7atg.mail.com
Years_at_school: 1950-1957
Date: 18 Feb 2014
Time: 23:56:56
I guess Zach meant 1950s and 1960s but I entirely agree with him about the puerile name calling.
Name: Zach Rose
Email: zachroseatbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1953-1960
Date: 18 Feb 2014
Time: 08:43:30
The story told of HCS in the 60s and 70s by some contributors to this site is a travesty of the truth. I thoroughly enjoyed my years at the school. Under the stewardship of Dr. Simpson it had an outstanding academic record and was acknowledged to be one of the best two grammar schools in the country.It also had an admired CCF and a thriving scout group. I would not have gained a double first in classics at Oxford without the wise tutelage of Dr. Simpson. Yes, George Thorn was musically illiterate and 'Swanny' Amos was a bully but every school has its bad eggs. It was no secret to those of us who got on well with the headmaster that he held them in little regard. I can only surmise that the serial moaners on this site achieved little at school and went on to modest jobs in teaching and commerce. But would they have done better under a less demanding regime at, say, Pinner County? Anyway, bitterness at one's lot in life is no excuse for besmirching the reputation of a fine man.
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: christopherdotatkinson43at ntlworlddotcom
Years_at_school: 48 to 53
Date: 17 Feb 2014
Time: 10:50:05
There's another HHS video,full of high spirits, on YouTube 'HHS Final Day Tribute video'. Not quite as polished and professional as the PR one. Chris A.
Name: Brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 194-47
Date: 16 Feb 2014
Time: 16:12:47
You are rightly amazed Peter. This page reflects the changes that have taken place in society during our life-times. When I started at HCS the older part of the building was still lit by gas and the staff were largely veterans of WW1 and imbued with Victorian values. Regard for our general health was such that the toilets had no hand washing facilities. You had to walk about 150 metres for that. Perhaps the arrangement has led to us all developing a resistance to infection not to be found among present pupils.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63 last century
Date: 14 Feb 2014
Time: 16:09:15
I checked out the Harrow High School video previously mentioned by Chris Esmond. Well, OK it's PR, but I once worked in a mixed ILEA Comp and Primary Ed so feel I would detect falsity. Lots of really good youngsters at HHS by the look and sound of it, many of whom will contribute positively to our future. A great advert for coeducation and ethnic mixing, so good luck to them all. What would Old Simpson make of it? I can picture the stony expression forming on his grim visage. All that success and cooperation without ranting, threatening and caning. How does HHS manage? Worst of all, keep it a secret, the senior soccer team has recently won the Borough Championship. Soccer? Tush. Tush.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondATyahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 13 Feb 2014
Time: 18:17:54
Have just chanced upon the 10 minute promo video introducing Harrow High School, a successor of HCS. My God, the contrast between now and 'then' - it's almost like another universe! I've been a teacher and I know this isn't necessarily typical, but it's a reminder of so much that was lacking in my time at school. What a comparatively primitive place that was - not intellectually, but in other respects, especially socially. rom this perspective, HCS of the late 50's-60's seems, in many ways, a total bloody madhouse.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondATyahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 13 Feb 2014
Time: 17:53:06
Ah, summer 1968... To borrow Wordworth's immortal lines, "Bliss was it in that Dawn to be alive, But to be young was very Heaven!" Two years liberated from the cramped confines of HCS, as a uni student I was spreading my wings across America and Canada, having a remarkable few months solo adventure. The 'youth culture' was flourishing, almost everywhere I went people asked me if I knew the Beatles - at which I played my trump card: "Well, I had an English teacher who used to teach Paul and George at the Liverpool Insitute" (ie the memorable Fred Billson). My questioners were well impressed by that revelation. In no particular order, I recall just a few contrasting highlights... From cheap hotels to private flats, from hippie caravan in Nevada to Salvation Army flophouse in Toronto (totally broke), from two full days on a Greyhound bus to an 'acid high' at Lake Tahoe, Nevada, from Ontario tobacco farms to driving around the Chicago suburbs selling ice-cream, from the conservative quietude of small-town Ohio to the chaotic violence of the Democrats' Convention in Chicago, from Skid Row to strolling across Golden Gate Bridge one sunny day, feeling almost literally 'high as a kite', from eating alone at the end of a day's 'hard travellin' to the wonder and social fun of an all-night mescaline trip after work, travelling from sedate New England and the meditative solitude of Thoreau's Walden Pond, via an attempted mugging in Times Square ("He's English, he has no money!" explained the friend I'd met on the bus), to a final two nights at a crazy New York flat, peopled by all sorts, most enjoying their drugs of choice, including a local radio DJ... Amazing what can happen when you're young and deciding to 'go with life' rather than trying to impose yourself on it, as it were... Forget "the troubles" - the US was at war, inside and out - for many of us that was surely a summer to treasure!
Name: Michael Schwartz
Email: michaelwritesforyouatyahooca
Years_at_school: 1965-1972
Date: 13 Feb 2014
Time: 07:46:17
Bonjour, Monsieur Fournier - I very much enjoyed French in the year 1967-1968. Merci! I too was surprised by your achieving a suntan in England! But then, the sunshine climate was probably better in England in 1968 than the political climate in France in 1968. You even cancelled the Le Mans 24 Hours race because of the troubles. Best wishes Michael.
Name: Ted Mansfield
Email: tg.mansfield.109atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1954-1959
Date: 11 Feb 2014
Time: 03:40:36
Hello again. Great to see all the memories of the 4th Harrow. I was in fact a member of 2 troops; I was initially "persuaded" to join The Foresters, where Faerie was the scoutmaster, and was there for 2 years, including summer camps in Guernsy and Scotland. Then, as most of my greatest friends were in The Merrymen, I transferred, initially Tony Cresswell, then Chris Lee were Scoutmasters. On through the Seniors, and to the Rover Crew, then took an Assistant Scoutmaster's warrant along with Richard Lee, back with the Merrymen with Johnny Springall as SM, and his brother Dave another ASM. Re Bob Garratt's comments, Richard Lee was another often seen on the 114 bus as a member of the "Stanmore and environs" group, though as Bob says, there weren't many of us. There were a few HC Girls School members, and schools like John Lyons, but we were heavily out-numbered by The Blackwell Secondary Modern lot. And another Stanmore candidate was Ken Childerhouse, by then a prefect, who was useful in times of delay to the service, in preventing George Thorn from handing out detentions to the rest of us who had arrived late, through no fault of our own. Can everybody remember the 6 week bus stike in 1958? Those of us with bus passes were granted permission to cycle to school, and what an array of machines ancient and modern were to be seen in all their glory in the cycle racks. It was almost a disappointment when the strike ended and we all reverted to the scrum of schoolkids boarding buses every morning! I remember with sadness when we heard one day at morning assembly of the death of Graham MacFadyen, some 2 years behind my year, the previous afternoon. A vehicle had mounted the footway on Watford Road, ploughing into a group of HCS pupils en route to or from the rugby pitches with which we are all familiar. Several boys were injured, and Graham killed. Then in my own 5th form class in 1959, we lost our colleague Chris Ellor, who had died in a road accident over the Easter holidays. Chris was a leading light in the cadets pipe band, and I recall we had a collection for an annual award in his name to be added to the cadet force trophies; I wonder what became of it, and all those trophies? For now, all the best all, keep well, hope you're OK in the floods.
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: christopherdotatkinson43atntlworlddotcom
Years_at_school: 48 to 53
Date: 10 Feb 2014
Time: 08:12:59
Just out of interest, as of end-January Charlie King has now passed the 80-mark. There's a bit of a celebration about to take place, which should be interesting for all the old faces it will root out. I may be going down, but I now live in North Cambridgeshire and it's a bit of a long trip for this ole git. Chris A.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondATyahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 09 Feb 2014
Time: 15:37:25
Both Roger Annan and Charlie King were scoutmasters in my few years with the Pioneers, Roger being an assistant, Charlie the main man, as it were. They were ok guys, as were Martin Hook and a man called Mac (not from the Lower East Side, NYC, btw). Charlie's day job was in selling and when I told him my father had given me a choice between going on a scout camp to Denmark and a new bike, and I had chosen the bike, he fancied himself to persuade him to relent and let me have both. I knew he'd fail as my father was a stubborn so'n'so once he'd made up his mind. Charlie came to our house and made his pitch. I wasn't allowed to be present - of course not, they were discussing me!! I listened from upstairs, curious and fascinated, yet thinking how dare they talk about me behind my back. But I well knew the outcome, of course... I got the bike, had a good time riding it, but missed the trip to Denmark. I didn't really mind, I was told it was for financial reasons, although I suspect a wish not to 'spoil' me also came into it. Fair enough, I could respect that as a worthwhile value and still do.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16at btinternet.com
Years_at_school: 59-63
Date: 08 Feb 2014
Time: 11:55:25
Roger Annan, indeed. One of the good guys, as I remember, who had a younger brother in my year. Sadly the brother, again very pleasant and liked, suffered a terminal illness and died, aged 15. I recall Amos humiliating him in PE and Games. The boy could hardly run although he did his best. Our Gayton Rovers unofficial soccer team played the school where Roger taught, Abbotsfield. Roger refereed and we won 3-1. A good result as Abbotsfield had a good footballing reputation. Harry Levine scored a fine goal from my assist (note the jargon) whence I collapsed with cramp. I always sympathise with footballers on TV when they go down in cramped agony.
Name: Peter Vincent
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1966-1972
Date: 08 Feb 2014
Time: 05:56:53
Roger Annan, a science teacher at another school I believe? In my time he ran the Venturers, which was the pop version of seniors but which I got bored with very quickly (although later served on a ship HMS Venturer!)
Name: Dick Worsfold
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school:
Date: 07 Feb 2014
Time: 06:10:50
Brian filled the role of group as opposed to troop scoutmaster. In my time, as well as Tony running the Merrymen, Jack Kirkland was troop scoutmaster of the Pathfinders. The inimitable Charlie King took over from him I believe. Glad to hear he is still in circulation. Pass on my very best.Harry Mees was with the Foresters and I cannot immediately recall the Pioneers scoutmaster although Roger Annis?? rings a bell. Brian acted on behalf of all the troops in district matters and camped with each troop alternatively. Two weeks in Stradbally county Waterford proved his adage "Rain before 7 fine before 11" to be totally wrong in the summer of 1955 ( I think)
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: christopherdotatkinson43at ntlworlddotcom
Years_at_school:
Date: 07 Feb 2014
Time: 02:39:38
Thanks Dick, I did notice that the spelling was wrong, I can't recall if anyone (e.g. Jack or Norman or Faerie himself)ever explained what the Spenserian connection was. I've just spoken with Charlie King, and he has no idea either. And I don't recall that Faerie was ever running the Merrymen, unless it was for a short period when I was abroad. It was Tony Cresswell when I joined in '48, and Chris Lee when I went into the RAF in '56. Not too sure of the chronology in later years, certainly Johnny Springall and Philip Levi at times. Funnily enough, having started in the Merrymen I ended up running the Pathfinders. Andy Wright had to give up for work reasons and I resigned as GSL and promoted myself to SL ... much more fun. Chris A.
Name: Ian gawn
Email: ian.gawnatorange,fr
Years_at_school: 1955-62
Date: 06 Feb 2014
Time: 11:38:20
Saw an item on The One Show on BBC 1 tonight about Cash's Name Tapes going into receivership. Am I imagining it, or was there not an OG involved with the company. If so, or if not, many commiserations - I guess I was not alone in having their products sewn into my clothes, and we have just found a load for our youngest son when he was at school not many years ago.
Name: Dick Worsfold
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1951-1959
Date: 06 Feb 2014
Time: 09:43:29
Just to set the record straight, Brian Stanford used the spelling Faerie a la Edmund Spenser. He was an excellent group scoutmaster in the time when I was in the 4th Harrow.
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: christopherdotatkinson43atntlworlddotcom
Years_at_school: 48 to 53
Date: 04 Feb 2014
Time: 10:52:12
My apologies. I didn't mean to turn this into the School Scout Group forum. My own background is that I was already in the Scouts when I joined HCS, so I translated myself into the 4th Harrow. In due course I also joined the cadets and managed to cope with the RAF Section as well as Scouts. After spending quite a few years abroad I took over as Group Scout Leader in 1972. I also wrote for the national magazine 'Scouting' for some eleven years, and was a founder member of TSA's first website 'ScoutBaseUK'. So,yes,Scouting has always suited me fine and opened many doors for me through the various contacts made. And I've always known that Scouting was not for everyone, although I'd like to think that most of those I had contact with down the years did get some fun and even perhaps benefit from being a Member. Chris A.
Name: Pete Fowler
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 56-62
Date: 04 Feb 2014
Time: 05:59:15
Chris, I don't want to sound like a misery-guts and acknowledge the fact that you had a good time with the Scouts. I think the problem was this: the compulsion at the school to join one of two institutions. Sure, you could get out of the Scouts later on (I did myself, the only 'penalty' being not being made a Prefect, which was more than OK for me); but in the early years it was a hard and fast rule, the breaking of which, if I remember rightly, could only be obtained through a parental plea. What I do know is this - there were kids in my scout troop who should not have been there. They should have been playing chess, or in a reading club, or learning Bridge or whatever. And I stand by, completely, my memory of one or two of these boys who went through hell even in the 'slackest' troops. It was the compulsion that caused this; not the nature of scouting.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondATyahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 04 Feb 2014
Time: 05:34:32
Sorry, I forgot to put my name to that last post re the Scouts. Should also have added various 'wide games' to the list of enjoyed scout activities. Those days off normal schooling, chasing around London, or nights trekking around the countryside around Rickmansworth.
Name: Type your name here
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school:
Date: 04 Feb 2014
Time: 05:29:16
Pete, perhaps we can read too much into that 'Fairy' nickname, the guy was a pretty large chap so the name was almost certainly humorously friendly, wasn't it? You know, par for the course for those days in that somewhat rarified all-male environment... I enjoyed a thoroughly mediocre scouting career in the Pioneers, which was an ok outfit, including the likes of Dave Godleman and Barry Williams, to name but two older-than-me er, 'role models'! I dropped out, unable to motivate myself, let alone others as a patrol leader (in retrospect, depressed) at 15, but have no regrets about those 3 or 4 years, especially the various camps and the crazy football games in the tiny Scout hut after the Friday night meetings. But I admit I was terrified before and during my first summer camp by the warnings about probable 'initiations' for the first-years, known as "being done". Lurid tales of being stripped and having boot polish smeared over your, er, 'private parts' didn't exactly fill me with delighted anticipation. But I needn't have worried, nothing ever happened. And I tried to make sure it didn't by feigning illness on what was supposed to have been 'the night'. Cunning little devil I was!
Name: Pete Fowler
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 56/63
Date: 03 Feb 2014
Time: 14:15:27
Even I was a Merryman. But my memories are somewhat different. The bullying on the wide games, the way one of our troop was subjected to non-stop abuse by someone seen as a hero by the sporties of the school. A patrol leader. I remember his name but would never dream of stating it here. The oddness of our 'scout master' being called by the nick-name of 'Fairy', a name that even seemed weird to boys who knew next to nothing of cultural and moral contexts. The Scouts were fine for some; but nightmares for others. I got by, easy; but others went under.
Name: Peter Vincent
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1966-1972
Date: 02 Feb 2014
Time: 10:55:19
Merrymen - in fact to get my navigation badge I now remember that I had to navigate Philip Levi to Oxford so we could visit Mr Blann in college residence, who happened to have been my form prefect in the 1st form. A rather beautiful room in the old part of his college - but no doubt freezing in the winter.
Name: Peter Vincent
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1966-1972
Date: 02 Feb 2014
Time: 09:34:06
Peter - you must mean Johnny and Dave Springall? Dave was in charge when I joined in 1966 (and when I was a PL in 4th form handed over to the illustrious Philip Levi) although Johnny did come to some summer camps in my time. When Philip took over, he insisted on some badges if you wanted to be a PL (I think I did navigation if I remember correctly) and ended up receiving 1st class scout badge on train back from summer camp in Switzerland as I left the troop.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter,ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 02 Feb 2014
Time: 09:11:27
Chris, I never mean my words on this guest book to be taken too seriously. My time in the Merrymen Seniors was huge fun. The term 'unscouting' refers only to badge obsession. Neither Juniors or Seniors were keen (that funny old phrase, now outdated.) But the social element was excellent. Friendly, no bullying. My comments are meant affectionately even with regard to the former, tatty stable and its jumble sale furnishings. The Senior Patrol Leader was Michael Portillo's brother, Charlie. Relaxed and amusing. Bob Garrett made good company as did (see previous)Alan Sorkin. Our two enjoyable barging trips were well organised by Richard Lee. The Senior Scout Master, in my day, was Tony Cresswell who rarely attended meetings although always liked and respected when he came along. He organised Senior trips to the Swiss Alps. Possibly his only contribution. Thus, we were pretty well allowed to run ourselves. The juniors were run by motor-biking twins, Johnny and ? Outgoing, friendly guys who ensured everyone was happy. The success of the Merrymen was its relaxed attitude, implying good social experience. What better? A youth club in scout uniform, although one suspects Robert Baden-Powell might not have been impressed. Nor the ultra-keens desperate to crowd their green-sleeved arms and shirt fronts with colourful badges. It may be that certain individuals required two, even three shirts.Both Merrymen Juniors and Seniors would have lamentably failed any 1960s equivalent of a scouting OFSTED. I therefore award them great credit. Mr Gove would have been in the Pathfinders.
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: christopherdotatkinson43atntlworlddotcom
Years_at_school: 48 to 53
Date: 02 Feb 2014
Time: 03:59:17
Peter, you said the Merrymen was a very 'unscouting' troop, but you say you joined as a 'senior'. Were you talking about the Scout Troop or the Senior Scout Troop? I was scouting abroad in Germany and Libya during your time, so I don't really know what things were like. I know the corner den in Scout Park was pretty tacky, but it was all we had at that time. I didn't get involved again until 1964 to 68. Who was running the Seniors in your day? Chris A.
Name: Ian Gawn
Email: ian.gawnatorange.fr
Years_at_school: 1955-62
Date: 02 Feb 2014
Time: 02:10:06
Just googling around found this obituary for Chris Westerman, a great friend at HCS. His wife Christine grew up 100 yds up the road from me. Does not seem possible it is 20 years since his tragic death. A helicopter crash on March 24 claimed the lives of Robert Hewton, 47, and Christopher Westerman, 49. The well-known Canadian exploration geologists died in Ecuador where they were evaluating mineral properties. Robert Rivera, a mining engineer born and educated in the U.S., also died in the crash, along with two Ecuadorean pilots. Christopher Westerman received his B.Sc. degree in geology from London University, England, in 1967, followed by an M.Sc. degree from the University of British Columbia in 1970 and a PhD degree from Ontario's McMaster University in 1978. Westerman worked for several major mining companies in Western Canada during his early career, where he gained familiarity with porphyry copper, sediment-hosted lead-zinc-silver, and uranium deposits. From 1987 to 1992, he advised Pegasus Gold on several advanced projects. He also completed a geological audit of the production and exploration activities at all of Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting's operations in northern Manitoba for Minorco (prior to its planned corporate investment of more than $150 million). Westerman was a member of various mining organizations, including: the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia; the Geological Association of Canada; the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum; and the Northwest Mining Association. Westerman is survived by his wife Christine, sons Robert and David and daughters Julie and Lynn. - Ian Gawn
Name: Peter Ward
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 01 Feb 2014
Time: 05:00:23
The Merrymen were a remarkable non-scouting Troop. I joined as a Senior from the very 'keen' and competitive, badge-collecting Pathfinders. Snooker and table tennis were high on the list in the slum of a hut at Scout Park with ancient sofas. Exposed springs and horse hair stuffing. Sadly, no Scout badges were awarded for these high endeavours on Friday nights. Nor for smoking. But an annual visit to the Swiss Alps was a great bonus. I remember Grindelwald, opposite the Eiger mountain. A narrow gauge railway got us up to the village. Merrymen also went barging up the Grand Union canal at Easter. In 1963, we tied up outside Filbert St., Leicester, and went to see Leicester City v Man Utd. 3-4. Dennis Law hat-trick; Bobby Charlton, Harry Gregg - all my favourites. Once again, absolutely no badge scouting took place. It wasn't necessary.
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: christopher dot atkinson43 at ntlworld.com
Years_at_school: 48 to 53
Date: 29 Jan 2014
Time: 08:40:11
Eek ... Teddy Mansfield, now Bobby Garratt. It's getting to look like a Merrymen Troop meeting. Michael P. was talking at some festival thingie here in Peterborough a while back. I thought I might embarrass him by asking if he thought that his interesting life might have been down to worth rather than birth, and that if he needed a battlecry would that be the one. However he was totally booked out so I didn't get the chance to see how he responded to finding an Old Gayt in his audience. Best laid plans etc. Chris A.
Name: Chris R
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 29 Jan 2014
Time: 04:49:38
To Bob Garrat. I don't think the question of the border between HHarrow and Barnet altho' I think it was Hendon in those days I remember several from the Harrow side who went to Hendon County,girls to Copthall and some to Haberdashers which was even in a different county
Name: Bob Garratt
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: garratts@btconnect.com
Date: 29 Jan 2014
Time: 04:18:26
I remember Teddy Mansfield as a member of that select group who had passed the scholarship to HCS and made daily the 'long-haul' bus journey from Stanmore on the II4 from Marsh Lane. It took me years to realise that as we were nearly in the London Borough of Barnet we had only just scraped in geographically. I remember Alan Sorkin and Tony Golden were regulars on the bus and all of us were members of the 4th Harrow Merrymen. The Portillos were at the other end of Marsh Lane and took the 18.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondAT yahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 28 Jan 2014
Time: 14:18:55
I'd also like to hear what became of Vic (not Richard, ie 'Dick', by the way!)Hartley, who was one of the more recognisably 'normal' members of staff, brightening up my 6th form days with a few tall tales of his student hitch-hiking years, including a terrific talk to the 6th Form Society, inspiring three of us to do likewise in summer '65 (and beyond), each of us going our own way and sharing our own tales when we returned in September. 4 weeks solo hitching to and from the wonderful Dalmatian coast of Croatia - one of the best things I ever did as a teenager, aged 17 at the time, mostly thanks to Vic Hartley. He was always good for a laugh, helped us feel life 'out there' was well worth living, didn't 'keep his distance' from the older lads and helped to make the place bearable in those final 3 years, including coaching a 6th form basketball team to a fair standard, culminating in a game v another school (forget which one). Pretty good left-arm spinner as well, I recall. I guess he must be around early to mid-70's now - my God, how time flies!
Name: Fournier Jean-claude
Email: fournier.jc at gmail.com
Years_at_school: 1966 1968
Date: 28 Jan 2014
Time: 03:10:08
I was the French assistant at harrow grammar school from sept 1966 to july 68. I really enjoyed the 2 years I spent at the school and in England at large. They are among the best memories of my life. I remember the swimming pool and giving conversation classes there in june july 1968. The weather was very nice and sunny. When I went back to France, everybody asked me where I got my beautiful suntan. when I told them I got it in England nobody believed me... Does anybody know what has become of the PE teacher, Richard Hartley ? Is he a member of your association ? I would like to get in touch with him. thanks for your help
Name: Dick Worrsfold
Email: rjworsfoldatgemail.com
Years_at_school: 1951-1958
Date: 27 Jan 2014
Time: 17:53:45
As I recall the red light meant the gin bottle is out on the desk, the amber meant I am putting it away, and green meant I am not actually having a drink at the moment so come on in. Seem to recall the Bone brothers from Primary school also!!
Name: GERRY BONE
Email: bonegerry7atgmail.com
Years_at_school: 1951- 1958
Date: 27 Jan 2014
Time: 03:38:28
Was given link by Edward Kerr, born 1949 who went to HCS and same primary school. I was at HCS 1951 FORM 1B, 1952 FORM 2A, 1953 FORM 3A, 1954 FORM 4A, 1955 PROB SIXTH SCIENCE A, 1956 ADVANCED SIXTH SCIENCE A, 1957 SCHOLARSHIP SIXTH SCIENCE 1957 PURE MATHS, APPLIED MATHS, PHYSICS, CHEMISTRY A LEVEL 1958 PURE MATHS, APPLIED MATHS, PHUSICS, ENGINEERING DRAWING A LEVEL AND STATE SCHOLARSHIP. COMPANY SERGEANT MAJOR CCF CHAMPION CCF DRILL SQUAD WHOLE OF UK. UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL 1958 -1961 REMEMBER GORDON LEWIN, TONY LATHAM, ANDY MACKIE, MC EWAN, PHIL SCOTT, MANY MANY OTHERS. BROTHER DAVID WAS 1 YEAR OLDER AND WENT ARTS ROUTE. PAUL OLIVER ART TEACHER INTRODUCED ME TO JAZZ ONE OF MY ABIDING HOBBIES IN 1858 OWNED UP AT FULL ASSEMBLY, WITH JOHN WALTON, TO REWIRING THE TRAFFIC LIGHTS OUTSIDE DOOR OF HEADMISTRESS AT GIRL' SCHOOL SO RED BECAME GREEN ENJOYED MY YEARS IMMENSELY GERRY BONE
Name: Andy Colhoun
Email: colhoun.whiteriveratgmail.com
Years_at_school: 1950 to 57
Date: 27 Jan 2014
Time: 00:33:49
Amazing memory Les Capstick has. Of course, in Form 1 we had no knowledge of each others first names. The first boy on the list, Archer, died tragically at school by choking after afternoon swimming. This led to a ban on swimming first period after lunch
Name: Robert Tabb
Email: robert.tabb73atgmail.com
Years_at_school: 56 to 63
Date: 25 Jan 2014
Time: 10:29:29
Ooops -forgot to put years at HCS!!
Name: Robert Tabb
Email: robert.tabb73atgmail.com
Years_at_school:
Date: 25 Jan 2014
Time: 10:27:42
Thanks for finding the web site Ted Mansfield. It is quite amazing what is kept on it! I looked at your Form Photos and do remember you even though your were 2 years behind me!I also recognise some of your compatriots Bush, Williams, Spring & Hyde as they were in the CCF - I believe you were in the Scouts. You'll see some of my Form mates are regular contributors here Messrs Fowler & Backer All the best from a wet & cold West Midlands
Name: Norman Gilliland
Email: normanjgatsky.com
Years_at_school: 1960-68
Date: 21 Jan 2014
Time: 14:06:24
Good to see OG on FB!
Name: Ted (or Teddy) Mansfield
Email: tg.mansfield.109atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1954-59
Date: 21 Jan 2014
Time: 08:52:01
Hello I'm a rare visitor to this guest book, but I thought to put in an appearance as we ('er indoors & me, 45 years married)have discovered all my HCS form photos in a box of her stuff! Some of these have been added now to the archive, namely form 1C 1954, form 4C 1957, and form V2 1958. Thought you'd like to know. It's now 10 years since we had the Golden Jubilee "Class of '54 Reunion", which seems like only yeterday, are there any plans for a Diamond Jubilee repeat? If I can help, do please say, contact by the e-mail above if so. To those who remember me, sorry about that, to those who don't, that may be to your advantage! Keep well, one and all.
Name: John H Ternouth
Email: JHTernouth at bigpond. com
Years_at_school: 1947-1952
Date: 14 Jan 2014
Time: 18:21:36
I have come across this website almost by chance and on this third attempt hope to make contact. I write from Australia where I have been based ever since emigrating with my parents in 1954. I was no scholar in those days and my main interests were in the CCF and the orchestra. I joined the navy section as soon as it started and became a PO. However, because I played in the band I also had the rank of Cpl and an army uniform too. In the summer of 1952, I went to both the annual Pirbright and Portsmouth camps. I remember george thorn (music), Crinson, (geography) and Bingham (biology) in particular. I dont known that I met ever Dr A R Simpson. He appeared to be an aloof figure who we only saw at morning assembly in the Gym, which was doubling as the school hall. I do remember the piano almost jumping off the side stage as GT,s big hands thumped out the Hymn of the day. This email is exploratory and I hope it gets through the ether. A reply would be appreciated and then i could write more. Regards John
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colindotdickinsatblueyondercouk
Years_at_school: 1947-1953
Date: 13 Jan 2014
Time: 15:23:48
Taffy Roberts' funeral The funeral arrangements are as follows :- 14.00 hrs Friday 17th January. at St. Johns Church, Great Amwell, SG12 9SR Family Flowers only. Donations to the R.A.F. Benevolent Fund. I understand that Amwell is a mile outside Ware. I hope to be there.
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colindotdickinsatblueyonderdotcodotuk
Years_at_school: 1947-1953
Date: 10 Jan 2014
Time: 16:52:06
So sorry to hear from OG Chairman Geoff Spring of the death of Taffy Roberts at the age of 97. Taffy, a lovely man, known to his wife as Ioan - but Taffy to all OG's - was a founder member of the OGRFC and had a notable career in bombers in WW2 and was as loyal to his service as he was to the OG's, an unfailing supplier of information about both. His two sons David and John, who sadly died of cancer aged 59 last year, who were both at the School. His funeral is scheduled for Friday 17th January. More details later as they become available.
Name: Arthur Douglas Andrew D.F.C
Email: euni580atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1927-1932?
Date: 01 Jan 2014
Time: 03:35:58
I am his daughter, Eunice Andrew. My father was in the football team. I was wondering if there is anyone still alive from this time? My father died in April 1975.
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: christopher dot atkinson43 at ntlworld dot com
Years_at_school: 48 - 53
Date: 01 Jan 2014
Time: 02:58:37
Well,well here we are in a new year, and it's nice to see some of the 4th Harrow 'anciens' emerging. Happy New Year Tom, hope you're well, and following a strict Amos routine to keep those joints moving. Can't say it works for me; it gets a bit tiresome having to confess to accusatory back surgeons that 'yes, I did play a contact sport as a youth':-( A happy and healthy New Year to all. Chris A.
Name: Tom Backer
Email: tab at cwgsy dot net
Years_at_school: 1956-63
Date: 31 Dec 2013
Time: 06:56:40
Thank you Dave for pointing out that Sir Paul Nurse appeared in The Royal Institution Christmas Lecture broadcast on 28 December. I didn't see the original transmission, but watched it later on iplayer. He also appeared in The Code of Life broadcast yesterday (30 December) on BBC4. Intrigued, I searched this website for more references to him. I came across a link in 2001 to an article written by him in the 1968 issue of Enquiry, the school scientific magazine, and found from the contents page that I had also written an article in the same issue when I was in my final year at Oxford. Although the 1966, 1967 and 1969 issues are available to view, unfortunately the 1968 one isn't. I wonder if anyone has a copy which could be scanned in, it would be interesting to see what I wrote 45 years ago!
Name: Dave Buckley
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 29 Dec 2013
Time: 08:05:03
Don't know if any one watched the show, but Sir Paul Nurse made an appearance in the Royal Institution Christmas Lecture yesterday evening, talking about 'yeasts'.
Name: Richard Buckley
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 28 Dec 2013
Time: 07:34:38
I cannot resist adding to Peter Ward's comment about 'ugly' Northwick Park Hospital because NPH has played quite a major part in my life. NPH may be an ugly, brutalist '60s building but it has a footnote in British architectural history in being the first major British building to have its structural elements positioned by computer. It also got a mention in Reyner Banham's book 'Megastructure' [Thames and Hudson, 1976]. I used to be one of the cross country skivers who would start out from school with everyone else. When we got to Northwick Park we'd peel off from the others and crawl through a hole in the fence surrounding the site of the future NPH. A leisurely stroll brought us out on to Watford Road by Harrow School's swimming pool, the Ducker [now long gone]. We'd wait for the serious runners to catch us up and we'd tag along behind them back to school. I am ashamed to say this is the only act of rebellion I ever took during my six years at HCS. Then Charlie Crinson, the master in charge cross country,[who's personal copy of Trevor May's History of HCS turned up in my stocking one Christmas] allegedly started going up on to the roof of the Harrow Tech College with binoculars to identify the malcontents. Or is this an urban myth? In later years, my four children were born at NPH and my mother died there. Only a few weeks ago [now safely resident in Gloucestershire where the NHS is excellent], my wife and I took my 91 year old mother-in-law to A&E at NPH with some trepidation but could not fault the care she received.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondATyahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 22 Dec 2013
Time: 04:33:53
Seasonal Greetings to all who frequent this site, and, by way of an antidote to any pessimistic tendencies that might tend to creep into us oldies, or semi-oldies, even at times of good cheer and celebration, may I offer this little ditty, to be found at youtube.com... http: youtu.be j0e10baH6cE (nb: 2 forward slashes after http: and 1 forward slash after be) As Harry Mees often used to declare, 'Never let it get you down!'
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondatyahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59=66
Date: 18 Dec 2013
Time: 02:14:56
I certainly didn't, but I certainly do now, Peter!
Name: Michael Schwartz
Email:
Years_at_school: 1965-1972
Date: 16 Dec 2013
Time: 19:28:01
Mrs Nott-Cock did indeed serve Harrow Council, for twenty-two years as elected councillor and then Aldeman. One veteran Harrow councillor said that Mrs Nott-Cock would indeed sit in the committee room wearing her hat - and expected the other ladies to do the same. If her son is anything to go by, she was not a fearsome person. Owen Cock was elected in 1964 and was deputy leader of Harrow Council when I was around (1982-1986). Very much a gentleman and respected for his dignified and genteel manner. He stood down in 1990 after 26 years. All the details are on www.harrow-elections.co.uk
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: interminable
Date: 16 Dec 2013
Time: 17:29:21
Hi Chris Esmond. Do you refer to Dr Thorn's Patent Medicine, available at all good chemists? Gives you go and keeps you regular!
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondatyahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 15 Dec 2013
Time: 16:30:54
Re Chris R's 'doctoring' Thorn's tea scheme... "A powerful laxative whose taste was masked by tea. Stage 2 was to lock his office from the outside (the key was always left in the door) Ultimately we bottled it as we could not see any way we could remain undetected." If you'd really "bottled it" and sent it to him by post or other means, perhaps that might have produced the desired end! (Sorry, couldn't resist, late Sunday night etc.)
Name: TChris R
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 15 Dec 2013
Time: 05:58:20
Mrs Nott Cock is indeed "late". She died in 1969 aged 71
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 14 Dec 2013
Time: 16:55:33
I must put the record straight and apologise to the memory of the much missed and presumably late Mrs Nott Cock. Far from being Edna or Mirabelle she was in fact Mrs D A Nott Cock SRN and other letters. A state registered nurse, and more, although perhaps not working at the time of her association with HCS? On Harrow Council she was an Alderman, or possibly an Alderperson. Were there madam aldermen? There was a touch of pre-Thatcher about her. Posh accent, smart hats and assertive in manner. A Simpson admirer, through and through. I wonder, with her nursing interest background, if she had anything to do with the planning consent for Northwick Park Hospital built around the late sixties. And slicing up a valuable piece of green belt land. The ugly edifice still stands and can be evaluated from expresses out of Euston.
Name: Dave Buckley
Email:
Years_at_school: 53-61
Date: 14 Dec 2013
Time: 10:58:11
Probably Simpson referred to her as 'Madam Chairman'. The nonsense of calling the head of a committee 'Chair' (which is actually something you sit on) didn't come until much later!!
Name: Paul Romney
Email: seek and ye shall find
Years_at_school: 56-63
Date: 14 Dec 2013
Time: 04:24:40
In my day Alderman Mrs. Nott-Cock was Chairman of the Education Committee of Harrow Borough Council. I'm sure she must have been Chairman because I can't imagine Square uttering the neologisms "Chair" or "Chairwoman".
Name: Peter Barnes
Email: barnsie40 at hotmail.com
Years_at_school: 1951-1956
Date: 11 Dec 2013
Time: 21:14:08
Born in Bow evacuated to Harrow 1940 during the Blitz went to Vaughan Road Primary West Harrow passed the 11+ and joined HCS in Form 1B Sept 1951(Northwick House, light green shirts)in the wooden huts by Sheepcote Road 1st caning of many from Square for bus spotting 183 and 140 Routemasters during class (Ian Alan books) we used to train spot in the corner at Northwick Park Fabulous schooldays, wonderful school, walked 5 miles there and back everyday with Ollie Jones (that's when we weren't jumping rides on the 183) Blond, blue eyed, cheeky and mischevious always in the shit, think I held the under the clock all time record Did well in every subject, great teachers from "Backs to the Wall" George, Swanny Amos, Twink Bradley, Ubi Lane, Bernie Marchant, Killer King, Capt.Morshead, Stein, Major Bingham, Charlesworth, Whitehead, Rawnsley and who could ever forget "Arry Mees and his mesmerising history lessons Square wasn't so bad I had quite a relationship going to his study for frequent canings and the two letters home He wasn't very frightening he was actually quite cute once you got to know him LOL He never expelled me but threatened to a few times I think he liked me really LOL There's a couple of names here I recognise Clive Pigrim being one but whatever happened to David Springham, Ollie Jones, David Bone, Laurence Burbridge, David Petit and my long time partner in crime Johnny Buckle Joined to CCF and tranferred to the Naval Section had fabulous times on board HMS Hedingham Castle amongst other camps Boy Scout with the 8th Harrow St Peter's Troop with David Springham and Bob Smith also Old Gaytonians If the school taught me one thing it was survival skills and I went on to be a full time rogue, heartbreaker, world traveller, entrepreneur, adventurer and vagabond Made and lost several fortunes and had a great time doing it 74 next birthday (still fit as a butcher's dog and sharp as a razor)retired in Asia wishing I could do it all over again HCS the best education a boy could get it set me up for life I am proud to be an Old Gaytonian and I can still sing the school song (unofficial version that is) word for word LOL I would love to hear from anyone reading this from my era 1951-1956 who remembers this rascal and wants to email me to swap yarns
Name: Steve Grimes
Email: Rfere Jeff
Years_at_school: 58-64
Date: 11 Dec 2013
Time: 11:38:16
Talking about George Thorn and the Alderman Mrs N C here is a clip from an appendix to a meeting of the Harrow Education Committee held on 27th January 1954 attended by the said Mrs N C: EDUCATION RESOLVED - 83 - Harrow County Secondary Grammar School for Boys - Chief Assistant - RESOLVED - That, on the recommendation of the Head Master, Mr G Thorn be appointed Chief Assistant Master at the Harrow County Secondary Grammar School for Boys as from the 1st September 1954 vice Mr H W Brister who is resigning with effect from the 31st August 1954 and that the County Council be recommended to grant a Special Responsibility Allowance amounting to (pounds) 210 per annum to Mr G Thorn from that date until the end of the financial year 1955 The full web link to the minutes is www dot harrow dot gov dot uk slash www2 slash Data slash Council slash 19540213 slash Minutes slash 006_Education%20Committee_27%20January%201954 dot pdf
Name: brian hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmailgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 40-7
Date: 11 Dec 2013
Time: 05:18:57
The only act against Thorn that was actually pulled off to my knowledge was by the boy, whose name I now do not recall, who managed to drop several cubes of sugar into the petrol tank of Thorn's Vauxhall car. The result was a severe loss of power and the ultimate need for a decoke job. In hindsight, this was a very cruel thing to do but at the time we all thought it appropriate. Thorn was a strange person in several ways. I don't recall seeing him relate to the other masters. All through the war, when there was severe petrol rationing, he managed to get coupons so he could drive to school from his home at Watford. Other masters who lived there, travelled by train. I never was aware of any sharing, even on wet days. It was rumoured he had a heart condition, but then so had Hartland, who used the station.
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colindotdickinsatblueyonderdotcodotuk
Years_at_school: 1947-1953
Date: 11 Dec 2013
Time: 03:45:34
Mrs D A Nott-Cock was not an Honourable, but she was a substantial Conservative figure in local government in Harrow, first on the Harrow Urban District Council. When Harrow became a borough she ascended at some stage to the post of Chairman. She had two sons, the elder Owen, whom I hardly knew, and the younger Trevor, who was at Harrow County and in my form (which, I can't remember) for one year. He was a very pleasant, gentle boy who, without disloyalty, showed no awareness of his mother's "celebrity" nor received any special attention.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 10 Dec 2013
Time: 15:59:52
For Brian Hester and Chris Rickwood. First, Brian. I think you may have misread my account. Our planned guests were very prestigious indeed. The lovely The Hon. Mrs(Audrey? Edna? Mirabelle?) Nott-Cock was chair of the governors at around that time. Merely a local busybody of no great importance. But she had a fine name and now lives on the internet for all time. Re-Chris' story. Surely a Health and Safety issue here? Not so much the tea. More George Thorn.
Name: Chris R
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 10 Dec 2013
Time: 06:32:28
I can report on another plot which was not executed. Each day George Thorn had two choirboys pick up a large pot of tea from the Dining Hall and take it to his study. The idea was to ambush these boys and rough them up a little (these acolytes were not populaar!). During this process slip a number of Senna Pods into the tea pot. A powerful laxative whose taste was masked by tea. Stage 2 was to lock his office from the outside (the key was always left in the door) Ultimately we bottled it as we could not see any way we could remain undetected.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 40-7
Date: 10 Dec 2013
Time: 05:25:51
Top marks for creativity Peter but, as you acknowledge, difficult to execute given the technology of the time. I would have thought Simpson would have attracted a more important speaker than someone from the local council. Randall Williams always pulled in someone from 'outside' with a good cv.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 09 Dec 2013
Time: 16:33:42
Sorry Brian. Wild horses and all that. (See previous.) But I can reveal a second plan that also was not put into action, purely for the lack of ability to create ersatz headed notepaper. Today, with WPs and design and downloading, it would be only too easy. Simpson's Speech Days were awful, in the same league as school dinners. It was time to boast and show off. In my day, the event was presided over by the curiously named The Hon. Mrs Nott-Cock, some kind of self-appointed Harrow Borough dignitary. Mayoress around 1963? The plan went as follows. As Speech Day approached, we thought of writing to about half a dozen nationally known people eg the Prime Minister (Harold MacMillan), Hugh Gaitskill, The Archbishop of Canterbury, Malcolm Muggeridge, Fred Trueman etc. Each was to be invited by the good Doctor to be HCS guest speaker at Speech Day. One could imagine the effect. Six replies from top celebs, hopefully some agreeing to appear. We were sure all would reply, one way or the other. Unquestionably, chaos would have ensued behind the scenes. But, with a week to go, we intended launching a second raft of star candidates, all agreeing to speak and looking forward immensely to meeting the good Doctor and his stalwart men. Including the officially nominated speaker, we estimated that Simpson might expect a good turnout of top guest speakers all coinciding on the school steps at the same time. Meanwhile, we also planned to write on behalf of the officially booked speaker (the name was always known) and send a false late letter of apology. Illness or called on important business, something to that effect. Maybe exams got in the way. Certainly, we were concerned that our amateurish attempts at typing would be swiftly seen through. So it all became and remained theoretical. The resulting anger would have permeated the whole school and the crime a 'gating' offence. The best laid plans of mice, men and HCS interns.
Name: brian hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 40-7
Date: 08 Dec 2013
Time: 07:28:15
Oh Peter, do tell. I am sure that by now no matter what you were up to is protected by the statutes of limitations. Planning a 'defenestration' down the dumb waiter shaft is not same as actually doing it.
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: christopher dot atkinson43 at ntlworld dot com
Years_at_school: 48 - 53
Date: 08 Dec 2013
Time: 07:26:32
I must admit to being in awe (and shock?) at the descriptions of school in the years after I left. Perhaps it was the proximity of the war years - I lived in Wembley and we did seem to get a disproportionate amount of daily disruption. I don't think I've seen any comments from my peer group, so perhaps I was just an insensitive young git (working my to becoming an insensitive old git). Yes George Thorn did give me creepy feelings - and at the time I didn't know why, and yes, I did know it was time to leave when square passed me in the upper corridor and murmured " ... aaah, Eightkinson isn't it ...". Bigham I didn't like, taking copious notes for Biology lessons was not to my taste - but, heh, by memorising Maude Jepson I sailed thro' exams. And, like many others I got thro' the French oral with my Skillen-inspired Scottish accented French. Came in handy on a subsequent posting to Belgium when folk couldn't quite work out where my non-Brit French came from. Bulldog Hayes dished out many lines ("... something about casting pearls before swine...)when Willie Allen (oops, sorry, Col.Tony Allen) and I used to muck about. But,I did my National Service with the RAF in Germany and was forever grateful to him. Although I was in the School Scouts, I was also in the RAF Section of the CCF - having been well prepared my two years National Service passed very pleasurably playing rugby, Scouting and flying model aircraft. A bit of HCS background also came in useful in a posting to Libya - there was an old Gaytonian in the Embassy, and we managed to unload an unwanted kitten on to him. So, all in all I owe an awful lot to my few years at HCS. Now, let's hear from anyone else who was around at that time? Was it as bad then as you all seem to be saying, and that I just didn't notice?
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 40-7
Date: 08 Dec 2013
Time: 06:58:00
Come on Peter. Do tell. I am sure the statute of limitations has long since come into effect so you can reveal all without fear of retribution.
Name: Peter ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 06 Dec 2013
Time: 16:49:53
Most kind, Chris! The only Palace I have visited in the last couple of years was Crystal Palace when the home time dared beat my Doncaster Rovers in their relegation year. I don't think adrenalised bravado played any part in our night-time activities. It was all for the laugh, cocking a snoop, if you will. Quite adolescent but that's what we were. There was no other effective way of challenging the regime. Rudeness and crude defiance were too easily put down and unsatisfying. Poking fun was a more potent weapon against the humourless. Most boys simply kept their heads down and slogged like zombies through their studies before liberation to higher education or the outside world. The most daring anti-Simpson scheme was never carried through and is too dodgy to disclose on the net. This was hatched up in the secret enclave above the prefects' common room (former school kitchens.) We bottled out. Maybe one day I'll tell you, personally.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondatyahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 06 Dec 2013
Time: 05:15:52
Wonderfully entertaining stuff here recently, you're right, Peter, true comic material. Carry On Up the Common Room! What amazes me is the extent of you and your confederates' clandestine activities. I mean, excursions into the sacrosanct environs of the Masters' Common Room and Deputy Head's study - extraordinary stuff, I salute your daring, sir, and I assure you I shall be recommending you for the New Year Honours List. I imagine the sheer adrenaline rush was enough to overcome any trepidation you might have felt during such hazardous enterprises? That, plus the sense of 'victory' over the forces of daily oppression in, as you rightly say, a version (albeit somewhat watered down) of a Stalag Luft camp (or anyway, along those general lines). Was there ever any realistic chance you lot might have been caught, eg by the caretaker, staff working late, or even by cleaners?! What time did you make your after-dark assaults? I guess what such authoritarian regimes fail to grasp is that their approach automatically, as night follows day, necessarily engenders an equal and opposite response of the 'disempowered victims', exemplified, of course, in such episodes you recount, and also in a general festering resentment pervading the affected community contaminated by fear. At the risk of getting too pretentiously serious about it all, such rebellious exploits are actually evidence of the strength and irrepressibility of the human spirit. As I said, be prepared, like the er 'good scout' (?!) you were, to shortly receive a call to the Palace....
Name: exitoubobinty
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk
Years_at_school:
Date: 06 Dec 2013
Time: 02:18:30
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: far too many
Date: 05 Dec 2013
Time: 14:24:35
Just occasionally, this guest book takes off. One thing leads to another. The school dinners saga being a current example. Dave Buckley has moved things on. As a former owner of a nearly complete set of HCS keys (Simpson's study excepted)I can only bow in the direction of those who attempted to manufacture such (forgive me) key items. I had no idea of this, at the time, but these efforts are to be greatly applauded. We always regarded Simpson's Emporium as a kind of post-war Stalag Luft. Run by 'goons' of course. Immensely laughable and well worth defying. A kind of Colditz in miniature. Now, we have revelations of secret passages and dumb porters transporting prison-like food to the reluctant inmates. It couldn't be funnier and is the stuff of fiction. In our own case, on one of many night-time raids on the school, we happened upon a set of master keys in a locker in the Staff Common Room. At the time, we were attired in mortar boards and academic gowns previously hung on pegs in the adjoining toilet. The keys were passed on upon leaving so I don't know what eventually became of them. At this juncture, given that what one writes becomes part of the across the cross-global historical record, a description of the HCS masters' toilets, 1963, adjacent to the Common Room seems necessary. The urinals, that is. A set of long-legged wooden stools was parked immediately behind the urinal stalls. This meant that masters in need of relief could opt to sit down in order to perform. Presumably in full robing. Never have I seen this repeated even in august institutions, such as the BBC. But returning to the keys. We had access to Deputy Head Billy Duke's room above that of Simpson. I regret to report that this permitted us to sample Duke's plentiful supply of sweet Amontillado sherry although we were careful to only take smallish sips as an empty bottle might have aroused suspicion that the school security system had been breached. But I return to the Colditz mentality of the key-makers. This is unsurpassable and worthy of the highest accolade. Or six strokes of the cane before deserved expulsion.
Name: Dave Buckley
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 04 Dec 2013
Time: 08:52:03
Peter Ward's comment about a set of school keys reminded me that I had written an item for this website about school master keys and had sent it to Jeff together with a photo. However, I can't find it on the website so I thought I would add it here: During the 1950s, there was a craze (which upset the Doctor)for making school master keys to fit the mortise locks at the school. It was general knowledge that only two master keys were required to open nearly all the locks around the school - one for the old school buildings and the other for the post-war areas. Although they looked very similar, the keys were definitely not interchangeable. On the new school master, the length from the top of the key to the bottom of the notches was around five eighths of an inch - about 16mm in foreign currency, while for an old key this measurement was nearer three quarters of an inch - 20mm. Some boys made keys from blanks, but not having this skill, I made one from a 'standard' key which had the correct dimensions and notches but with some extraneous metalwork just above the notches. All I needed to do was to file off the unnecessary metalwork and open out the notches slightly. Attempts were made to make a dual purpose key, but they all failed. One idea was to make an old school key first then file down the top of the barrel above the notches so that, when put in a new school lock, the key would ride up to take into account the difference in length. A couple of try-outs were broken in the lock of the door at the bottom of the spiral staircase leading up to the Prefect's Common Room. The other method was to take a new school master and file down the underneath of the barrel - the theory that the key would 'push down' to take up the difference in length. But this didn't work either. During my time with the Old Boy's Dramatic club, and in school getting productions ready on a Saturday, there were occasions when I needed to get material to Jim Golland. I found the easiest way was to leave it in his pigeon hole in the Master's Common Room. The new school master also came in useful when I worked for a time at the Harrow Arts Centre as it opened quite a number of locks there (probably as the school was of a similar age and design).
Name: Chris R
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 04 Dec 2013
Time: 07:52:58
Yes, Peter but from George Thorn - after the cane a cuddle, which was even more dreaded
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1958-63
Date: 04 Dec 2013
Time: 07:43:53
Please, I have better and more urgent things to do! But the combined school dinner and secret shaft saga is not to be resisted. The sealed up shaft may possibly be filled with skeletons, but more likely ghosts. The ghost of Simpson, mortar board, gown and all? The spectre of George Thorn, cane in hand, beckoning to his victims with a crooked, bony finger. 'This will hurt me more than it hurts you!' (Quote.)
Name: brian hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotvom
Years_at_school: 40-7
Date: 04 Dec 2013
Time: 04:18:06
Perhaps the old dumb waiter shaft was sealed off when it became filled up with skeletons. What an archaeological opportunity! News of a locked room above the former kitchen came as news to me. I assume the room provides access to the roof. During the war there was a period when incendiary rather than explosive bombs were dropped. These were small devices which could be extinguished easily if sprayed with water right away before they could light the structure of a building. All households were issued with stirrup pumps and everyone instructed in their use. Places such as schools that were unoccupied at night were now manned by volunteer 'fire watchers'. A school, these were recruited from the sixth form. At a memorable morning assemble, Randall Williams produced a letter from a nearby resident complaining about a 'minstrel show' on the school roof at 2 a.m. "This behaviour must stop immediately" he thundered in his usual style. Boys were posted to the roof during the day during the flying bomb (V 1) attacks. Their job was to press an alarm bell if such a bomb was seen approaching and we would all crouch under our desks. This was great fun during exams as it gave us the opportunity to exchange comments about the questions. The French dictation was interrupted in this same way so had to be repeated much to our advantage.
Name: David Jackson
Email: david at jack-son full stop co full stop uk
Years_at_school: 58 to 64 ish
Date: 04 Dec 2013
Time: 02:02:35
Any skeletons would probably have ended up being served as lunch ....
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 03 Dec 2013
Time: 17:42:49
HCS school dinners the subject of internet frivolity 50 years on! Whatever next? I was taken aback by the revelation of a secret vertical passage that led to the room above the dreaded clock. (See previous entry.) The spiral staircase mentioned wound up to, in my day, the prefects' common room. There was a smaller, dusty room above that, kept locked. This room we sometimes inhabited, unofficially, as a set of school keys happened to be in our possession. The only room we failed to enter was Square's study which had its own special Yale. Very disappointing. I still find it hard to believe about the vertical passage used to transport food, presumably on some kind of pulley system. Also the revelation that the prefects' room had been the former school kitchen. But I do not challenge the correspondent. Yet it does sound odd to have a kitchen high above the school, as it were. And what had the secret room above originally been used for? Unfortunately, it contained no skeletons.
Name: ye min
Email: yeyeye63athotmail.com
Years_at_school: 1963-70
Date: 03 Dec 2013
Time: 10:26:28
how well I remember lunchtimes until I managed to escape..I always thought it was a way for the head, dhm and others to 'inspect' the pupils and weed out the long hairs, elastic sided bootees wearers, Spanish sideburns and other unacceptable uniform infringements..how I remember pupils filling their plates up with the gorgeous lunch, pay for it and then immediately tip it into the swill bowls.. how well I remember the cutlery graveyard in the flower beds as we made our exit..and when years later I was a teacher and the chocolate sponge and chocolate custard tasted exactly the same as I remembered it I told our school cook and added that 'this wasn't cookery, it's alchemy.' then she hit me with her ladle..
Name: Type your name hereChris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondatyahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 02 Dec 2013
Time: 14:09:42
In my time at HCS, Square used to sit at a table in the middle of the canteen hut, along with the deputy head and the c-in-c of the crucially important NATO military unit stationed at the school. An extraordinary juxtaposition that spoke volumes about the prevailing ethos there. And that during the 60's of a social revolution led by the new youth culture! As Peter Ward says, the no talking during lunch rule was an utter absurdity and well I recall the self-important barking at each 'sitting' of the prefect on duty: "I remind you that there is to be NO TALKING in the dining hall!" The only possibly valid reason for this rule was that the staff needed a measure of peace and quiet to talk amongst themselves, but if we could hold conversations amid the din I don't see why they couldn't. My God, what a way to grow up!
Name: Geoff Taylor
Email: geofft33attiscali.co.uk
Years_at_school: 1942-1949
Date: 02 Dec 2013
Time: 09:56:31
One master (Dr 'Twink' Bradley, if I remember correctly) asked the class what punishment he should mete out to a miscreant. As one, the class roared "Give him a school dinner!"
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: christopher dot atkinson at ntlworld dot com
Years_at_school: 48 - 53
Date: 02 Dec 2013
Time: 08:15:05
Do I get banned from the site forever if I admit to quite liking the tapioca? When using the canteen for evening meal at Camp-on-the-School-Field (COSF), we used to put our own personal 'cut' on potatoes before they went into the mechanical potato peeler. First recognisable one out was the winner - a sort of mechanised pooh sticks. And then there was Eddie Kerr's spagbol for the first night - never knew for sure how many campers were coming - highly elastic meal ... quantity not quality:^). Can't recall many complaints about COSF food, but then I was always too busy trying to stop Harry Mees lugging telegraph poles around by himself when building the aerial runway ... happy days.
Name: exitoubobinty
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk
Years_at_school:
Date: 01 Dec 2013
Time: 23:25:06
Name: David Jackson
Email: david at jack-son dot co dot uk
Years_at_school: 58 to 64 ish
Date: 30 Nov 2013
Time: 03:35:43
Aaah - School Dinners. For the first couple of years I suffered these, until we were allowed to escape to the ABC in Harrow to buy hot sausage rolls and pies. That was before the Royal Oak days. Anyway, I do remember two GOOD things about school dinners. The sausages and onions, usually served on Fridays, I think. (pah, Friday fish - forget it!) Such wonderful spicy sausages. I've no idea what was inside them, but even if it was road-kill, they still were lovely. And, a bizarre dessert, always served in green Bakelite cups. No idea what it actually was, but it had the consistency and taste of completely melted ice-cream. Maybe it was only served after the freezer had given up! The BAD things, tapioca, lumpy mash and the like, I will draw a discreet veil over.
Name: Brianwhesteratgmail.com
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 40-7
Date: 27 Nov 2013
Time: 12:58:36
For many years, school dinners were cooked in the kitchen situated over the clock. The room was reached by spiral staircase. Plates were prepared in the kitchen and put on trays so the food could be transported by dumbwaiter to the dining rooms on the floor above the war memorial. The shaft extended to the basement floor and was used for hoisting food deliveries to the kitchen. Boys would sometimes use the shaft as an alternative to the stairs but you could never be sure who would be standing there when you lifted the hatch ready to emerge. Randall Williams never found the escapade amusing. When I was last at the school I noted the hatches had been covered over on each floor leaving the openings impossible to detect. There is thus a secret passage extending from top to bottom in the old part of the building.
Name: Graeme Young
Email:
Years_at_school: 1947 to 1953
Date: 26 Nov 2013
Time: 11:34:34
Many thanks to Chris R for the information about Square's spot for lunch. My memory is not THAT good, I regret. Although HCS was not, for me, an entirely good experience I have to admit that my education was first class and I remain grateful, even 60 years after leaving, for it.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1958-63
Date: 25 Nov 2013
Time: 17:28:03
School dinners are hardly a pleasant memory. They were awful but I shall not go into detail. In my day, the masters, incl. Square I believe, sat at side tables but pretty well attempted to eat the same stuff as issued to the boys. The difference was that they were offered a slight choice. Many of these men would have gone through the services in wartime, or National Service immediately after. One suspects they may not have been critical or fussy, given what they must have been served up in military cookhouses. They would have known rationing, too. Both during and after the war. One feature, in my time, was that we were forbidden to talk to each other. Any defiance resulted in a prowling prefect who took names and set lines. Inspiring stuff such as 'I must not talk in the dining hall', times 100, to be handed in the next day. Imagine. Bright boys in education not being allowed to communicate, socially.
Name: Chris R
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 25 Nov 2013
Time: 10:53:02
To answer Graeme about where Square lunched. He at in the same dining hall as we did. A special table in the middle of the Hall. He was often joined by his wife and (I think) daughter(s)
Name: Graeme M.Young
Email: No thanks
Years_at_school: 1947 to 1953
Date: 25 Nov 2013
Time: 10:08:37
The subject of school dinners always provokes some unsavoury memories in those who had to suffer them. In my first winter in 1947 at HCS I, too, underwent the dubious pleasure of dining at school, but in the following year resorted to sandwiches. Besides the unappealing fare on offer the quality of the cutlery sometimes left much to be desired and enterprising youths who happened upon a bright chromium-plated spoon would publicly lick it to ensure no-one else hi-jacked it. To be fair, the foodstuffs the catering staff had to magic into a meal was probably not that great, it was not brilliant at my private primary school from 1941 to 1947 despite the considerable fees my parents had to find. Even now, at age 77, I can see in my minds eye the HCS dining hall on it's grassy mound that sloped away to the playing field. I wonder where Square went for his lunch, probably the King's Head? One could argue that school dinners prepared one for the cookhouses of National Service.
Name: ye min
Email: yeyeye63athotmail.com
Years_at_school: 1963-1870
Date: 23 Nov 2013
Time: 06:52:29
Brian Hester's message reminded me of when we visited my wife's Belgian relatives and I wanted to visit Ypres and Tyne Cot cemetery and they wondered why we would want to go there and be reminded of the war. I was struck by how beautifully maintained the cemetery and the museums to the First War were..fresh flowers on some of the graves. I suspect for the local population such devastating events can leave them ambivalent about being reminded about it Things is it will never go away.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 1940-47
Date: 23 Nov 2013
Time: 04:30:48
Ye Min covers a lot of subjects in a few words. Isn't it strange how we remember where we were when some historic events occurred yet do not for others? I remember exactly the events in my life on the day of Kennedy's assassination but nothing of the Berlin Wall coming down, which was more important. People's attitudes change too. Now, fifty years after the event, Dallas is observing the assassination and placing a plaque somewhere. When I visited the city a while ago and had spare time, I tried to visit the site but the locals were very dismissive and trying to forget. "It was over there somewhere". The whole area has been re-configured. I can't imagine where they put the plaque. Meanwhile, the grandchildren watch Dr.Who.
Name: ye min
Email: yeyeye63athotmail.com
Years_at_school: 1963-1970
Date: 21 Nov 2013
Time: 22:44:34
with all this stuff about the 50th anniversary of the assignation of President Kennedy and of course the first episode of Dr Who I am reminded that it is also 50 years since I trembled my way into HCS.. and if you ask do you remember where you were when the first episode of Dr Who was shown I have to plead innocence and say I was in my living room sitting on the sofa watching it. It was exciting and later when the Daleks appeared..they also appeared in HCS form at breaktimes. It was a difficult time in fact HCS felt like an alien planet to me. all those irrational seeming behaviours of teachers, prefects, cadets to my young mind which had been used to a more nurturing environment and the worlds of Alan Gsrner, CS Lewis etc and by the 6th form Tolkein and Mervyn Peake. I didn't enjoy HCS but it shaped me to want things to be better than that.
Name: Brian Thomas
Email: tommobpa23athotmail.co.uk
Years_at_school: 1946-52
Date: 13 Nov 2013
Time: 05:11:39
First visit to your remarkable site. I recall Dusty Miller's glass eye. He once placed it prominently on a master's desk whereupon it was ejected to the waste bin. Dusty also conned a boy into popping it into his mouth claiming it to be a gob stopper. I well remember the incident on the rugby field when the match was stopped for several minutes as the eye had been lost in the mud near the opponents' 25 line. On retrieval, after the eye had been wiped down, Dusty grabbed the ball and ran the wrong way, scoring a try for the opposition. This was put down to impaired visibility, but the try stood. HCS U14s lost the match by two points. Such days.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 12 Nov 2013
Time: 16:24:08
Noted Tony Arkey has made contact. Is this the TA of infamous Gayton Rovers fame? (The HCS rebel soccer team 1961 to 1963.) If so, a very fine player and goal scorer. Will Tony confirm? Any more ex-Gayton Rovers out there? This was a fairly outrageous venture that infuriated Head of PE Gordon Underwood when he found out. The team's finest games were vs Harrow Weald Grammar School where we won 2 nil. And Harrow technical College, a 6-3 win after being 3-0 down. I remember we won all eight matches in the second season although the arctic-like snow and ice spell of Jan to March 63 wrecked the season as a whole.
Name: Laurence Lando
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1956 -
Date: 11 Nov 2013
Time: 02:04:20
Interesting to read the message from Tony Arkey. Having known him since we were in the first form at HCS, despite him living in Hong Kong, it has been a pleasure to renew our friendship many times. I recall he was also quite an athlete, and won a cup or two!
Name: Tony Arkey (via Jeff Maynard)
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 30 Oct 2013
Time: 20:03:27
(Tony Arkey, who lives in Hong Kong, emailed this message:) Sorry to read of this sad news. Another couple of my old school teachers has passed on. Mr Waller was a good man. He started me off in the Latin classes and even though I struggled with it I have had reason to use his teachings ever since. I was educated at Harrow County School for Boys there from 1956 until 1963 and recall him as one of the best. I was also musically blessed with a Soprano voice and was vocally tutored by him and the late George Thorne in singing the solo bits for the Hallelujah Chorus amongst many other classics. Those were joyous moments for me. I have recently 'threatened' to join the HK Welsh Male Voice Choir but time and circumstances have prevented me from relaunching my Tenor tones on the public! Rest in Peace Ken. May I also say how sad it was to read that Major Maurice Venn passed away recently ; another good teacher and one I have good memories of. RIP . Condolences to members of both families. Whilst writing I discovered another OLD GAYT; , G Scott Malone who has some similar background connections to mine in the Resort - Hotel - Hospitality Industry. No doubt he will join the Association in due course now he is aware of the existence of the sites etc. Scott tells me he attended HCS during the 70's so he may be dismayed to hear that one of his era has abruptly passed away recently. Regards. Tony Arkey
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwheseratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 40-7
Date: 28 Oct 2013
Time: 08:13:04
Bernie Marchant sounds like the sort of teacher of Latin I wish I had. No matter what his intentions, I would doubt ARS would have tolerated the dispensing of wine on school property. I was glad to see Bernard G come forth to corroborate the glass eye story. For the record, the boy's name was Miller. At the time of the glass eye incident, school dinners cost six pence and were supervised by Hackman, Dyer, and in charge, George Throne. A great scene opened one day when a boy having discovered that the lowly farthing was legal tender for debs up to and including sixpence,chose to pay for his lunch with 24 farthings and to inform GT of the legality. Thorne's sense of humour was even less evident than usual.
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash70panatyahoodotcom
Years_at_school: 1962-9
Date: 28 Oct 2013
Time: 04:54:45
Urban legend. As I have said before, Bernie Marchant was very kind to me whilst I was at school( probably because I was Catholic) but he never tried to engage me in the faith at any depth. Many religions impose an obligation on its adherents to proselytise the faith but this is often no more than a theoretical obligation to do so by way of good example. Bernie belonged to that part of Catholicism which is profoundly intellectual and has much in common with the "High Church" of the Church of England. You will recall that when he passed away, I compared him to the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins. Bernie was intellectually rigorous and pushed me hard at Latin A level.
Name: Chris R
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 28 Oct 2013
Time: 04:09:19
I've been intrigued by the earlier postings suggesting Bernie Marchant supplied wine for communion and heard confessions. I spoke to a friend who is RC and very active in the RC Church. He made some inquiries which confirmed his initial reaction. Under no circumstances could a lay Catholic have been allowed to do those things (in fact such a person would have faced severe sanctions up to and including excommunication) He mentioned the possibility that he may have been a priest "without the care of souls" but looking at his CV there is not enough time for him to have ever entered the priesthood. So, I wonder if those reports of him performing those activities are correct or a sort of urban legend?
Name: Paul Romney
Email: same old
Years_at_school: 56-63
Date: 28 Oct 2013
Time: 03:02:52
Perhaps everyone's been trying to figure out how passing your glass eye around on a spoon might win you an extra dessert. Was it by turning someone's stomach and putting him off his food? Surely nothing could have beaten the food itself for doing that.
Name: Bernard Gillespie
Email: bernardgillespieatrogers.com
Years_at_school: 1939-1944
Date: 27 Oct 2013
Time: 07:32:35
.your message of the 17th, Brian, about the boy with the glass eye (whose appearance I remember well but whose name I totally forget) has brought the message board to a very unusual ten-day standstill ..... where are all the usual suspects who customarily add to the old school's never-ending saga ?
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 40-7
Date: 17 Oct 2013
Time: 09:29:50
The pleasures of dining at our particular table were sometimes enhanced by a boy who had a glass eye which he would remove and pass around on a spoon in the hope of getting an extra dessert.
Name: David Jackson
Email: david at jack-son dot co dot uk
Years_at_school: 58-64 ish
Date: 16 Oct 2013
Time: 10:50:23
Potato? POTATO? And I thought it was just crap ice-cream. Wanders off, muttering ....
Name: Steve Grimes
Email: Refer Jeff
Years_at_school: 1958 to 1964
Date: 15 Oct 2013
Time: 14:51:45
Don't for get the mashed potato powder. Two dollops from an ice cream scoop on a plastic plate. Yuck! I can still taste it now.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 10 Oct 2013
Time: 16:22:15
Brian Hester's revelations about the properties of (vile)semolina perhaps prove the point that George Thorne was not a remarkable scientist. Not everyone knows he was originally a Chemistry teacher before he successfully ruined Music at the school. According to Brian's account, it appears that war time semolina, upon an inverted plate, defied gravity. A better scientist, such as Newton, would have come up with a theory, one suspects. Inverted semolina, used against the panzer armies, might have shortened the war by many months, with numerous lives saved. George Thorne missed his big chance to shine. Thank God for Major Skillen who personally won the war at Bletchley Park.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school:
Date: 10 Oct 2013
Time: 09:42:57
Yes Peter. soon after leaving school I became familiar with the life style of the lowland Scot both literally and figuratively in depth. Whatever menu changes the restaurant might have made to suit the good doctor s requirements are unknown to me because none of has had the temerity to visit the place whilst he was running the school. It is unlikely that the eccles cakes were replaced on the menu in favour any variety of 'piece'. A fish paste piece would not go well with coffee. The dessert of rice pudding with a dollop of jam was a menu item of school dinners from time immemorial, as was its alliterative name that was not in polite use. For a few years during the war when rice was in short supply, we were fed a variety of semolina instead of rice. This commodity had an incredible affinity for the plate which could be inverted without anything falling off. This excursion into the practical study of properties of material was regarded by George Thorne as an indictable offence not to be tolerated. This response might be duplicated as I received a message that I had used one or several of the offensive symbols |Jeffrey warns us not to use.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 09 Oct 2013
Time: 17:09:24
Thank you, Brian Hester. Your first hand and intimate knowledge of Scottish working class culture does you proud. Are you suggesting Ann's Pantry, in Harrow, offered kippers and an accompanying jam piece? Why were these delicacies never offered as school dinners under Simpsonian rule? We all recall fat-excessive spam fritters and appalling rice pudding and black currant jam for which the common and schoolboyish term I tactfully refrain to mention. The good Doctor missed a trick, here. I do not recall him addressing the haggis followed, for dessert, by deep fried Mars bars.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 40-7
Date: 09 Oct 2013
Time: 11:27:18
Haggis was seldom seen south of the Border in those days although the constituents were never rationed. Arbroath was noted for its fine kippers. When I worked in a coal mine near Simpson's birthplace of Dunfermaline, standard fare of the miners consisted of a jam piece (sandwich) and a meat piece. Haggis, along with tatties and neeps was reserved for Burns night.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 09 Oct 2013
Time: 08:41:11
So disappointed to learn that the great DR was no war hero. Another illusion dispelled. Did Ann's Pantry switch over to haggis and butterscotch with Simpson's post-war appointment? Or were these still subject to rationing? I was only about two at the time, and living on The Wirral, so am unable to comment.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 40-7
Date: 09 Oct 2013
Time: 05:40:03
First, a correction. Roland Birch was plain 'Mr'. To the best of my knowledge Simpson spent the war years as head of the school at Arbroath from where he was recruited to replace Crowle-Ellis during 1946-7. Crowle-Ellis, incidentally a bachelor, spent the war with the RAF as CO of various airfields. He came to school right out of the service and likely got the job under a policy of placing ex-servicemen. As a family man over the age of forty, Simpson would have been 'reserved'. The enigma that remains is why Crowle-Ellis was moved on and how Simpson was recruited. Perhaps there was an ad in the 'help wanted' column of the Whackers Weekly (Scottish Edition). A possible explanation for Crowle-Ellis being pushed out is provided by what I'll call the Ann's Pantry Affair. This affair occurred during the waning days of Williams' rule when the decision to hire Crowle-Ellis would almost certainly have been made. At the time, the sixth form used classrooms in the old Harrow Tech and Harrow School abd well as school. This gave them carte blanche to wander all over town. In the process, we used to drop in at Ann's Pantry on Station Road for coffee and eccles cakes, production of which had just started again. On the one day of the week when I was unable to be so refreshed, Williams took the governors there for coffee after a meeting and found the seats all taken by his 'boys'. Williams amusement was reported to be distinctly tested. I can appreciate one of the governors declaring 'we need someone tougher than Crowle-Ellis to pull this place together'. All speculation of course.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondatyahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 09 Oct 2013
Time: 04:53:38
Just checked - at his obituary on this site - and yes indeed, he was head of Arbroath High School '39-45.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondatyahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 09 Oct 2013
Time: 04:34:17
I seem to recall I read somewhere, probably here, that Simpson remained on these shores during the war, involved with education in Scotland. Might be wrong but that's the picture I have.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 08 Oct 2013
Time: 16:11:58
The Mosley correspondence is interesting. I had no idea of Sir Oswald's alleged Harrow and possible (slight) HCS connections. Poor Dr Birch. If only he had joined the school after the war. One suspects his views would have been applauded and promoted by the regime that was to take over the place for the next quarter of a century. Incidentally, what exactly did Dr AR Simpson do during the Second World War? Does anyone know? Did he fight for his country, as did members of his subsequent Staff? As Simpson was progenitor of the Combined Cadet Force, and made such play of it, he may have been hiding his light under a bushel. Possibly an SOE agent parachuted into France, organising resistance against Nazi tyranny. Or risking life and limb with Tito and his brave brigands in The Balkans? One suspects there is a great, untold story here.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 40-47
Date: 05 Oct 2013
Time: 14:35:57
The details you give are very convincing Bernard. I don't recall seeing them before. Our class was not exposed to the pictures.
Name: Bernard Gillespie
Email: bernardgillespieatrogers.com
Years_at_school: 1939-1944
Date: 05 Oct 2013
Time: 09:01:55
the story that was current after the departure of Roland Birch to the nick was that Dr Hartland had shopped him to the authorities ......... true or not I don't know but his detention under 18B was more than justified. on one occasion my class , 2C or 3C had to sit through a Birch lecture downstairs in the epidiascope room during which he showed us pictures of himself in Hitler Youth togs with his arm raised in the Nazi salute ........... none of his Nazi leanings rubbed off on any of my classmates who were inclined to be a bit bolshie when it came to indoctrination.
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colindotdickinsatblueyondeerdotcodotuk
Years_at_school: 1947-1953
Date: 04 Oct 2013
Time: 16:16:27
Yes, I think you're right, Chris. There used to be a photo displayed somewhere of Mosley when he was local MP attending some function at the School - Speech Day possibly. In my post-war days I was surprised that it was given currency.
Name: Chris Rickwood
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 04 Oct 2013
Time: 09:24:19
Wasn't Mosley MP for Harrow after first world war, first as Conservative, then Independent and then (I think) Independent Labour?
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash70panatyahooddotcom
Years_at_school: 1962-9
Date: 04 Oct 2013
Time: 07:05:14
I see in today's Times an obituary for Albert Hunt who attended school in the mid 1930s. Anybody know him?
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 40-7
Date: 04 Oct 2013
Time: 04:54:18
You are foregiven Chris. I was there too when Birch left the scene and have always believed the story Bernard relates. It just does not fit well with the reference in the book I am reading. There was certainly an active group of Oswald Moseley supporters in the Harrow area. All through my time at school the bridge over the railway close to the station carried graffiti in support of Moseley and there were Fascist 'lightening flashes' daubed all over.
Name: Chris Rickwood
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 02 Oct 2013
Time: 07:27:10
My apologies - it is of course Bernard Gillespie not Brian.
Name: Chris Rickwood
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 02 Oct 2013
Time: 07:18:46
Brian Gillespie seemed pretty certain about reason for Birch's detention. He says: My recollections of the 2nd and 3rd form years seem all to be about the activities that a form master was trying to promote. Roland Birch was, as I later learned, a member of the British Union of Fascists and an admirer of the Nazis, but it came as both a shock and a relief when one day he was no longer there - he spent most of the rest of the war in Wormwood Scrubs as a detainee under regulation 18B of the Defence of the Realm Act.
Name: Derek Edwards
Email: dejodelatgmail.com
Years_at_school: 1947-1952
Date: 01 Oct 2013
Time: 00:37:12
It was good to see 'Beefy ' Henderson mentioned and brought back to me memories of when we both played in the first XI. Best Wishes to you 'Beefy'
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 40-7
Date: 30 Sep 2013
Time: 08:00:32
An interest in the role codes played in WW2 prompted me to buy a copy of 'Secret Listeners' which was referred to by a contributor to this page. I was long gone from HCS before Hugh Skillen appeared but it is interesting to learn of his role during the war. Readers of this page might recall reference some time ago to Roland Birch who taught German at school until the early years of the war. According to the late Roy Denman (ex-HCS and author of 'A Mandarin's Tale') Birch was an inspiring teacher. Birch disappeared from our world literally overnight and was reputed to be incarcerated in Wormwood Scrubs prison for his Nazi sympathies. After the war, he is said to have become a priest in the Catholic church. Early in the 'Code Breakers' mention is made to this same prison being used early in the war as a listening post etc for code breakers. Many of the 'listeners' were chosen because they understood German. This poses the question - was Birch incarcerated for his symphathies or was he a patriot interpreting enemy messages?
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colindotdickinsatblueyondeerdotcodotuk
Years_at_school: 1947-1953
Date: 16 Sep 2013
Time: 03:09:16
Well captained, Peter Garwood. If Jimmy "Beefy" Henderson has read Peter Ward's fine tribute to Bruce Langrick he will no doubt recall a match for the OG 2nd XI against Chiswick in the late fifties. He had taken 9 wickets, but the skipper did not think to make such a suggestion. Fielding at silly mid-off I snapped up a catch off the other bowler to dismiss the last batsman, a reaction catch, and spoilt Jimmy's potential tenfer. As he never fails to remind me on the rare occasions we meet, I realised too late what I'd done and immediately turned to him and apologised.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 14 Sep 2013
Time: 14:33:07
Let's talk cricket. Bruce Langrick who graced the 1st XI in the late fifties and early sixties, has died. Presumably, Angus Fraser must be the No. 1 bowler to come out of HCS (or was he later?) Bruce was the bowler who chose to go into agriculture and not pro. cricket.Like a few others. He was by far the best of his generation. I should know as I was one of the other ones. Like my splendid performance vs. St Marylebone GS. 0-31 or thereabouts. Langrick 10 for 10! We were so pleased for him. But there's an odd tale to tell. After captain Peter Garwood took me off he did two things. First, he put on a gifted younger bowler, Al Fine. And when Bruce had got up to about seven wickets, Garwood gathered us together and suggested we worked together to get Bruce his 10. Everyone was up for it. Al Fine could not help but bowl well and contrived a neat caught and bowled. With a smile on his face, he let the ball slip from his fingers and fall to the ground. From that moment, the quest was on and Bruce gained his due reward. It should be appreciated that I do not tell this story against Bruce. It emplifies the measure of the respect in which he was held that the team focussed on getting him past the tape, as it were. I believe, in the same season , Bruce took an 'eight for' and a 'nine for', in the current jargon. His bowling represented immaculate control of line and length, aided by the wearing of a red cravat and silver bracelet to distract the opposing batsman! The old charmer also had the appalling Simpson round his little finger. Bruce was the only person in the school to flout the rules on the wearing of suede shoes - Simpson's great anathema. He actually explained to Simpson (himself no mean cricketer) that his bowling feet suffered so badly that suede was the only material acceptable to permit them to heal between matches. Simpson bought the explanation and no more was said. RIP Bruce. A magnificent cricketer for the school and Old Gayts.
Name: Pete Fowler
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: Forever
Date: 13 Sep 2013
Time: 14:25:53
This is for Paul Ware: yes, that is the way we played that game in '61. Two people per team. Did you have the corners rules we had? Or had they slipped away? And, to anyone before the 60s: did you play this game with two players per side? Or was it a solo operation? We didn't use protractors or whatever, we used combs. But then I was in the Arts streams where protractors were a symbol of an alien culture....
Name: Chris EsmondType your name here
Email: chrisesmondATyahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 29 Aug 2013
Time: 12:59:25
FAO Bernard Gillespie... My friend with the catheter problem thanks you for your input (to coin a phrase) and will bear it in mind. Although he feels at present he ideally needs another solution, if possible, as he still wants to pursue an active lifestyle.
Name: Peter Garwood
Email: peterdotgarwood777atbtinternetdotcom
Years_at_school: 1953-61
Date: 29 Aug 2013
Time: 00:08:43
Have just heard from his son Nick, that Bruce Langrick has died. The funeral will be at the Oxford crematorium on Monday the 9th. of September at 11-30 and afterwards at The Randolph Hotel.
Name: Paul Ware
Email: paulunderscorewareunderscore77401atyahoodotcom
Years_at_school:
Date: 23 Aug 2013
Time: 12:51:35
Michael, regarding shove-ha'penny football, there are some action photos of it being played if you look under Photographs > 1970: Physics Lab C8 1970. I disagree with those who claim a 6" ruler was best--I was always a proponent of the 180 degree plastic protractor.
Name: Chris EsmondType your name here
Email: chrisesmondATyahoo.comWrite word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 19 Aug 2013
Time: 00:35:08
Thanks, Bernard. I've forwarded your message to him and will get back to you.
Name: Bernard Gillespie
Email: bernardgillepieatrogers.com
Years_at_school: 1939-1944
Date: 18 Aug 2013
Time: 13:27:58
Chris, your friend, I assume, has a Foley catheter and a bag strapped to the leg..... is he a candidate for the "Clean, Intermittent self-catheterisation for men " procedure ? no 24 hour a day catheter and no bag. as a good friend of mine once said "Works for me "
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondATyahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 11 Aug 2013
Time: 04:03:59
And now for something completely different... An old friend of mine is having quite severe health problems, leading to having to use a catheter to urinate. Due to high blood pressure they won't operate as there's a danger he might have a heart attack or stroke, apparently. An alternative would be to fit a prostatic stent, which might well be more comfortable than a catheter, allowing greater freedom to move and take light exercise. If anyone has any personal experience of this, or knows someone who has, your feedback would be very much appreciated as he's keen on finding out more facts before committing himself to something completely new.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 08 Aug 2013
Time: 11:16:02
I think Brian Hester may be onto something here. See his previous suggestion about Dagenham Girl Pipers. It ties up with the point made by David Jackson (also previous) re-Jimmy Shand 78s. Of course, the CCF boasted a splendid pipe band led, in my day, by Pipe Sergeant Martin McCluney. Perhaps Simpson played a Scottish medley in the car, to and from HCS, to remind him of home? Och the noo, however spelt, or words to that effect.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 1940-7
Date: 08 Aug 2013
Time: 08:29:40
Could it have been the existence of the very popular Dagenham Girls Pipe Band that persuaded Simpson to buy a car manufactured in that town?
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 08 Aug 2013
Time: 03:46:31
To Peter Vincent. My comment re-Ford UK was written ironically. Are you suggesting the Henry Fords 1, 11, 111, 1V etc were not pure British gentlemen? How many Henry Fords were there? Did they compete with the Georges 1 - V11?
Name: Peter Vincent
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1966-1972
Date: 08 Aug 2013
Time: 00:56:37
Fortunately, the relatively gentle Joe Avery was in command by my time. However, Ford a British institution? Yes, at that time they were being manufactured to British designs in British factories from raw materials (rather than just assembling as now) but hardly British. This was mainly a result of US cars of the time being gas guzzlers and rather too big to fit on our roads or even get into a parking space.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63 (19 not 18)
Date: 07 Aug 2013
Time: 15:40:11
Recent submissions to this illustrious web site possibly go to explain Dr Simpson's choice of vehicular transportation. As I remember, he owned a beige-coloured Ford Sedan coupe ie with a foldback roof. Really a Ford Consul flashed up. If anything, a little unsquare and out of character. He clearly made the decision not to purchase Volvo or Saab. A true patriot, Ford being a thoroughly British foundation. As to 'hobbledehoys' (see very recent)this was indeed a Simpsonian expression of great bile. Alas, it was never addressed personally to me. The worst I got was 'complete waster'. Correct in every degree. Such a pity that the Ford Sedan did not sport Highland colours. Sir Walter Scott would have approved. Is there a Simpson clan? The McSimpsons of McSimpson. Was it they who bore Bonnie Prince Charlie across the sea to safety? There should be a song about it. Any offers?
Name: David Jackson
Email: david at jack-son dot co dot uk
Years_at_school: 58-64 about
Date: 07 Aug 2013
Time: 08:07:47
Don't forget that in the sixties things Swedish had a different connotation to now. Then it was associated with nubile young things, and a free attitude towards lurve and stuff. Now it's flat pack furniture and long queues. Actually the dear Doctor was also influenced by a half term trip to London, made in order to buy some Jimmy Shand 78s to replace those that Mrs S. had unaccountably sat upon. Several times. Having purchased his records from HMV in Oxford Street, he remembered that the gramophone needed some new needles, and decided to cut through Soho, an area he was not familiar with, in order to reach Charing Cross Road. To his horror, upon reaching Old Compton Street, Dr. S. spied an unholy clump of youngsters from Harrow County, also on a day trip to London, and also enroute from HMV, from where they had been ejected having exceded by a mile the number of booth listens of obscure Sue and Stateside 45s allowed by the store. They were now on their happy and noisy way to the 2 I's Coffee Bar to investigate the jukebox there. Luckily the gruesome crowd failed to spot him, engrossed as they were in reading the postcards pinned to the doorways, and wondering why this area had become the modelling centre of London. Not wanting to spoil his day off by remonstrating with them, and seeing that he was outnumbered anyway, the good doctor ducked into a handily placed cinema entrance. Feeling reassured, as his fellow patrons were sensibly attired in long raincoats, he purchased a ticket and sat down to enjoy the film, the title of which he had not noticed during his swift entrance. Not five minutes had passed, when the shell shocked headmaster exited the cinema, the main feature, "Swedish Au Pair Girls Seduction", having barely started. This episode resulted in a lifelong distrust of all things Swedish, an obsession with raincoats, and following his panicked escape via the Soho streets, past the famed Hungarian bistro The Gay Hussar, and the spaghetti emporia of the Italian quarter, things both Hungarian and Italian were added to his catalogue of aversions. And hobbledehoys? Well, that's another story.
Name: Richard Worsfold
Email: rjworsfoldatgmail.com
Years_at_school: 51-59
Date: 06 Aug 2013
Time: 17:18:48
With the greatest respect to the previous correspondents the original expression of the good doctor's was third rate Swedish Tourists and was firs coined in 55 or 56. None of us were quite sure what he meant or to whom he was referring.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16datbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 06 Aug 2013
Time: 16:16:55
Don Reid's reference to Simpson's phrase 'third class Swedish travellers' I had forgotten, but now recall. Why Swedish? Volvo or Saab reps. possibly. Little wrong with that. Square was presumably europhobic (besides being anglophobic ie detesting us.) In our year, we had an interesting dress and hairstyle rebel named Joss Matthews. Matthews was occasionally hauled out in front of the assembly for severe verbal abuse. He was ordered out to stand underneath the clock with the anti-European insult 'You remind me of a Hungarian renegade from Soho smelling of spaghetti.' Two things here. Are the Hungarians famed for eating spaghetti? And do they smell of it? Strikes me Simpson ought to have travelled more. Note also 'third' class travellers. The original railway companies differentiated between First, Second and Third Class passengers. Around my HCS time, the nationalised British Rail got rid of Second so only offered First and Third. A very odd marketing strategem? Today, of course, the railway companies provide First and Standard. Oh, and Standing, of course. As an aside, I travelled to York, recently, with Grandson One on the Gresley A4 Pacific Bittern. We travelled First Class, the only option. Bittern hit 92.5 mph, confirmed by various nerds with woolly hats, stopwatches and calculators. This is a world record for a preserved steam loco. For those who have managed to struggle this far and not dropped off to sleep, the world record remains at 126 mph (Mallard 1938) thus infuriating Hitler's Germany who previously held it at 125 mph. When at York, we saw the Sir Nigel Gresley 60007, of the same class, and this still holds the post-war steam loco record of 112 mph. Three Gresley A4s with their own private records. You can wake up now. Lecture on Doncaster (writer's town of upbringing) designed and built locos, over.
Name: Don Reid
Email: donreidyatbtinternetdotcom
Years_at_school: 60 to 67
Date: 06 Aug 2013
Time: 09:08:23
I have just discovered this site and spend some hours reading the anecdotes. I was in awe of the regime and tried to keep my head down. Academically my education was very good despite the somewhat bizarre rules. I too remember the "shortie coatie" assembly with its "third class Swedish travellers" and that the new coats of choice would preferably be "gaberrrrdeeeeeen". I also remember an apoplectic outburst after there had been a motion passed by the debating society "better red than dead" the previous day. There was also the philosophical observation that "this door is locked whether it is locked or not" response to the fact that someone had dared to enter the inner quad via the door below square's stairs. I had some excellent teaching in science from Dave Thorne, ? Bevan,? McEwan, et al. The options system allowed me to (inadvisedly) drop many subjects and concentrate on maths, physics and chemistry with French and English as being necessary for university entrance. In the sixth form there was something of a rebellion when some of us declined to do "Use of English" which had become necessary for Oxbridge. This group included (Sir) Paul Nurse. Paul and I were in the same form all the way through. He often gave me illegal lifts home on his motorbike and I remember playing cricket with him, Andy Middleton, Peter Sadler and no doubt several others in impromptu games at Northwick Park. I also remember an RAF camp where we did an overnight expedition and Nigel Morley and I getting separated form Paul and another. Nigel had to hobble homeward with an injury picked up on a geography field trip playing "splits" with a knife. I think I had been bullied into the camp having been humiliated by "the colonel" the previous year . I was in his house group, that experiment in vertical pastoral care groups referred to earlier. As a scientist, I apologise for my writing having hesitated to post on this site but as I found previous postings so interesting I thought I ought to make some contribution myself Don Reid
Name: Peter Vincent
Email:
Years_at_school: 1966-1972
Date: 02 Aug 2013
Time: 11:49:08
The only Latin book most of us lesser mortals remember is "The Approach to Eating" in the first form ;-)
Name: Peter Fowler
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 56, 62
Date: 02 Aug 2013
Time: 05:40:45
I missed out on the Bernie Marchant stuff, just read it. Bernie was a quite excellent teacher and could be really supportive (in my time, he doubled up as Careers Master, where he basically tried to force reluctant boys like me that Oxbridge was the only real goal: with me he failed!). But he could be really, really nasty. He definitely had a blowing point, at which moment his face would turn almost purple. His eyes would then, through those austere glasses, penetrate the boy targetted to a degree that induced genuine fear. I remember a class in the huts on the school field, our lesson being in a hut with an old stove used for heating. He came storming in with our homework (this was a 4th Year Greek class) and threw it in the fire, screaming his head off at each of us in turn. A disgrace to the school and all that. But his worst moment with us involved Geoff, Bert Weedon's son. We were in C1, a third floor classroom with its windows facing Sheepcote Road. It was a boiling hot day and we begged Bernie to open the windows, which he did. Then, because of the noise of the traffic, none of us could hear him. Naturally, we exploited this: 'sir we can't hear' followed by 'sir we can't breathe' became the ritual of the whole lesson as he opened and closed the windows in sequence. He then turned purple and we knew he was going to blow: and, quite outrageously, he turned on Geoff and said, 'I would have thought your father with all his wealth could have helped contribute to an air conditioning system for his son's school'. Even at the age of 14 or so, we were simply gob-smacked at the sheer inappropriateness of this remark; and Geoff was visibly shaken. I think Bernie apologised afterwards, I can't remember. Now, over 50 years later, my memories of him are much more appreciative than they then were; and I can balance the sheer professionalism of his approach to the vocation of teaching against the mad moments that lie deep in his character. He was, after all, one of the very best teachers we had in our generation.
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colindotdickinsatblueyondeerdotcodotuk
Years_at_school: 1947-1953
Date: 02 Aug 2013
Time: 03:19:30
That would have ben Kennedy's Shorter Latin Primer, Peter, the green one - nice and slim, but firm. The full Kennedy's was red and would have been heavier to use. Both were wonderful swotting sources; all the irregular verbs, which one learnt by heart, both for their conjugation and for vocabulary. Sixty years on I can still recite the conjugations when I come across one of them. It was self elective learning by rote and confirms my conviction that times tables recited ad nauseam are still best learned that way. [Para] Room 1A. Was that the one over the archway? My Upper VI Arts form was the first to occupy it in 1952-53 after he extensions, started pre-war, were finally finished. In 1951-53 Lower VI Arts was in the lower corridor opposite the "New" Physics Lab.
Name: serial offender
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 02 Aug 2013
Time: 02:04:16
Best (flattest) pitch: Charlie Crinson's desk in A6, as it was new. Gave full pitch with game having 3 per side using half pennies for men and sixpence for ball & 6 inch rulers for propulsion. To make goals definitive, goalposts that could not be moved were 2 inch optical pins from physics lab driven into the desk (existing holes - carefully measured): small rubbers were used for when need for quick breakdown: thow-ins & goal kicks taken with palm of hand offering hardly any control. Punishment was masters detention (20 mins at best) or prefects full detention of 1 hour. Nasty people - played it themselves.
Name: Michael Schwartz
Email: michaelwritesforyouatyahoo.ca
Years_at_school: 1965-1972
Date: 01 Aug 2013
Time: 19:45:23
Shove halfpenny even survived decimalisation. Some of its adherents, however, did not survive Bernie Marchant's denunciation during one match when the damage to the desks "by you or one of your kind" was eloquently if forcefully pointed out. Any subsequent sightings? Michael.
Name: Peter Fowler
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: Forever, apparently
Date: 01 Aug 2013
Time: 14:43:53
I really need to look at this guest book every day! Brian Hester, we, in 1960, did not call the game 'twopenny halfpenny', though it was clearly the same game: the teacher's desk top used as the pitch etc. Peter Ward, fascinating to think you played this game at precisely the same time as us when all of us probably thought we had invented it, and were not aware of others in other rooms playing the same game. And yet, reading the contributions here, it was clearly in the HCS DNA. In our class, we had quite sophisticated procedures (this was Lower Six Arts, 1961, Room A1). First,we definitely had a number of players, even up to four a side: each of these had a halfpenny, this was our player's conventional coin - the 'ball' was a sixpence (maybe this is why we wrongly called it 'shove halfpenny' because, with our combs, that's precisely what we were doing: shoving the halfpenny). So, three halfpennies faced another three halfpennies, with a penny coin used by the goalkeeper (who did next to nothing apart from sit between the goalposts). We had etiquette for corners (won when the sixpence span off one of the opposition coins and landed behind the goallines), in which the attacking side had two shots - one from the corner flag, and a subsequent one from any attacking player. Hence, the defending team tended to crowd on the goal line. Throw ins (won when an opposition player banged the sixpence out of play) were just one shot from the sidelines. Fouls were committed when an attacking player hit an opposition player and missed the sixpence altogether; penalties were awarded when a foul was committed in the 'box'. I must have spent hours playing this game in A1, and its rival, the only real alternative, was table tennis on the same teacher's desks with books used for bats. Kennedy's Latin Primer was perfect as a bat - firm, hard covers, a decent weight and just the right size.
Name: john Mahaffey
Email:
Years_at_school: 1960-1968
Date: 01 Aug 2013
Time: 12:33:39
Further to Mark Lashmar's note of his brother Joh'ns death. John was my brother-in-law, he attended Harrow County in the sixth form having transferred in from Roxeth Manor. John played rugby for the School and rugby and cricket for the old boys. He is survived by his sons Felix and Charlie and by daughter Hollie, his sisters Wendy (my wife), Carol and Mary (who is also married to an Old Gayt's player)all of whom provided rugby teas together with brothers Mark and famously Christopher who have also played for the Gayts.
Name: Mark Lashmar
Email: mark at lashmar.co.uk
Years_at_school: N/A
Date: 01 Aug 2013
Time: 06:44:52
Sad to report the demise of an Old Gaytonian. John Stephen Lashmar Dubai, 02:02:1952 - 31:07:2013.
Name: Keith Palmer
Email: palmerdotkeith57atgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 1968-1975
Date: 31 Jul 2013
Time: 07:49:50
"I doubt if Wayne and his friends play too much tuppenny ha'penny football", remarks Peter Ward. My immediate thought on reading Peter's article was that I doubt Wayne and his friends repair too many broken water pipes either!
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 30 Jul 2013
Time: 05:16:05
Tuppeny ha'penny football played, as correctly reported, with large old pennies and a ha'penny stood, in one sense, for the rewards of footballers of those days. The wages and employment conditions of even great internationals were a scandal. The great Tom Finney having played in on a Saturday a 50s Cup Final for Preston was called out, on the Monday, by his Chairman to fix his domestic broken water pipe. Finney arrived on the doorstep in full plumber's gear. Jimmy Hill, of Fulham, was the driving force to ban the maximium wage and I believe his fellow club player, Johnny Haynes, captain of England, became the first beneficiary. I also recall that, in 1960, Billy Bremner, Leeds and Scotland, hit the 100 pounds a week mark. Compare Wayne Rooney (half the player but twice as fat) at his current 220000 per week. I doubt if Wayne and his friends play too much tuppenny ha'penny football.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 1940-47
Date: 29 Jul 2013
Time: 15:10:47
Thanks for the clarification of the coin game. I see it as a derivative of the ancient a respectable game of shove groat.
Name: Dave Buckley (53-61)
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 29 Jul 2013
Time: 11:34:45
Regarding the size of an old penny - for everyone's information - the diameter is one and three eigths inches, or 30mm in non-English! A half-crown is 1 and a quarter inches or about 34mm.
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colindotdickinsatblueyondeerdotcodotuk
Years_at_school: 1947-1953
Date: 29 Jul 2013
Time: 10:46:23
It might be worth mentioning for the younger - middle-aged, even - followers of the learned discussion of tuppenny ha'penny football that these were pre-decimal coins. The ha'penny was exactly a useful inch in diameter and the penny (twice as heavy, of course) rather larger. I might have measured it once, but I can't remember that it had a useful dimension.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 26 Jul 2013
Time: 10:24:46
(See previous entry) Tupenny-hapenny football was the name of the game in my time. 'Time' as in 'penitentiary'. The game was fiercely contested. Did the winner take all? For example, the opponent's players (coins.) I don't think so, as often these represented the bus fare home. A playground game, played up against a brick pillar, was Table Tennis Ball Cricket. This was possibly the most pathetic activity ever, reflecting on the negativity of Simpson's regime that would not allow proper cricket at Break or Lunch Time. I recall prefects Phil Cook and Ben Lentham being noteworthy exponents. The batsman batted with a twelve inch ruler. Perhaps 5 yards away (note Imperial units pre-1970) the bowler threw (yes, threw) the ball from chest high. It had to bounce on the ground before hitting the bat or wicket (the pillar.) Try it some time, in a high wind, with the grandkids. It's really hard to hit a table tennis ball with a thin ruler. One could be bowled, LBW'd or caught. Running was between the wall and a school bag cast on the ground. Maybe there was the occasional run out. Inevitably, the poor ball often got dented, or even crushed. This made things even harder for the batsman. I suspect scores were generally very low. I don't think we played as teams but only as individual batsmen. Part of the fun was the merry quipping and banter that went with the shots and general excitement. It all sounds a bit sad, really. Current Australian Test players might be advised to transfer to this less recognised form of the great art before their reputations plummet even further. Five - Nil? Could be, but let us not count our chickens before we inwardly smile at their misfortunes.
Name: Bob Blackburn
Email: With Alex Bateman
Years_at_school: 1943 -1949
Date: 26 Jul 2013
Time: 02:10:33
Sorry lads but the game was called tuppenny- happenny football, ie Two penny-half penny football. long before my time at HCS. Pitch was the desk top, two pennies for the players and a half penny for the football although a sixpence was preferred for the ball. A comb or a ruler was used to propel the players around the pitch. In trouble if caught by the masters because it was assumed we were gambling. Kindest regards to all. Bob
Name: Robert Mills (Bob)
Email: robert-mills5atsky.com
Years_at_school: 1947-1952
Date: 25 Jul 2013
Time: 15:34:09
Thomas Duncan Foster and Philip Brian Kershaw, are you both still alive and well? I would love to hear from you if you are.
Name: Peter Fowler
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 56/63
Date: 25 Jul 2013
Time: 08:42:18
Someone here suggested, a few posts ago, that Geoff Woolf possibly converted to Catholicism as a result of Marchantising. I must tell Geoff. Nothing, I assure you, could be more absurd: Geoff, the Marxist in our Midst, would be horrified at the very idea. A sidenote to Stan Rogowski (I haven't looked at this site for a few weeks): Stan, we called that game 'shove halfpenny',though it obviously was not the game played in pubs. As you said (I think) it involved a comb used as a coin flicker, a few coins and a couple of sets of goal posts at either end of the table. Two people played, sometimes four. And, I'm sorry, but I remember you playing that game in A1 with me, David Griffiths and Laurence Samuels.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondatyahoo.comWrite word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 21 Jul 2013
Time: 05:33:28
Re the 'bastards' quote, here's what Albert Finney said in 'Saturday Night and Sunday Morning': "Don't let the bastards grind you down. That's one thing you learn. What I'm out for is a good time. All the rest is propaganda."
Name: Ray Parnell
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1967-1974
Date: 16 Jul 2013
Time: 22:16:59
That fount of all knowledge 'Wikipedia' has it as dating from WW2, albeit that they refer to the mock Latin 'Illegitimi non carborundum' version which, along with 'amo, amas, amat' is probably the extent of my own first form Latin skills nowadays!
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 40-7
Date: 10 Jul 2013
Time: 18:33:18
Thanks for the translation into Latin of the useful phrase. I had not heard previously of the comedian you refer to as using the English version but it was certainly not his invention. I recall receiving comforting advice in the form of the phrase in 1962 from an octogenarian Australian gold miner who had lost a leg during the Klondike gold rush. His intent was to help me at a time when I was experiencing difficulties with my employer. I doubt the expression was invented by my mentor. Does anyone know of an earlier use?
Name: Type your Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondatyahoo.comWrite word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 10 Jul 2013
Time: 15:00:26
Forgot my name again at that last post. Too busy dancing - I mean, writing.
Name: Type your name here
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school:
Date: 10 Jul 2013
Time: 14:58:54
Hello Colin, well, I enjoyed his crazy antics, he was clearly deliberately exaggerating his 'mad' persona, to the point where the 'totality' of his performance was simply too much for me to resist! As you say, a parody of himself indeed (or his persona - surely he can't be like that away from the 'stage', can he?), but simply so utterly, absurdly overbearing I just found myself laughing a lot, despite my 'normal' dislike for the guy. There's something powerfully, magnetically attractive about a person being 'total', obviously seen in the likes of musicians, dancers, singers, athletes - and children, of course. Mick Jagger, for instance, even approaching 70! And Hitler would be another example... It helps if the person has talent of course... Yet even if one has little or no such ability, hopefully, even as we age, it's possible to at least simply dance freely for a few minutes or longer, to keep alive that feeling of 'totality'. I've done a lot of that in my time and it's been very therapeutic.
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colindotdickinsatblueyonderdotcodotuk
Years_at_school: 1947-53
Date: 10 Jul 2013
Time: 13:37:53
I saw the Have I got News for You edition with Brian Blessed in it, Chris, and I thought he was absolutely ghastly. Stole the show - to its detriment and his self-destruction. He has become a parody of himself. What ever became of Fancy Smith?
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondATyahoo.comWrite word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 10 Jul 2013
Time: 09:45:26
The actor whose name I forgot is Brian Blessed. Didn't like him really until he chaired a fairly recent edition of 'Have I got News for You?', where he was fairly outrageous and basically 'stole the show', as they say. Reminds me of someone else...Can't quite recall his name though....
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondATyahoo.comWrite word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 10 Jul 2013
Time: 05:07:15
Sorry, didn't sign the last post!
Name: Type your name here
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school:
Date: 10 Jul 2013
Time: 05:06:11
Noli nothis permittere te terere! Thanks again, Bernie!
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondATyahoo.comWrite word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 10 Jul 2013
Time: 04:48:50
I was never taught by Bernie but from the contact I did have with him he came across as a pretty circumspect type of chap, someone who wouldn't care to 'take undue risks' in the normal course of things. So I imagine he would have chosen any 'targets for conversion' pretty carefully. Yet, as I've already indicated, there was also something about him that wasn't quite as 'balanced', not quite in such a state of equilibrium as he would have liked or liked to present to the world. How profoundly ironic then, that he should have chosen a route so demanding of a fine sense of balance, both inner and outer, to make his 'bid for freedom' (as it were)! I find I have a rather complex response to this: Admiration amounting to awe at such daring, such determination, perhaps even a certain empathy to some extent - yet combined with a sense of pathos, of the almost tragic absurdity of a man in his position struggling to assert a fleeting moment of what - a sort of 'freedom', 'transcendence' of petty rules keeping him and everyone else 'earthbound' as it were? I recall the catchphrase of a famously overbearing (and overweight) actor (whose name escapes me): "Don't let the bastards get you down!" Although he might not have framed it in the same fashion, in this ultimately small, yet extraordinarily vivid way, Bernie Marchant, on that tightrope, made a similar plea, a similar stand. At least, that's how I see it.
Name: Michael Schwartz
Email:
Years_at_school: 1965-1972
Date: 09 Jul 2013
Time: 13:10:47
Surprised at all this speculation about Bernie Marchant's possible conversions. He taught me Classics for two years to A Level and never once discussed religion outside the classical deities.
Name: Chris R
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 09 Jul 2013
Time: 11:13:21
I think Twinkletoes had, at that time, not yet morphed into the connotation it has today.
Name: Brian Goldfarb
Email: goldfarb.ashkernazyatbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 55-60
Date: 08 Jul 2013
Time: 16:52:51
I would not have mentioned Mr Marchant's kindness if I had known it might lead to sinister suggestions on your mail box. He always acted appropriately and his motives were above board. I would wish to make this clear. My Jewish counterparts would corroborate this, I have no doubt. Trawling back through the years, I recently spotted that Harry Levine had contributed. I remember Harry as a very good playground footballer and Spurs supporter. If he sees this, would he care to comment? I do not know if Mr Marchant singled out particular boys for conversion or whether he offered the service to all those of the Jewish faith. Maybe he was taking a risk. He once mentioned that it was bit like walking a tight rope and hoped his religious activity would not come across the Headmaster's desk. Dr Simpson would have been unforgiving despite his Christian upbringing. Maybe he was atheist and conducted the religious part of school assemblies out of duty.? Not being present, I am not properly qualified to comment.
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash70panatyahoodotcom
Years_at_school: 1962-9
Date: 08 Jul 2013
Time: 11:35:55
I find the recent postings about Bernie Marchant utterly fascinating. I was (and am) a Roman Catholic and in my day our informal service was conducted by him and interestingly, by Jock Lafferty. Bernie taught me Latin at A level. I was not a diligent student but for some reason he favoured me throughout my years at school. I always assumed that he was a convert to Catholicism and certainly his attitudes to the faith were quite different to my own, coming as I do from an Irish background. Those of his background would feel compelled to seek converts particularly from those of the Jewish faith. I know that some Jewish boys of my time felt uncomfortable with him because of that intensity, but I really do not want to say more on that topic. Nihil nisi bonum.
Name: Type your name here
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school:
Date: 08 Jul 2013
Time: 08:51:54
What's even more disturbing, Chris - and certainly would be for BM! - is your persistent use of the wretched "off of". Did you learn nothing in your years at HCS?
Name: Chris
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 08 Jul 2013
Time: 08:29:36
There was indeed a little room off of the old Gym. It had a stove and sink and was about 2 meteres square. Off of that was another room containing a toilet. The idea of BM (or any other master) taking boys into that room to "hear confession" is rather disturbing as is the giving of wine to boys. It would be really illuminating to hear from those RCs who left assembly each morning with BM.
Name: Bill Peter
Email: bncpeteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 1960-67
Date: 07 Jul 2013
Time: 20:36:17
Just one memory of "Teacher Hambley". Didn't he wear a huge hat to protect himself from something or other?
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondatyahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 07 Jul 2013
Time: 11:55:12
That's true, Chris. Why not ask Michael Portillo, who also happens to be a great admirer of Bernie Marchant, describing him in glowing terms in an obituary at this site? (He also happens to have been a near neighbour of mine while growing up, our mothers being on friendly terms, although that's of no consequence of course, especially as I never spoke to him, being of a different HCS generation).
Name: Chris
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 07 Jul 2013
Time: 10:20:52
I seem to recall that both Portillo boys were RC. Either one would be a reliable source
Name: Chris Rickwood
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 07 Jul 2013
Time: 05:17:50
I think we can exclude any possibility of Bernie Marchant ever having taken Holy Orders of any kind as his career from University onwards was pretty well documented. I'm also intrigued about converts - presumably that would have to have been done through a local RC Church for baptism, first communion etc and not done directly by BM
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 06 Jul 2013
Time: 17:11:57
I go along with Chris Rickwood. Total confusion. But there's no smoke without fire. Was Bernie Marchant, a teacher of Classics in my day, a de-frocked priest? I have only loose connections with the Catholic Church and therefore do not know the ins and outs of their ways and regulations. Having been an avid reader of Graham Greene whilst at HCS I seem to remember that in 'A Burned Out Case' the whisky priest was able to offer the eucharist to peasants deprived of direct contact with their church. But I don't remember if he had actually been de-frocked or not. It seems to me that we need more authoritative comment direct from an authentic Catholic source. There's little point in playing at guesswork. The school has produced many distinguished people in differing walks of life. Do we know of a top Catholic? A bishop, perhaps? Sadly,I suppose any such individuals of our day may now be retired, or passed on. It would be of interest to get an official view.
Name: Chris Rickwood
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 06 Jul 2013
Time: 16:11:12
This Bernie Marchant stuff is confusing me. I find it almost unbelievable that he would risk his career (as well as his neck) with the tightrope stunt - but I don't doubt the word of those who seem to confirm it. But I'm certain that he most certainly could not and should not have heard confession nor could he consecrate the Eucharist and administer communion. This really is odd - unless one of our RC Old Gayts can correct me
Name: Brian Goldfarb
Email: golfarb.ashkernazyatbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1955 - 1960
Date: 06 Jul 2013
Time: 15:07:37
Sorry Chris Esmond. Maybe I misunderstood but Mr Marchant was in the habit of handing out wine to certain boys, mostly the Jewish converts. Perhaps I assumed he was conducting Holy Communion. I would not wish to make any claims that falsify the image of Mr Marchant so I withdraw my previous comment. It is a long time ago and my Care Home in Tel Aviv is a long way from Gayton Road. Please do not think he was weird in any way. I am certainly not saying that. Are there any Catholic boys of around that time who might illuminate what went on in Mr Marchant's services? I know he did not use incense.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondatyahoo.comWrite word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 06 Jul 2013
Time: 13:39:55
So if Bernie did indeed take confession then all those who confessed to him might perhaps be on their way to Hell by now? And what about him - where would he be? I neither believe it, nor wish to believe it.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondatyahoo.comWrite word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 06 Jul 2013
Time: 12:39:35
According to Wikipedia, confession ('reconciliation') may only be taken by a bishop or priest and is "invalid if done by a layperson or by a priest without faculties (which the law provides for any priest absolving someone who is in danger of death)". I await your response then, Brian.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondatyahoo.comWrite word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 06 Jul 2013
Time: 11:44:12
Bernie Marchant "heard confession"?!! You gotta be joking?!!
Name: Brian Goldfarb
Email: goldfarb.ashkernazyatbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1955 - 1960
Date: 06 Jul 2013
Time: 11:16:02
A friend got in touch here in Tel Aviv. I have not really thought too much about HCS since leaving. As a Jewish boy I was given a bit of a hard time. But it was nothing like Nazi Germany. In my last year I converted to Roman Catholicism more out of defence than anything else. It was a teacher called Marchant who took me aside and suggested it. I was called a turncoat by a few of my Jewish brethren but most took it well in the circumstances. Mr Marchant heard confession in a little room off the Old Hall. I expect it is still there. There was a gas stove in it and a sink maybe for hospitality purposes before the school built its new hall. The Old Hall was also used as a second venue for PE and had benches and wallbars. The Catholics used the benches for Holy Communion. Unfortunately I have not continued in my second faith although have not reverted to Judaism. But I would wish to place on record my appreciation of Mr Marchant's personal kindness to me. I was not his only convert. There were two or three others. Geoff Wolf and Lenny Stanton, possibly The communion wine was stored in the gas stove. It may seem a bit underhand but I always suppose it was necessary to keep things from Dr Simpson. I had little time for him as he seemed to be a vengeful sort of Christian. Anyone in 4B 1959 and 5(1) 1960 I say hello and good wishes.
Name: Stan Rogowski
Email: stanrogowski23atgmail.com
Years_at_school: 1956-63
Date: 06 Jul 2013
Time: 09:01:50
Wow.What with these Julie revelations we seem to be heading towards serialisation in The Mail on Sunday.Hope they accept as they were photographs.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondatyahoo.comWrite word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 06 Jul 2013
Time: 08:59:42
Julie, thanks so much for writing here and please convey my thanks to Malcolm Bingley (whose name I don't recall, but perhaps he was of a later or even an earlier school generation?). Could you possibly ask Malcolm to get in touch with me, please (at email address you'll see here) ? Thanks again.
Name: Type your name here
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school:
Date: 06 Jul 2013
Time: 08:49:25
OK, Peter, as I said I can easily understand any scepticism, I was that way inclined as well. Well, let's hope some ex-cricketers of '66 vintage turn up here - better still, of course,any of Bernie's secret band of tightrope walk helpers. By the way, does anyone know whether his wife is still alive? He certainly was married and I recall him famously declaring that it was "for social rather than sexual reasons"! Quite an extraordinary thing to say to adolescents and something we had a good laugh about - behind his back of course - at the time. Resonating with 'Catholic guilt', the conditioned repression of a 'respectable' man from a certain time and background. After all, as has been noted at this blog already, he was much younger than he looked, and there was considerable energy in that rather large frame... Which brings me back to that overwhelming need he felt to somehow 'let go'....
Name: Jukie Archer
Email: julie34atgmail.com
Years_at_school: none but living
Date: 06 Jul 2013
Time: 03:11:58
malcy has been in touch again, he says on your web site my father vick is reffered to as stan. i should know vick wasdefinitely my dad but uncle stan his twin osme times come round to the school to deputise for my dad at weekends and holiday relief.i expect this is the confussion. uncle stan was always very kind and took me and my brother swimming in the pool. he had the key to the pool shop and we used to get free iceceam and wagonweels. i always wanted to marry a harrow county boy but it never worked out.he was a bit of a roge but ok.thankyou.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 06 Jul 2013
Time: 02:52:53
Whoops! See previous. I missed out the word 'cricketers' but feel confident readers will insert it in the appropriate place.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.wardat16btinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 06 Jul 2013
Time: 02:50:27
Chris Esmond, after all these years, I apologise. Unlike you, I was not present in the changing room when Bernie revealed his great secret. So I must bow to your authority. We must get the old (I use the term with some accuracy) together. To the rest of the Bernie Marchant fans - ought we begin to think of forming an Appreciation Society?
Name:
Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondatyahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 05 Jul 2013
Time: 18:00:18
But I wonder whether Bernie was ever able to integrate that adventurous, 'rebellious' (one might say) side of his nature into his 'normal' personality, or whether, following either or both the tightrope and dressing room episodes, it sort of 'took a back seat' in his psyche, overcome by the previous decades of social conditioning and 'adjustment' into presenting and even becoming what he deemed an 'acceptable' persona (however ultimately absurd, in many ways, that was). Unfortunately, I suspect the latter took precedence and that he might never have attempted to 'break out', to 'spread his wings' again. If so, I find that rather desperately sad, as he was potentially far more 'alive', more 'real' even, than he allowed himself to appear, or to be. I know, I witnessed that about him.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondATyahoo.comWrite word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 05 Jul 2013
Time: 17:41:02
I can understand people being a little sceptical, I certainly was myself - until summoning the nerve (and it took some, believe me) to ask the man himself. But if you were there, in that changing room, that summer Saturday evening, early July '66 (World Cup very much in the air, I recall), and witnessed Bernie's somewhat stumbling yet heartfelt response, you'd know neither I nor he was kidding. It just had that unmistakable 'ring of truth'. It was enough for me to see him in a completely different light, those moments cementing him in my memory as not only a desperately shy, socially awkward, deeply conventional man, covering up his unease with an assumed aloof and occasionally rather fierce 'front', but also, most astonishingly, as even something of an 'unconventional iconoclast'! At the very least, a bloody good bloke. But don't take my word for it, those who were there at the tightrope escapade and my fellow cricket team mates will confirm it all.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 05 Jul 2013
Time: 14:38:09
What with writing books for children and singing in two choirs in Tunbridge Wells, I do actually have better things to do than glue myself to this blog. But have to confess the Bernie Marchant revelations are riveting. Or are they? I truly don't know what to make of them. Recalling Chris Esmond at school as a decent sort of guy and promising left-hand opening bat, I have difficulty in accepting his very full account of Bernie M's alleged high wire achievement in the Inner Quad. But maybe, as some have suggested, it was all a Bernie jape. After all, he was very funny so maybe he's looking down and having the last laugh. Who knows? I just about remember the caretaker and confirm Dave Buckley's piece that the man's name was Stan Archer. If we are correct - except it's an awful long time - then what are we to make of his (alleged) daughter's contribution? Julie clearly refers to him as Vick. Was this a familiar name used only by those closest to him? Finally, my only contribution to the debate hardly counts for anything but I do remember Bernie M was occasionally referred to as Twinkletoes. I always put this down to his funny way of scurrying off the stage from Assembly to conduct the Catholic service. An earlier correspondent suggests BM's arial feat was a protest about there being insufficient wine. Does this mean that Bernie performed the Mass on school premises and behind Simpson's presumably Protestant back? Like I said, this is all good reading and has enlivened an erstwhile dull blog but, whatever the outcome, the name of Bernie Marchant must now be approaching legendary status. In his modest way, BM would have borne the burden with dignity and perhaps a quiet smile before blushing.
Name: julie archer
Email: julie34atgmail.com
Years_at_school: none as pupil
Date: 05 Jul 2013
Time: 13:01:38
My friend jill married malcolm bingley who was at your school. jill died last year butmalcy got in touch and said to look at your site because my dad was vick archer who was caretaker at the harrow county school for boys for fifteen years. Me my mum and my brother lived above the perooms and had this balcony. I remember my dad vick said something about doing a tight rope walk with a teacher but I don't know his name. hegot given four bottles of bass for doing it. thank you. julie
Name: Type your name here
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school:
Date: 05 Jul 2013
Time: 10:41:44
That's an interesting point, Dave. I can't actually recall anything about the caretaker(s) during my time at HCS, even the names you have given don't ring a bell in the memory. I wonder though, whether Bernie & co. might have sort of 'made it worthwhile' for whoever was the caretaker to 'turn a blind eye'. After all, it would seem that no way would he have wanted this utterly outrageous scheme to have been thwarted. He was no pushover, Bernie Marchant, a quietly determined chap, - except, of course, as Michael Schwartz has noted, when he allowed himself to explode in mirth!
Name: Dave Buckley (53-61)
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school:
Date: 05 Jul 2013
Time: 07:18:44
Chris Esmond's recent post about Bernie Marchant walking a tightrope makes very interesting reading. However, what I find even more interesting is the comment that it was done with the school caretaker in the know. When I left in 1961, the caretaker was Stan Archer, and from what I remember of him, I doubt if he would have agreed to such an event taking place. However, could the caretaker by then have been Mr.Cook? Can anyone remember when he took over from Stan Archer? Also, I doubt if the safety net was supplied by the OG Dramatic Society - more likely the Naval Section (Scrambling net say?)
Name: Michael Schwartz
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school:
1965-72
Date: 04 Jul 2013
Time: 19:30:02
Peter Ward writes, "I cruelly bowled him with a 'Yorker' first ball in the Staff Match 1963." This was reported to 4th form Latin set in 1969 by Kenneth Waller: "I remember the time Mr Marchant went out to bat and was out first ball." The tightrope incident I find hard to believe and I think it was part of a wicked sense of humour. That Bernard's frame shook vigorously, that his face went bright red and that the volume and tone of his laughter would have outdone the orang-utang cage at London Zoo is not in doubt.
Name: Chris Rickwood
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 04 Jul 2013
Time: 09:52:27
I don't for one moment doubt Chris Esmond's truthfulness but I wonder if any eye witness has ever come forward. To do this in the school, on a weekend, with the compliance of the caretaker and at least enough boys to deply a safety net of sorts is incredible.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 04 Jul 2013
Time: 07:07:35
Stunned by Chris Esmond's revelation on the great Bernie Marchant. I had raised this 'rumour' earlier on the blog, hardly expecting it to be confirmed. So sad that Bernie M died before we could ask him about the extraordinary feat. Looking back, as a cricketer, I only ever thought of him as the 'one-legged umpire' as this was his habit. It never crossed my mind, whilst fielding at cover point, that Bernie was in serious training. He once accused me of ungentlemanly conduct when I niftily ran out the captain of Purley Grammar School who was 'gardening' in the middle of the wicket. It was the only time we ever crossed swords as I liked him and was appreciative of his big contribution to the cricket - himself no cricketer. I cruelly bowled him with a 'Yorker' first ball in the Staff Match 1963. He was wearing black plimsoles. I have never been very happy about this but now hang my head in shame. What a hero!
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmond AT yahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 03 Jul 2013
Time: 21:48:31
This Bernie Marchant story is one of the most extraordinary anecdotes of my time at HCS, unbelievable really, unless I'd heard it confirmed, not only by perfectly reliable witnesses, but also by Bernie himself, during the summer term of my final year. Several years before, maybe '62 or '63, I recall hearing rumours that he had let slip to a couple of his A level Greek students that at Cambridge he'd once managed to climb up a drainpipe in the early hours of the morning and so get access to his college room, following a night of rather heavy drinking celebrating a college cricket victory. It was, he'd apparently said, the first and last time he'd ever done such a thing, but he hadn't regretted it, in fact he'd at times wished he could have 'spread his wings' a bit more in his younger days but he'd always tended to feel too inhibited, even after alcohol. I and a few others I knew who'd heard about this weren't in the slightest surprised to hear that, it fitted our impression of him to a tee: as Peter Ward has said here, he always seemed very "locked-in", uptight, 'serious', yet away from the classroom, at cricket matches, for example, there was at times more of a sense of a genuinely humoruous man in there, just itching to get out and enjoy camaraderie with us players, yet unfortunately never really managing to. Looking back, I feel rather sad about that somehow, he was, I reckon, a victim of his 'conditioning'.
Anyway, to get to the point: One day, I heard from a good friend of mine - in total confidence as he'd been sworn to secrecy by one of those involved - that over the previous weekend Bernie had actually, quite unbelievably - and I still can't get my head around this - with the help of several boys and another member of staff, and with the school caretaker 'in the know', set up a tightrope at the far end of the Inner Quad, quite a way above the ground, but not too long, just a few yards, and proceeded to walk along it, unaided, from one end to the other! A stunt he'd been practising for, at home in his back garden, for a couple of years, as a way of, well, 'spreading his wings', I suppose... No wonder he went, I was told, into an uncontrollable fit of giggling, almost losing his breath, when he reached the other side, gasping, " Don't tell the Head, whatever you do!" OK, it wasn't deadly dangerous, as a safety net had been provided, possibly by a CCF, Scouts or even Drama Society source. All the same - can you imagine the scene, or anything more ludicrously outrageous?! Apparently, it had also been filmed, although that might well be open to question as it's never materialised since, as far as I know, unless Bernie decided to keep it all under wraps, fearing the 'consequences' as he might well have done afterwards, being the sort of person he usually was. What a terrible, dreadful, appalling shame! He'd have enjoyed instant 'school hero' status, immediately elevated to those dizzy heights (if you'll pardon the phrase), having once and for all 'blown his image', shown unusual daring and a totally unexpected rebellious spirit, and thus earned our appreciation and respect of a more admiring kind than he'd usually commanded. But I never really knew what to believe, despite my informant's total trust in his source. I mean, it was third-hand information, 'Chinese whispers' and surely far too ludicrous a tale to take seriously, Especially as the man concerned betrayed no visible signs of ever having been recently involved in anything 'untoward'.
Until a year or two later, summer '66, my last year, when, playing for the school cricket team in matches umpired by Bernie (for which I'm still grateful to him and all similarly dedicated teachers, who played their part in enriching our lives by volunteering out-of-hours) from my vantage point in the field, at cover point, I began to notice something rather odd about him: When umpiring at square leg (at right angles to the pitch) he would often stand for a whole over (6 balls from the bowler) on one leg! Not switching from one to the other, just on the one leg. Then next time at square leg, he might be on the other one...For a somewhat large, slightly overweight and occasionally clumsy looking man this was no mean feat (if you'll pardon the pun!). And sometimes, even while standing at the bowler's end, he'd do likewise, but usually just for a ball or two, not the whole six. This was so utterly unexpected, absurd even, Bernie Marchant standing like a flaming pelican or something, that I couldn't keep it to myself. Others had also noticed and much sniggering ensued. What the hell was going on with this extremely held-in beacon of habitually conventional behaviour? And how could he manage to stand on just one leg for minutes on end? And why? I wasn't in the habit of talking informally with him - none of us were, he wasn't the type to invite that degree of familiarity - but I decided to ask him after the match, in the dressing-room where he would come and attempt to be part of the after-game banter (usually not too successfully as he seemed in conflict between his 'responsible adult' role and his wish to be, even fleetingly, 'one of the lads' - poor chap, I do feel for him, I really do). So I did, in front of the whole team, while we were getting changed. His reply stunned us all: "I'm keeping myself fit for the, er, 'tightrope', Esmond. I'm not just a cricket umpire and Classics master, in case you and others might not know" (at which point he began to snort and giggle in familiar fashion when amused, releasing at least some of that large amount of accumulated tension he seemed to always be carrying in the very cells of his body). What? Bernie telling me and the whole team he was a tightrope walker? You couldn't make it up! So it was true, after all?! I couldn't stop myself, I had to know, finally, this was probably my only chance to know. Throwing caution to the wind, not caring about confidentiality agreements, I heard myself asking: "Sir, is it true that you once walked on a tightrope in the Inner Quad one weekend?" The rest of the team began to titter, one or two laughed quite loudly... Bernie stopped giggling and said, rather fiercely: "Who told you that?" "I just heard it a few years ago, sir". Silence for a moment, followed by more snorts, more giggles, then, as if releasing the burden of half a lifetime he said yes, it was "indeed the case", that in fact he'd been secretly training for that 'event' for the previous two years, receiving private tuition from a former gymnast and circus performer until he felt confident enough to do it. He described being motivated by a tremendously strong drive for doing at least something 'improbus' (Latin for 'outrageous') in his responsible adult life. And if that made him 'eccentricus' (he used the Latin word) then "so be it!" We were transfixed, astonished at what we were hearing from this normally rather uncommunicative man, normally so 'uneasy-in-his-own-skin', but for a few moments transformed into a hapily less inhibited, more alive, inspiring, almost 'rebellious' figure When he finished speaking there was a moment's silence before we all burst into a spontaneous round of applause, genuine appreciation for this formerly rather aloof character who had trusted us enough to reveal something of the reality behind that habitual mask. And who was now clearly moved by our response, flushing deeply (as usual), but looking somehow years younger... A great moment, one I'd forgotten in the unremitting busy-ness of the days and years, but which I'm glad to have pieced together at this late stage. PS: Many years later, working in Brunei, S.E. Asia, I went to a travelling circus and met some of the performers afterwards, which was a total privilege. One of them, a brilliant female high-wire acrobat said that she'd learned her trade from childhood and so it had come naturally, it seemed 'no big deal' to her. Whereas, she added, someone who takes it up in later life deserves huge credit. Today, I remembered that while recalling this episode about Bernie.
RIP Bernie Marchant. Thanks for the inspiration!
Name: Stan Rogowski
Email: stanrogowskiatgmail.com
Years_at_school: 1956-63
Date: 03 Jul 2013
Time: 11:25:16
Hello Peter Fowler.I remember you as well.We both started off in 1D.Memories are strange things.I never played table tennis or shove halfpenny in A1.We played a kind of subetteo.Two players,a piece of chalk,combs,a couple of pennies and a sixpence.But this is just nit picking.Who cares.Its nice to kmow you are still alive after 50 years.Did you ever continue the Arthur Murray dancing lessons in Harrow High Street.I did'nt.Would you know what happened to Martin Scott from 1D who also formed a pop group.Fancied himself as a Laurence Harvey type.Cigarettes,booze,and women.Regards.
Name: Stan Rogowski
Email: stanrogowski23atgmail.com
Years_at_school: 1956-63
Date: 03 Jul 2013
Time: 09:53:31
John Holmes-its true.I think Bernie Marchent did it to protest against the lack of bread and wine at the Catholic morning assemblies. Well,not such much the bread.
Name: Chris Esmond
Email: chrisesmondATyahoo.com
Years_at_school: 59-66
Date: 02 Jul 2013
Time: 21:28:55
Well, I do recall that Bernie Marchant story, although it was long forgotten until returning here after a long absence the other day. Will write about it later on today.
Name: Chris Rickwood
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 02 Jul 2013
Time: 06:13:38
I think there was more than one barge incident. I seem to recall three from Probation 6 Modern were involved in the other incident
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 01 Jul 2013
Time: 17:13:52
Very interested to see Chris Rickwood's comments, previously. I was responsible for raising the issue, on the blog, of Spargo's barge being cut loose on the Grand Union Canal, sort of in the Ruislip area. But I have since been corrected by Peter Woollard and Mike Regan who were on the raid. I should have been present but went down with flu the night before so missed a week end Scouts' 'Night Game'. Woollard and Regan were on this and tell me they threw stones at the barge, thus arousing the wrath of the ancient Spargo. He spotted them through binoculars which was why they got into furious trouble the following Monday. All teaching of the Fifth Year was suspended until miscreants of this and various other crimes were admitted. Apparently, they did not cast off the narrow boat. Of course, a concurrent crime at that time was the gradual removal of 200 spoons from the dining hall and how bunches of these appeared on Simpson's car as he drove out of the school after a memorial service to the previous Head, Randall Williams. This incident took place the day after the Spargo's barge catastrophe. Quite a week end. One other item Chris Rickwood raises is to do with flour in George Thorn's organ pipes. Again, I raised this on the blog, a few years ago, asking for confirmation. None came. I only heard it as a rumour and that it took place two years before I joined the school. The story goes that as Thorn thundered away at the organ a spume of flour descended on the boys below. Sadly, I was not a witness. Is there anybody out there who can confirm? I'm pretty certain it is a true story and if so, deserves the highest place of the many japes that were exacted upon the major players in Simpsonian Regime. Please could Chris enlarge on the lowering of Yogi Bear upon the stage? This would have been just after my time. More please.
Name: Ian Gawn
Email: ian.gawnatorange.fr
Years_at_school: 1955-62
Date: 01 Jul 2013
Time: 07:11:51
Watching Wimbledon tennis I came to wonder if anyone knows what became of Guy Wannop - my (dim) memory is that he played at Junior Wimbledon, but wondered if he enjoyed tennis success as an adult. Incidentally, on a different topic, some will remember me as an aviation fanatic - well I am still at it, and after a gap of 45 years I am gliding again - now solo, and working for my bronze badge. Regards to all Ian
Name: Chris Rickwood
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 01 Jul 2013
Time: 06:27:04
Oooops should have said Yogi Bear on Speech Day
Name: Chris Rickwood
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 01 Jul 2013
Time: 06:26:24
John, Never heard of that Bernie Marchant story but otheres I know to be true: Spargo's Houseboat cut loose in "commando raid" True Flour in Organ Pipes - True Inflatable Yogi Bear descending on stage on Sports Day True Hovercaraft hit by gunfire from Cadets - True
Name: John Holmes
Email: jpgholmesatgmail.com
Years_at_school: 1956-1961
Date: 01 Jul 2013
Time: 03:56:50
I never know what to believe when I read stuff on this site. Stan Rogowski hits the mark. For instance, is there even a grain of truth in the story that Bernie Marchant once balanced on a high wire across the inner quad? It is rumoured but I have my doubts.
Name: Michael Schwartz
Email:
Years_at_school: Joe Avery's first seven
Date: 29 Jun 2013
Time: 14:38:09
Pete - is the audition why Tony Hatch and Jackie Trent emigrated to Australia? I hope that Tony Jackson of the Searchers never found out who knocked over the drum kit. He did time for threatening a woman with an air-gun over a dispute as to who had the right to use a public phone box. The said Mr Jackson also announced at a concert that The Searchers had overtaken the Beatles in the charts. Someone called out "Flash Bastards" and that same someone was decked by Mr Jackson who bounded off the stage. Taught by Messrs Groombridge and Lane, maybe?
Name: Pete Fowler
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 56 62
Date: 29 Jun 2013
Time: 14:27:18
Well, Stan, how could you? Memories are strange things, and sometimes I remember things with a crystal clarity from school days and yet barely remember something significant from ten years ago. For example, I remember you absolutely - you were one of those who dropped into the A1 classroom that we inhabited in Lower Six Arts; and you played either the table tennis that went on in that room, or the shove halfpenny: it was one or the other. Have you forgotten that? And I'm sorry, Stan, but I can't see a word of make-believe in what I wrote on the Keith incident, though I'm amazed you can't remember him. Sure, it took me a good ten years to realise that the rock group in which I played was actually rather ridiculous (the Harrow Observer, reviewing one of the school concerts, referred to us as a 'local group who will stay that way'); but I sure as hell remember the incidents of which I wrote. No fantasy there whatsoever; just an awful truth. It's Keith's funeral on Wednesday and I'll certainly be referring to it....
Name: Stan Rogowski
Email: stanrogowski23atgmail.com
Years_at_school: 1956-63
Date: 29 Jun 2013
Time: 02:13:58
Please ignore my previous comment.Extremely drunk at the time
Name: stan rogowski
Email: stanrogowski23atgmail.com
Years_at_school: 1956-63
Date: 28 Jun 2013
Time: 13:26:29
Write Never heard of Keith Christie. Lot of E-Mails here are make-believe.Are you making this up Peter Fowler.
Name: Pete Fowler
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 56 62
Date: 25 Jun 2013
Time: 05:01:09
I was very close to Keith in the years immediately after school, even sharing a quite insane flat with him and a couple of others in Kilburn, 1970 or so. But my most celebrated memory of him wasn't at school, it was at the Pye Recording Studios in central London. Our joke of a school band, The Soul Brothers, somehow managed to get an audition with Tony Hatch in about 1964. We didn't need to rehearse, as you can imagine, because we had 'soul' and this trumped any need to be tight and organised; and we didn't see any problem, either, in asking some of our mates along. Because the session was delayed by a couple of hours, we, fatally, decided to drop into the nearest pub where Keith, for one, had a skinful. We were eventually ushered into this very posh studio (after all, lots of hit records were made there), with Hatch clearly visible behind a glass screen controlling the mixing desk. Keith, on seeing him, said, in that loud but rather cultured voice, 'who's the guy with the fat arse over there?' He then, on realising that his voice could be clearly heard, turned round to apologise to us, but, because of the drink in him, turned round far too quickly. He could not stop himself falling over and knocking over the entire drum kit of The Searchers, who were in that studio after us. After about three numbers, Hatch called me and Geoff Weedon, the leaders of this motley crew, into his office and told us that he had never wasted so much time in his life. Looking back, Keith did us a favour that day: it broke the dream, a dream that needed to be shattered. But I can't say I thanked him on that day. In fact, I think I might have punched him.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58 - 63
Date: 24 Jun 2013
Time: 17:47:33
Peter Woollard uses the word 'feisty' about Keith Christie. He's right. Christie was an individual we didn't know well who had a wonderful habit of getting across authority. I seem to remember he regularly took on masters with attempted logical argument on the rights and wrongs of particular issues. It got him nowhere, of course. But he was never rude, bravely sticking to his guns, prior to the inevitable slippering. I also recall he was one of the sloppiest naval cadets of all time and punished, on Fridays, for forgetting to wear his uniform, or bits of it. And did he suffer a problem about wearing his school cap? If worn at all (not to do so was a punishable offence) Christie perched his very crumpled head ware at crazy angles, attracting attention and generating automatic 'one hundred lines' from zealous prefects keen to be recognised by the regime. His death caused me to ponder that perhaps a good number of our compatriots were rather dull and conventional. Christie stood out as a refreshing one-off. Does anyone remember doing prefects' lines with five pens held in the hand at the same time? This took a lot of skill as each pen had to operate at exactly a single line's distance from the next. If successful and undetected, it cut down the workload enormously. If detected, however, the punishment was doubled and left one feeling very foolish. Today's students might have difficulty in believing this. At my previous Grammar School, at Doncaster, it was 'legal' for prefects to use the slipper. I'm talking c.1956 and not 1856.
Name: Peter Woollard
Email: peterewoollardathotmail.co.uk
Years_at_school: 1955-60
Date: 24 Jun 2013
Time: 08:07:43
So sorry to hear about Keith Christie. He and I were in the same form a couple of times. I cannot claim we were close friends but I seem to remember him as a feisty individual who, although of fairly small stature, was not afraid to stand up for himself. The loss of independent characters like him should always be mourned.
Name: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 40-7
Date: 22 Jun 2013
Time: 16:52:59
Yes, Billy Duke was a gentleman, as was his close associate Joe Brister. Both were excellent teachers of maths and wrote a geometry book together. He was quite an actor and gave a famous class in calculus when he crept across the room to demonstrate how you had to stalk dy by dx and catch it just before it disappeared. During the war years, Billy held substantive rank of flight lieutenant and was in charge of the ATC. That corp was disbanded overnight following an edict from Simpson and replaced with Bigham and the army cadets.
Name: Andrew Carruthers
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1961-8
Date: 22 Jun 2013
Time: 04:33:09
The talk of bullying reminds me of my own experiences of that, which were pretty bad in my early years, but also how good Billy Duke was in helping me (and Ken Waller)sort it out. Nobody seems to talk about him on this web-site but I thought he was a real gent.
Name: Michael Schwartz
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 20 Jun 2013
Time: 07:01:56
Pete - have just read your words about Keith Christie. Sorry to read this news. What a character! I would have loved to have met him.
Name: Pete Fowler
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 56 62
Date: 19 Jun 2013
Time: 04:59:04
For those of my generation: Keith Christie died yesterday morning. He'd had a tough time since suffering a really debilitating stroke and had lived, on his own, with Social Services help, in a flat in a tricky Vauxhall estate. I saw him just a few weeks ago and whilst he found it difficult to talk, there was still umpteen evidence of the light that once shined so brightly. He was the only guy I knew at HCS who managed to jump from D stream to the A stream, only to fall down the entire ladder again. He never really found himself, just kept acquiring degrees (5 of them) and A Levels (an almost silly eleven). But, what the hell - he was huge fun, a mountain of a mind, and never gave a toss for conventional career success. I'll miss the buggar like mad.
Name: brianwhesteratgmail.com
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 40-7
Date: 18 Jun 2013
Time: 06:10:05
It always surprised me that Simpson junior attended HCS. I would have thought it prudent for a head to send his son somewhere else. The lad figures on some of the photos on this page. I believe he died at a young age but have no details.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 17 Jun 2013
Time: 17:08:18
Have just read Colin Dickins' rather extraordinary piece re-the bullying of a boy called Dare (before my time.) He relates that the boy's father came to the school and asked his son to point out fellow pupils who bullied him. Further, that Simpson's son rather rescued the situation and became a bit of a local hero. I wish my father had come into the school and berated the bullyish thugs on the Staff who set about me! And I wouldn't have been alone. Far from it. Well done, Mr Dare. Good for you, sir. RIP.
Name: Chris Rickwood
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 17 Jun 2013
Time: 06:16:02
So Simpson had a son. That is certainly news to me. I knew he had at least one daughter but never heard of a son. It must have been interesting to be in the same form as he
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colindotdickinsatblueyonderdotcodotuk
Years_at_school: 1947-1953
Date: 17 Jun 2013
Time: 02:58:25
Strange man, Heaton. I never did quite know what to make of him. He did, in fact, have a bad moment with the board duster, hitting a boy called Dare (not in my year) and splitting his head open. We expected serious consequences for him, but not long after he was appointed head of Belmont Secondary School. A Geography teacher, it was his lot also to teach RK and on one occasion he left the room for a while and when he came back observed that some boys rapidly closed their bibles - because they had been scouring them for the rude bits, he said. He once gave me directions how to get somewhere (can't remember where) and said, "There's a pub near there called the Ruptured Duck - No it isn't actually, it's called the Timber Carriage."[Para] On the subject of Dare, he was the spoilt son of a local hairdresser and one morning his father brought him to School in his car and instructed him to point out boys that had been bullying him. He then set about them. Jimmy Simpson, son of Square, a prefect, was in his classroom in the lower corridor and witnessed this. He jumped out of the window and accosted Dare senior, saying, "Here, you can't do that." Sadly I didn't see it, but the story went round very fast and Simpson junior was something of a folk hero for a time.
Name: Chris Atkinson
Email: no.thanks.ialreadygetenoughspam.com
Years_at_school: '48 to '53
Date: 15 Jun 2013
Time: 05:07:31
Amongst all the 'interesting' habits displayed by the teaching staff, I don't seem to have seen a mention of Harry Heaton. Lift your desk lid whilst he was talking and he would hurl the board duster at it. Looking back that could have been a tad dangerous I suppose. But then so was our seeding Harry Mees' chalk with ammonium iodide - we got worried when he started tossing it around in his hands. Can't say that Twink ever bothered me, but then I did rowing which might have kept me in his good books. One of the first 'lessons' I learned was from the older boys who sang out 'backs to the wall boys, here comes George'; I hadn't the faintest idea what this meant - but soon was parroting along with them. I've got Paul Oliver to thank for the fact that I'm still playing folk and blues (despite osteoarthritis which makes fingering a guitar hell); didn't find out that he was a world authority until a long time after I'd left HCS. Ah well, time for another nap - nurse where's my blanket.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 14 Jun 2013
Time: 16:57:27
Brian Hester mentions Randall Williams' appearances at the Head's window overlooking the Inner Quad. Simpson, too, made occasional vocal contributions from this vantage point. He particularly hated boys playing football and would shout down from the window for all activity to stop. As we knew his eyesight was poor (God knows how he drove to and from work) miscreant footballers fled like true cowards. He stood no chance of recognising us. Sadly, he succeeded just the once and about half a dozen boys were named and shamed in front of the school Assembly. One was a large lad, Atkinson, in the Upper Sixth. He, like the others, was caned. The proof is in the Caning Book. Yes, aged seventeen or eighteen, shamed and caned for playing football at Break. Would Hitler (see Hester's contribution) have stooped so low? I regret to confess I was one of the runners who got away with it.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhestreratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 40-7
Date: 14 Jun 2013
Time: 16:18:33
There was nothing like a good rant from the headmaster first thing to alleviate the tedium of the day. Randall Williams, generally a rather benign chap, had his moments. While we quivered in straight lines in the inner quad under the eagle eye of Amos, the sash window of Williams' study would fly open - 'one moment Mr Amos' would be followed by a tirade on the irritating subject of the hour - concluded with ' this practice must stop immediately and any boy found doing it will be severely punished'. Thump went the window. Rather than a comparison with Hitler as has been suggested for Simpson, RW, with his round, face and bald head, looked more like Mussolini who was given to deliver oration fro windows and balconies. .
Name: Graeme M Young
Email: No thanks
Years_at_school: 1947 to 1953
Date: 14 Jun 2013
Time: 09:23:02
Does anyone remember the era when Speech day was held at The Harrow Coliseum? At one particular event someone launched a paper dart from the balcony. It flew gracefully round the auditorium, did a fly-past under the noses of the great and the good assembled on the stage and came neatly to rest in the stalls. I do not recall ARS reacting to that afterwards! ARS's famous rants during assembly we likened to Hitler addressing a political rally - the one about wearing coloured trousers and coloured shirts remains a classic with me. He was a hard man to understand. Greetings to everyone.
Name: John Howes
Email: j
Years_at_school:
Date: 10 Jun 2013
Time: 05:30:12
Thanks for the site - first art master George Neal was my great uncle. We never met however. I've added some links and quotes from the memories of him here to my family history website www.cutlock.co.uk Trust that is OK.
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colindotdickinsatblueyonderdotcodotuk
Years_at_school: 1947-1953
Date: 07 Jun 2013
Time: 04:22:53
I have just heard the sad news of the death of Bob Mackenzie, HCS 1947-1954 last Monday 3rd June. The funeral will be at St John's Church, Harrow, on Thurday 13th June at 11.15 am, followed by cremation at Breakspear at 12.45. Donations in lieu of flowers to Macmillan Cancer Support or St Luke's Hospice may be sent to funeral directors J A Massey & Sons, 142 Station Road, Harrow HA1 2HR. Contemporaries at School will remember him as a briliant scholar, top of the A stream in every term examination except one. He was also an engaging companion with a higly developed talent for wry humour. A classicist, he was offered State Scholarships to both Oxford and Cambridge. He chose Cambridge, where he read Russian. He subsequently joined the Foreign Office where he made his career.
Name: Richard Worsfold
Email: rjworsfoldatgmail.com
Years_at_school: 1951 -1959
Date: 06 Jun 2013
Time: 16:31:54
This talk of physical abuse baffles me somewhat. Yes, ARS applied the cane in standard fashion. Other than that one can recall only Johnny Carr using bunsen tubing whenever required and occasionally the fist when riled such as the time I made a stink bomb in the classroom across from the chem lab. His fist caught me in the stomach, but as luck would have it it was Friday and I had my scout uniform on. This caused him to bleed profusely. One up for the Fouth Harrow. Mr Campbell had a nice take on punishment. He dropped his prosthesis on your head but only for serious offenders. Devenald used the plimsoll on rare occasions but much else eludes me.
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colindotdickinsatblueyonderdotcodotuk
Years_at_school: 1947-1953
Date: 06 Jun 2013
Time: 02:56:26
I wonder if that master was right, Brian. My father recalled him rushing off to Dublin from school one day because his father had been "murdered by Sinn Feinists". That would have been between 1918 and 1922 - definitely a fate more likely to befall a Protestant at that time. And Twink was always present at morning assembly. In my day the Catholic boys were not in assembly but in the care of a charming little master called Ciano in what was then Room 3.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 40-7
Date: 05 Jun 2013
Time: 04:58:22
Bernard's recollection of Bradley rings true. I recall him as being good at shaking. He is a prime example supporting my observation that we were largely taught by eccentrics. He had a kind streak and was good to me on several occasions. On a school trip somewhere the subject of Roman Catholicism came up. The master in charge asked us if we knew who the staff member of that faith was. We were seventeen at the time but had no idea that it could be an Irishman called Patrick Brendan Bradley and debated the question without reaching a conclusion. How naive we were about such matters!
Name: Bernard Gillespie
Email: bernardgillespieatrogers.com
Years_at_school: 1939-1944
Date: 01 Jun 2013
Time: 13:03:09
I witnessed only one case of physical abuse by a master during my 5 years at HCS ... ... Doc Bradley put his closed fist to the side of Schofields face and, without striking a blow, sent the boy reeling across the room with a mighty shove ..... .. a propos of Dickie Dyer I don't think he had a teaching style .... he was completely incapable of keeping order in the classroom and we, little rotters that we were, made his life intolerable .
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 27 May 2013
Time: 01:58:30
I suspect the worst era of abuse at HCS was around 1955-65. Before that,judging from most correspondents of the previous decade, the potential abusers had not got fully into their stride. As some grew older and established, they began to behave in increasingly unacceptable ways. Other abusers joined the staff, later eg Hambley. In answer to Brian Hester's point about parents, it was not practice for boys to go home and complain. First, they were likely to receive a second telling off, or worse. And secondly, boys tended to 'take' corporal punishment, however delivered, as the norm. Perhaps it harks back to historical discipline in the army or navy. Adult teacher offenders in the mid-20th century presumably sensed they were safe, banking on connivance or support from the top. An unhealthy situation not unrelated to the problems faced by today's whistle blowers in the NHS, or wherever. Thank goodness for the HCS masters who behaved decently enough, although some of these must have been aware of what was going on. As far as we know, Simpson's crazed rants on the stage, representing the repressive school mores, went unchallenged.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: Write brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 40-7
Date: 26 May 2013
Time: 10:28:24
I'll settle for 'abnormal' Chris - but how many of them were normal? With all the many tales of abuse, I am surprised parents did not bring pressure to bear. Social attitudes change I suppose.
Name: Chris Rickwood
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 24 May 2013
Time: 10:43:43
I'm by no means certain that the "eccentricity" to which Brian refers wasn't, in several cases, pathology. Bum patting, cuddling, lurking in order to trap miscreants to receive corporal punishment, the desire regularly to apply corporal punishment (like Bigham) would these days incur dismissal and possibly criminal prosecution. I think it would be very fair to say that several staff members were "abnormal" by any objective criteria even by the standards of those days and most certainly by today's standards.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 40-7
Date: 23 May 2013
Time: 11:45:56
These recollections of the teaching 'styles' of Hambley and Dyer emphasise my contention that we were taught by a bunch of eccentrics. Some of them were,( not including these two) benign and took their jobs seriously.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1958-63
Date: 23 May 2013
Time: 07:25:42
Sorry, my apologies. On entry for 22 May I forgot to type my name. Mostly likely a senior moment. Or even post-senior moment. Thank you to Bill Harrison for a swift response. Signed Peter Ward
Name: Bill Harrison
Email: billdotharrisonatbtinternetdotcom
Years_at_school: 1961-68
Date: 23 May 2013
Time: 03:22:13
I too have "fond" memories of the maniac Hambley. He was violent and had some extremely weird ideas for the time. I recall him commenting in my History homework book that we would all do well to live like native American Indians, using stone tools and living off the land as hunter-gatherers. He got his just rewards rather more quickly than he might nowadays!
Name: Type your name here
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school:
Date: 22 May 2013
Time: 16:49:02
Following on from Chris Rickwood, does anyone remember a peculiar individual in the guise of a teacher, called Hambley? He would have been at the school 1961-62. Moustachioed, Canadian and Hitlerian in manner. Hambley took it upon himself to patrol corridors during lunch in order to capture interlopers for corporal punishment. Chris Rickwood's piece reminds me that he, too, was directed to teach RE. One verse at a time to be read out by a particular boy. No comment, no discussion. To my witness a senior prefect and sergeant in the famous pipe band, unwittingly dropped a pencil on the floor and ended up being taken to Simpson for a caning. What was Simpson thinking about? Hambley continued these practices but lasted less than a year. About six months later, his visage, moustache and all, appeared in a half-page article in The Daily Mail (when it was a newspaper.) He starred in a High Court case, taking his next Headmaster to law. Sadly for him and the nation he lost, the Mail reporting the judge's lacerating comments on the man's persona. It was reported that Hambley was immediately issued with a ban preventing him, from that point on, teaching in any school in the UK.
Name: Chris Rickwood
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 20 May 2013
Time: 03:27:00
I remember RK with Morrie Venn who I suspect was not thrilled at being stuck with an RK course. He had everybody in turn read 5 verses from Leviricus. No commentary, no explanation. Unbelievably boring. Lesson seemed to last forever.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school:
Date: 11 May 2013
Time: 10:56:02
I stand corrected Bob!Until my third year in sixth form we were not required to take RK. Suddenly it was on the menu and being taught by Lane. He told us that the Act required us to have one period per week of the subject He started off with the book of Mark but soon switched to comparitive religion which held our attention. By that time the Rev. Dr. Dickie Dyer had ceased to be part of my life.I was told he was recruited from being vicar at St.Alban's church in North Harrow. It was not a good move for him as he was clearly unsuited to be a teacher. When did he leave the school?
Name: Michael Schwartz
Email: WhackingonarsbyARS
Years_at_school: 1965-1972
Date: 10 May 2013
Time: 15:33:13
Brian - we have something else in common - being taught by Mr Lane. It is so strange to see him described as a newcomer! And a teacher of comparative religion - I always thought he taught Greek, Latin, the Great Western Railway and the beauties of cricket. Remembering a much-loved teacher.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 40-7
Date: 10 May 2013
Time: 08:43:38
I stand corrected Bob. We had one period a week of 'RK' with Dyer when I was in 5th form but were relieved of this in the sixth until my lastand third, year. Under Simpson, or was it the new eduction act?, were were required to have RK again. We were instructed by a Mr. Lane, whi wa a newcomer who kept us under control by talking about comparitive religion. I cannot imagine Dyer lasted long under Simpson. With RK not being treated as a School Cert subject at the school, it never was taken seriously.
Name: Bob Blackburn
Email: With Alex Bateman
Years_at_school: 1943-1949
Date: 10 May 2013
Time: 00:38:52
Sorry Brian but your memory for once has failed. Dicky Dyer was still trying to teach when ARS arrived at the school. Dicky Dyer could always be distracted from his theme. Our Form Room, top corridor, overlooking the quad, furthest from the clock, high ceiling with iron stays going across it. Dicky taking us first period after lunch and we were going to prove to him that the form room was haunted by tying long threads of cotton to bits of paper in the waste paper basket, passing the cotton over the iron stays in the roof and having the bits of paper flying round the room. To pass the cotton threads over the iron stays we had to pile desks and chairs into a tower, climb up to reach the stays. I was on top of the chairs when the door opened and in walked ARS, obviously something was going on, he then asked who was taking us for the first period, we all chanted Mr Dyer sir, ARS simply said I see and walked out shutting the door behind him. Dyer was an awful man, thrashing about with his foot long ebony round ruler. All his classes turned into a riot. Best wishes to you all. Bob
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 40-47
Date: 09 May 2013
Time: 07:10:31
By the time of his arrival, the majority of our class wer taller than the Rev. Doctor Richard (Dickie) Dyer so we never suffered the indignities EA Smith recounts. Dyer was probably the last hire made by Randall Williams. I always understood he came to the school from St Albans church in North Harrow. He was not suited to teaching. His classes in religious knowledge were a riot in every sense and he had no control. We spent the time quizzing him about sex which at least kept us quiet. He was only at school for a few years and was gone by the time ARS arrived.
Name: Smith (E A)
Email: aquabiol at AOL.com
Years_at_school: 1943-7
Date: 07 May 2013
Time: 06:03:13
I think this website is marvellous and most valuably compiled. Thanks to all. Unfortunately, one of my most indelibly memorable recollections of life in the 2a pre-fabs is of being groped by Dicky Dyer on the pretext of just checking I had the right number of balls. Are any of my contemporaries similarly afflicted?
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash 70 pan at yahoo dot com
Years_at_school: 1962-9
Date: 28 Apr 2013
Time: 08:09:37
Very enjoyable dinner on Friday night. Steak & kidney was first class. Mention was made however, of the new Old Gaytonians website so I thought I would take a look. I gave my search engine (Yahoo) the parameter ' old gayts' but it seemed to want to drop the t. Got the shock of my life. Not what's wanted chaps.
Name: Type Bob Garratt
Email: garrattsatbtconnect.com
Years_at_school: 1954-62
Date: 25 Apr 2013
Time: 09:21:56
Good news about Paul Oliver, he's finally out of hospital and back to his Queen Anne house in Oxfordshire but weak and needing care. However, he was immediately back to writing and correcting fallacies in Blues magazines. Regarding Peter Ward's comments on the Merrymen scouts and the Portillo Garratt connections, the picture was quite different from some of our fellow HCS students as it involved large quantities of girls ..... the Garratt household in Stanmore was a hugely sociable open place, with my two sisters bringing in their friends and somehow Phil Saunders, Chris Westerman, Charlie and Justin Portillo and Derek Minor seemed to have lots of connections not so much to Harrow County Girls but to the Royal Masonic, Sacred Heart, Lascelles etc, etc. From Friday to Sunday evenings there was always music, lots of joking and a big cream tea for whoever was around on Sunday afternoon. When we finally had access to our parents' cars it was even more hectic. So Friday evenings with the Merrymen at Blawith Road was often the start to a very social weekend, especially if my two sisters came on the 114 bus from Stanmore and brought some friends. It is true that Charlie married my elder sister, Linda, but he was never a BOAC , or even a BEA pilot. He became a redcap, went into senior BA management and stayed until recently along with his HCS friend Pete Hoggan. Our approach to scouting was mildly sceptical yet amused and aware of its usefulness to many. As to the mentioned 'council estate' at Stanmore this is worthy of a social documentary in itself. It started as a private estate immediately before WW2 but was only half completed when war broke out. Immediately after the war the rest was completed as a council estate. The inhabitants came from all walks of life, officers, bank managers, and horny handed sons of toil. The common denominator was that everyone desperately needed housing. The social mix was then compounded by the arrival of a large Jewish influx as three differing synagogues opened in the area in short order. This, combined with the opening of the avant garde Aylward School, led to a stimulating social and educational environment which helped me cope with the very different, rigid and difficult emotional climate I encountered at HCS for my first year. Paul Oliver saw me through this and let me take-off educationally for which I am always grateful.
Name: Dick Worsfold
Email: rjworsfoldatgmail.com
Years_at_school: '51-59
Date: 18 Apr 2013
Time: 10:07:09
Sad to note the passing of Clive Pigram. He was one of the Woodcock Warriors who were mostly pupils of Uxendon Manor and like Brian Raiment who also passed away recently honed their sporting skills in Woodcock Park next to the school. One wonders how many HCS people (of both genders) came from that school. I can recall at least five in the year that I went. It seems that it has kept going more or less the same since those days, and was blessed with an exceptional teaching staff who were able to push even me through the dreaded 11 plus.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 40-7
Date: 11 Apr 2013
Time: 15:03:03
Glad to learn from Peter Ward that C-E's reign at Harrow Weald was so successful. I felt the man combined an air of authority with the ability to be familiar as the time required. I detect his hand behind the joint HWCS and GCS joint trip to Switzerland at east 1947.One of our group was a Nigel Swallow whose father I believe was senior master at HWCS. We had two very successful, and fun, farming camps with HWCS boys. Nigel became a doctor but died very young.
Name: Edward Kerr
Email: edward-kerr(at)hotmail.co.uk
Years_at_school: 1960-66
Date: 11 Apr 2013
Time: 04:59:52
Interesting that there has been some recent discussion about Gethin Williams - Economics Master at HCS until 1963. He was very much "one of the good guys" amongst the staff. I have unearthed a picture(c. 1996) of Gethin and the similarity between the image and my recollections is very clear to see. Of course, that picture is now seventeen years old, so it is by no means current. If anyone wants a copy of the picture, send me an e-mail. I will send a copy to Jeff in case he wants to use it. I presume that Gethin's departure led to the arrival of a man called Whiteway - a man cast from a very different block. But that is another story for another day.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16at btinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 10 Apr 2013
Time: 16:04:12
I strongly suspect Crowle-Ellis (see recent contributions) was HCS' great loss. I happened to move to Harrow Weald when my family came down from the north in '58. Nearby Harrow Weald GS had a splendid reputation, much of it due to the success of its Head who had apparently been ousted from HCS. The school seemed humane. I learned this from people I knew there. C-E was respected and liked. The other advantages of Harrow Weald GS were that it was co-ed and played football with the correctly shaped sphere. It's my personal regret I did not go there but ended up at 'Simpson's Emporium' (quote George Cast.)We did slightly make up for it when we started our renegade soccer team at HCS, much to the Head of PE's disgust. In 1962 we drew 0-0 but in 1963 we beat HWGS on their own pitch, 0-2. It says much about C-E's school that they were even prepared to play us, unofficial as we were. Thank God Simpson never found out.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: Brianwhesteratgmaildotcom'
Years_at_school:
Date: 10 Apr 2013
Time: 04:53:20
I agree with Bernard's assessment of Randall Williams. Both he and his wife, the famed 'Lady Alice" immersed themselves in the life of the school. While Simpson seems to have concentrated efforts on grooming the 'best of the crop; for scholarships, Williams concentrated on the welfare and education of the average boy. An indication of this was his interest in remembering our names. From my recollection of Simpson's first year, he simply referred to us all as 'boy'. Williams last years concided with the war so were not easy. In his last year or so he took holy orders and left to become a parish priest. Huge changes were about to take place - the first was the removal of all the gas lighting! Crowle-Ellis, a batchelor, had spent the war as C.O. of airfields and came to HCS upon being demobilised. He was very pesonable and actually had conversations with us sixth formers. While walking around the playing field with him, he disclosed to a group of us that, much to his surprise, he was being moved. I believe he went to be head at Harrow Weald County. C-E seemed to pick up on the school spirit of the Williams era but all that went with the arrival of Simpson who brought in a lot of different ideas. I 'lived' under all three headmasters and must say I agree with Bernard.
Name: Steve Grimes
Email: Refer to Jeff
Years_at_school: 1958 to 1964
Date: 09 Apr 2013
Time: 14:36:49
Bernard Gillespie mentions that life under Randall Williams was good. Unfortunately, that was before my time, and the only headmaster I experienced (for my sins) was Dr Simpson. I too found the good doctor a very boring person! However, I recall that Mr Donald Crowle Ellis came between Randall Williams and Simpson, yet I can find very little comment on this website regarding life and times under Mr Crowle Ellis. It would be interesting to read some reminiscences. In addition, what happened to the search facility on this website? I may be going blind but I can no longer find it.
Name: Martin Lansdell
Email: mlansdellathotmail.co.uk
Years_at_school: 1961-63
Date: 08 Apr 2013
Time: 12:40:53
Thanks to Peter Ward I was able to trace the whereabouts of Gethin Williams,economics master,back to Wales where he was at the University of Wales College in Newport.He was there from 1963 until retiring in 1996 as Deputy Principal.He seems to have had a successful career there and left his mark with a long list of published research.Good luck to him.I guess he must be in his mid-eighties by now.
Name: Bernard Gillespie
Email: bernardgillespieatrogers.com
Years_at_school: 1939-1944
Date: 08 Apr 2013
Time: 08:54:10
Yes, Brian, I am still in the land of the living, 85 and counting . I read the guest book often but write rarely , principally because you and I are the only ones who read and write on this platform who are ancient and lived the good life under the great Randall Williams. I get a bit bored with all the chatter about Dr Simpson Bernard
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 08 Apr 2013
Time: 07:14:14
In response to Martin Lansdell, try googling Dr Gethin Williams Cardiff University. I am ninety nine point nine percent certain that's your man. I was in contact with Gethin a few years ago when I tried to get a London dinner together for ex HCS cricketers. Sadly I could not raise sufficient enthusiasm. Gethin would have attended and been very well looked after. He was a fine voluntary cricket coach who gave of his time and energies. Also a good violist in orchestral concerts. I have forgiven the fact that when bowling against me in a Staff cricket match he appealed LBW to a ball edged from bat onto my boot toe. It was not LBW but the ball rocketed off to second slip where a young master dived and caught it brilliantly. So I had to go anyway. Had intended making a ton that day but it was not to be.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 08 Apr 2013
Time: 07:14:10
In response to Martin Lansdell, try googling Dr Gethin Williams Cardiff University. I am ninety nine point nine percent certain that's your man. I was in contact with Gethin a few years ago when I tried to get a London dinner together for ex HCS cricketers. Sadly I could not raise sufficient enthusiasm. Gethin would have attended and been very well looked after. He was a fine voluntary cricket coach who gave of his time and energies. Also a good violist in orchestral concerts. I have forgiven the fact that when bowling against me in a Staff cricket match he appealed LBW to a ball edged from bat onto my boot toe. It was not LBW but the ball rocketed off to second slip where a young master dived and caught it brilliantly. So I had to go anyway. Had intended making a ton that day but it was not to be.
Name: David Fleming
Email: sueanddaveflemingattiscali.co.uk
Years_at_school: 1958-65
Date: 07 Apr 2013
Time: 11:00:26
Derek Tomlin mentioned Fred Bilson falling from a canoe into the Thames at Ravens Ait. You couldn't really imagine a bigger mismatch than Fred Bilson and a canoe! I remember that it gave rise to two problems - getting him out and finding dry replacement trousers that were anywhere near his size. I have many fond memories of the Naval Section. Peter Ward recently referred to Mick Udall. I think it's fair to say that Mick wasn't the keenest member of the Section. On one occasion he arrived on parade wearing his naval uniform and brown suede shoes resulting in Reg Goff becoming almost apoplectic and dismissing him immediately. Suede (Swede) shoes seem to be a recurring theme over the years.....
Name: Brian Hester
Email: Brianwhesteratgmail.com
Years_at_school: 40-7
Date: 06 Apr 2013
Time: 17:39:30
Good to hear from you again Bernard and to find you in full recollective form. Cast taught me chemistry for three years in the sixth form. He was without doubt a good teacher but I thought him moody. One day he would have us doubled up laughing at a joke about a diabetic horse while the next he would be sounding off about the evils of Pelican books. The sixth form science department had a lot of academic success. In 1947 there were three state scholarships - a record that I thought would have warmed Simpson's heart but nearly all the staff quit - including Cast , Blythman (physics), Evans (maths), Lacy (maths), Webb (biology). Webb was a serious loss. We'll never what happened.
Name: Bernard Gillespie
Email: bernardgillespieatrogers.com
Years_at_school: 1939
Date: 06 Apr 2013
Time: 08:36:33
Yes Peter I remember Jerry Cast very well but not in the same way as some of you ...... although I gave up chemistry after a couple of years I recall him as helpful, instructive and in no way desiccated ........ quite the reverse... even amusing on occasion perhaps his attitude towards some students reflected their attitude towards him ... Bernard
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash70pan at yahoo dot com
Years_at_school:
Date: 05 Apr 2013
Time: 11:51:37
I attended the ig Nobel RoadShow at the I.E.T. in Savoy Place last night. The key speaker was Chris McManus whom I mentioned a few days ago. Chris is a fine public speaker and engaged the audience of 400 very well. We adjourned to the Coal Hole pub next to the Savoy afterwards and caught up with old times. We both wondered what has happened to John Dando?
Name: Martin Richard Lansdell
Email: mlansdellathotmail.co.uk
Years_at_school: 1961-1963
Date: 04 Apr 2013
Time: 08:49:45
I looked up this web-site to see if there were any traces of myself at HCS in the brief two years I spent there in lower and then advanced sixth modern class.I had originally come here from The King's School a couple of streets away. I lost all contact with any of my contemporaries as soon as I left in the summer of 1963( to go onto Sheffield University to study economics). It was pleasant to find two photos which included myself.The accounts of Dr.Simpson's time there as headmaster ring so true.I cannot say it was a happy two years but I got excellent teaching from Reg Goff,Harry Mees and Gethin Williams.Whatever became of Gethin after I left? I know about Harry and Reg.
Name: Barry Nickels
Email: bknickels at tiscali.co.uk
Years_at_school: 1956-59
Date: 02 Apr 2013
Time: 11:15:09
I've just been looking at the form photos. Although correctly identified in years 1-3, I'm just an X in 4B! So, 1959, 4B, I am extreme left on the back row. I left at Christmas that year as the family moved to Epping, and I attended Buckhurst Hill CHS. Thence to Birmingham University to read German, and a career in teaching, which finished in 2004. Mr Attridge would have been amazed!
Name: Dererk Edwards
Email: dejodelatgmail,com
Years_at_school: 1947-1952
Date: 01 Apr 2013
Time: 22:37:17
I am glad to catch up with the news. Best wishes to all who remember me. Have tried to find Russell Hill without success.
Name: Derek Tomlin
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 59-65
Date: 28 Mar 2013
Time: 08:02:37
Had lunch today at Hart's Boatyard opposite Raven's Ait. Haven't been here for 50 years since visiting regularly for Naval Section Field Days. Anybody else there that time Mr Bilson toppled into the water from his canoe ?
Name: John B. McNamara
Email: scrum.half 'at' kabelmail.de
Years_at_school: 1957-1958
Date: 25 Mar 2013
Time: 12:12:54
At present I'm compiling a history of my family. My Brother Stephen Reginald James McNamara was at Harrow County Grammar from 1957 to 1958. He entered Harrow County following his O-levels at Headstone Secondary. At Harrow County he was a member of the Combined Cadet Force (Naval Section), played for the 2nd cricket XI in 1958 (photo is available) and I think he might have played rugby and chess. I also have an unmarked photograph of him in a 6th(?) form class group. He mentioned the names Major Bigham and Mr. Yelland(?). Friends of his were Neil Shaw and the Oliver twins who I believe became pilots in the RAF. I would very much appreciate it if anybody could provide me with any further information upon him and his school contemporaries (photos, reports, stories, anecdotes, sports details, documents of any sort etc.). Thanking anyone in advance who may be able to provide any information whatsoever. All my best wishes to you all. Yours faithfully, John B. McNamara PS: I myself went to Pinner County Grammar.
Name: Simon Kearey
Email: simon.keareyatoxfordshire.gov.uk
Years_at_school: 1971-1976
Date: 25 Mar 2013
Time: 04:04:59
Can we purchase old school ties or blazers anymore and if so where from? Thanks Simon
Name: Laurence
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1957 -
Date: 24 Mar 2013
Time: 10:13:34
Oops, or maybe he was...
Name: Paul Romney
Email: at
Years_at_school: 56-63
Date: 24 Mar 2013
Time: 03:07:30
Talking to himself, was he, Laurence?
Name: Laurence Lando
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1957 -
Date: 24 Mar 2013
Time: 03:01:28
Henry, reminds me of the Morcombe & Wise sketch, when Ernie says 'It's nice out today?' and Ernie responds 'Well I'll leave it out then!'.
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash70pan at yahoo dot com
Years_at_school: 1962-9
Date: 23 Mar 2013
Time: 06:29:55
I see from page 23 of today's Times that Chris McManus is at it again. The matter is somewhat delicate and revolves around the question asked by any good tailor: On which side does Sir dress? It would appear that the vast majority of us ( including myself) favour the left. Chris suspects that it is because the heart is on the left but produces no evidence to support his theory.PARA. You will recall that Chris is the proud winner of an ig Nobel prize for his ground-breaking (nay seminal) work on scrotal asymmetry. Doubtless you will join with me in encouraging Chris to go forward with his research into this important area of the human condition.
Name: Laurence Lando
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1957 -
Date: 21 Mar 2013
Time: 10:08:12
Just had the pleasure of meeting Peter Rapaport for lunch at the Royal Society of Medicine, last time we met was over 50 years ago! It strikes me that we might extend this to a meeting of alumni of 1957 - 1964. RSM is situated in Wimpole St, London.
Name: Chris Rickwood
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 17 Mar 2013
Time: 18:41:58
Hymnals - Was thinking there must be a fair number of them knocking around in Harrow in used bookstores or charity Shops. Around 140 purchased each year. I'd crtainly like to lay my hands on one
Name: Peter ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 17 Mar 2013
Time: 05:23:00
Portillo for Pope? Possibly. My own candidate would have been that fine English Catholic, Monseigneur Bernie Marchant. I was always grateful for the kind LBW decision he gave me when bowling for the School vs a Middlesex CCC representative XI, at HCS. Such generosity of spirit. Plenty of space in The Vatican for indoor cricket nets. St James Regan to be in charge but keep a close Swiss Guard on the altar wine.
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash70panatyahoodotcom
Years_at_school: 1962-9
Date: 13 Mar 2013
Time: 11:27:59
I switched on BBC2 a few minutes ago to watch Michael Portillo's Continental Railway Journeys. I expected to be transported to Vienna but instead found myself in St. Peter's Square in Rome with white smoke billowing from the Vatican. Technically as I am sure you all know, any Roman Catholic may be elected pope; one does not even need to be a priest, far less a cardinal. For one glorious moment I thought that our man had pulled it off and that 'Habemus Papem.' Sadly, some Argie has pipped us to the post but I have hopes for a recount. I do think that Jerry Lafferty would have approved..
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmail.com
Years_at_school: 40-7
Date: 13 Mar 2013
Time: 10:00:14
Peter Ward's recollections of Cast opens up a flood door of my own. For years I have maintained we were taught by a collection of eccentrics unabashedly encouraged by the head masters of the time. Cast must have been close to the end of the spectrum.Of his private life, all I ever was that he lived at Surbiton and travelled to school daily by a circuitous route and the had a side line dabbling in antiques. He used to maintain that chemistry was the simplest of simplest of subjects as it could all be written 'with a fine crowquill pen on the back of a postage stamp' which he claimed to be able to do with the periodic table. Every year he sent boys to universities to take chemistry. Many went on to stellar careers.He evindently held policital views are variance with most. In his latter years he regularly sported a red tie covered in yellow hammers and scyckles. It had prominent yellow tassle. This piece of sartorical splendour almost certainly got him off on the wrong foot with the dear doctor.
Name: Colin Dickims
Email: colindotdickinsatblueyonderdotcodotuk
Years_at_school: 1947-1953
Date: 12 Mar 2013
Time: 16:29:00
Yes, Peter, I knew Jerry (as he was called in my time) Cast - just about. He never taught me and I cannot remember ever speaking to him - although a sense that at some time he reproached or cautioned me for something lingers. But "desiccated" describes him exactly.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16at btinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 10 Mar 2013
Time: 16:23:33
Interested to see Brian Hester's mention of Cast. I assume he refers to George Cast who was possibly Head of Chemistry when Simpson arrived, after the War? My reason for interest is that, along with Mike Udall from HCS in 1963, I went off to the College of S.Mark and S.John, Chelsea, to do a joint Hons degree and teaching qualification. Marjons was outstanding and did us both proud thanks to some fine lecturers (not to mention Mike's elder brother, an Old Gayts rugby player, David Udall.) He lectured in Degree Zoology. But back to Cast. He was the fly in the ointment of a great College. A miserable, dessicated man who somehow got to be Head of the Science Dept. Loathed by his regular students. Thank God, Udall and I managed to avoid him, academically, as we sensibly opted for Geology rather than his subject for our extra Part One subject. Cast was notorious for failing student teachers on Teaching Practices. Somehow, Udall and I managed to get the dreaded man for our final and crucial 6 week TP, in hard North London Sec. Mods. We were horrified at our bad luck. However, when we went to meet him he had discovered we were formerly HCS and was fascinated to know we were from, as he put it, Simpson's Emporium. Well, at least we were on the same side. It was clear that he detested Simpson and had either moved on, or had been encouraged to move on. Curiously, Udall and I just about managed to get on with him and he did not spoil our chances of qualification despite making things difficult. Is there anybody out there who remembers George Cast at HCS? I'd be interested to hear any anecdotal stuff. Or was he too boring and indeed forgettable?
Name: Brian Hester
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 40-7
Date: 10 Mar 2013
Time: 13:36:35
I am fuilty of exaggeration Michael. There were only five OGs who were on the day when ARS arriced. Four of them - Cast, E.A.S. Evans, Street,Robinson- all went on to pursue other interests while R. S. Killer King stayed. King was an accomplished teacher of mathematics.When he entered a classroom of unruly boys, he would say nothing but simply bend over and grip the leg of a chair near ground level He would then with this one hand, lift chair and put it on the table top. After a few moents, he would reverse the procedure. There was no need to do more to subdue the class!
Name: REG LITTLEY
Email: reg_littleyathotmail.com
Years_at_school: 1947----1952
Date: 09 Mar 2013
Time: 03:09:55
A long time ago
Name: Michael Schwartz
Email:
Years_at_school: some good, some bad
Date: 08 Mar 2013
Time: 16:25:03
The Reagan and Gorbachev summit? Nothing compared to the chatting that went on at the mining show in Toronto earlier this week. Brian Hester and I swapped mining stories before going in for Gaytonian nostalgia. I was intrigued that six Old Gaytonians who had joined the teaching staff at HCS under Randall Williams left when Dr Simpson took over. With one exception - and his nickname was "Killer." What does that tell us? Anyway, Brian. Is there any part of the globe where you have not practised geology?
Name: Laurence Lando
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1957 -
Date: 03 Mar 2013
Time: 12:42:14
Peter, How cruel...but quite true!
Name: Peter Rapaport
Email: pbrapaportataol.com
Years_at_school: 1959 -1963
Date: 02 Mar 2013
Time: 07:09:32
Should I be shocked that having not visited this site now for a couple of years or more probably through either boredom, old age or both, I still find Laurance Lando in full swing, involved and upsetting you folks. He was the same in the early '60s. Have a nice day to you all and maybe I'll revisit again in a few more years to see if any of my contemporaries remain on this earth - including me of course!
Name: Peter Rapaport
Email: pbrapaportataol.com
Years_at_school: 1959 -1963
Date: 02 Mar 2013
Time: 07:09:31
Should I be shocked that having not visited this site now for a couple of years or more probably through either boredom, old age or both, I still find Laurance Lando in full swing, involved and upsetting you folks. He was the same in the early '60s. Have a nice day to you all and maybe I'll revisit again in a few more years to see if any of my contemporaries remain on this earth - including me of course!
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colindotdickinsatblueyonderdotcodotuk
Years_at_school: 1947-1953
Date: 27 Feb 2013
Time: 08:42:25
In 1949 it was the "practice" (how long established and how long it lasted I never knew)to award scholarships to Harrow School to two boys at the end of our second year. They were inevitably selected from the A stream, but the two in my year were not the top of the class. They were Michael Tubbs and Peter Foster. I think Tubbs went on to read music at Oxbridge. I have no idea what Foster did. Perhaps his cousin Tony Foster (same year) knows. Apart from watching the annual rugby match, my only experience of the school on the hill was with the chess team. I played up there twice and found my opponent pleaant and hospitable (for some reason we were taken to our opponent's study briefly before the match) but I have no recollection of the conversations.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 40-7
Date: 27 Feb 2013
Time: 04:43:47
Roy, I have vague memories of the school being offered places at Harrow School but was too old at the time to have been considered. I wonder if anybody took up the offer and if so what became of them? In the sixth form we were sometimes invited to attend scientific 'demonstrations' such as one of the properties of liquid nitrogen, that was attended by boys from Harrow School. Both sides kept to their own. There was no conversation.
Name: Roy Goldman
Email: roygraceatbigponddotnetdotau
Years_at_school: 1943 - 1949
Date: 26 Feb 2013
Time: 12:48:05
Brian, that ties in nicely with my recollection circa 1944, of a form to be taken home to parents informing of a scheme for boys to transfer across to Harrow School at the age of 13. Our form master of the time remarked somewhat cynically that as educational standards were higher at HCS it was an attempt to infuse brains into blueblood and that we were better off staying where we were.
Name: Brian
Email: brianwhesteratgmail.com
Years_at_school: 40-7
Date: 24 Feb 2013
Time: 12:51:47
All is now clear. Thanks Chris.The head of Harrow School that I remember came after Norwood and was called Ralph Moore. He was frequently in the company of Randall Williams of HCS reknown. Moore stepped up to be among the first to be X-Rayed when a scheme was offered to the public. He was found to have an unsuspected condition of some sort that could be treated. Quite an issue was made of this at the time. He was a good friend of HCS. At the time our sixth form used labs and class room at Harrow School and the ATC used the shooting range for .22 target shooting one Saturday morning each month.
Name: Chris
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 24 Feb 2013
Time: 08:14:05
Brian, more accurately the wrong Harrow in the case of Norwood the Headmaster. Headmaster of Bristol Grammar School (1906 to 1916), the Master of Marlborough College (1917 to 1925), Headmaster of Harrow (1926 to 1934) and President of St John's, Oxford, from 1934 to 1946.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmail.com
Years_at_school: 40-47
Date: 24 Feb 2013
Time: 04:52:46
Our contributor Lisabeth Lawson appears to have the wrong school. It would be interesting to read the newspaper report she refers to.
Name: Peter Sims
Email: peter270357 at hotmail dot com
Years_at_school: 1983 - 1987
Date: 24 Feb 2013
Time: 03:25:08
Time marches on ....................
Name: lizabeth newson
Email: lizabethnewsonatgooglermail.co.uk
Years_at_school: n/a
Date: 21 Feb 2013
Time: 09:37:37
Apologies for not responding sooner, Reference Banks Mawson I have since seen a newspaper cutting relating to prize day on 22nd July 1939. Dr. Cyril Norwood (I beleive was the head master and Banks Mawson a tutor at the school and not as i first thought acting headmaster)After the war Bank Mawson was the principle at (Not a hunderd percent sure but the school may have been known as St.John's school for boys and Girls, at Valkyrie House, in West Cliffe, Essex. Thank you to those who did respond to my last request. Liz Newson lizabethnewson@googlemail.co.uk
Name: Chris Rickwood
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 18 Feb 2013
Time: 16:03:21
I did get it wrong. It was Charlie Portillo (Actually Carlos on Marriage Cert) who married Linda Garrat in 1966 not Michael.
Name: Laurence Lando
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1957 -
Date: 18 Feb 2013
Time: 06:04:19
On a mission! I have been contacted by a fellow pupil of HCS, who was at the school from 1957- 1962. His name is Tony Arkey, and at present he lives and works in Hong Kong. His problem is that he won the School Senior Sports Championship. However although he took the cup home for a year, he did not get it engraved. The late Mr Underwood came to his home to collect the trophy. He will be prepared to pay for the engraving, even after such a long time. So my friends, who can verify his claim to fame, and arrange for the cup to acknowledge the victor. Laurence
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 16 Feb 2013
Time: 16:38:37
Chris Rickwood, following on from your comment, I was in the Merrymen (Seniors) that ran themselves as a non-scouting Youth Club, on Friday nights. This was in a cheaply furnished former stable at Scout Park, Blawith Rd. We didn't do badges or tie knots but played snooker, table tennis, some smoked, others drank brown ale to a small extent, generally loafed about, camped in Switzerland and went on Easter barge cruises up the Grand Union canal. On the second of these, 1963, we ended up outside Leicester City's old ground, Filbert St., and paid about three shillings to see visitors Man Utd. Bobby Charlton, Dennis Law and, opposing them, the great Gordon Banks. We were utterly scorned by the other keener Scout troups. The senior patrol leader was Charlie Portillo, several years older than Michael. I believe he became a senior BOAC pilot. Charlie was always very relaxed and did not concern himself with the official tenets of scouting. Also in the same crowd was Bob Garrett. He, too, appeared only mildly concerned about Baden-Powell type activities. The two were good pals. Thus, your previous comment on Michael Portillo's marriage is explained. Returning to the Merryman non-scouting troop, I have no reason to think no-one did well post-HCS. In fact, very much the opposite. So what does that say? I suggest the likes of Simpson and B-P would have found it totally inexplicable, disturbing, even perplexing. PS Leicester City 3 Man Utd 4 (Law hat-trick including an overhead bicycle kick.) The match was repeated as the Wembley FA Cup Final, later that season. And Utd won. It was the start of the great team that emulated the earlier and much-lamented 1958 Busby Babes.
Name: Michael Schwartz
Email:
Years_at_school: One after Portillo
Date: 16 Feb 2013
Time: 09:44:41
Regarding Michael Portillo's wife, she is Carolyn Eadie - they married in 1982. The Eadie family lived or lives in The Ridgeway, a very attractive road in Stanmore. There were some rather grotty flats in that road but the Eadies definitely lived across from them. I was Conservative chairman for the ward in question, Wemborough, from 1981-1984 - Mr Eadie was one of our subscribers. "Polly" Portillo was a real toff - he done English an 'istory. Us whar done Classics, we knew our place, guv. Michael.
Name: Chris Rickwood
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 16 Feb 2013
Time: 08:27:26
Peter, just as a matter of interest I think Michael Portillo married Bob Garrat's sister who, at that time did live on a Council Estate in Stanmore.
Name: ye min
Email: yeyeye63athotmail.com
Years_at_school: 1963-1970
Date: 16 Feb 2013
Time: 07:23:32
I was a special needs teacher for 17 years and while I wsa training an enlightened tutor said that if more money and resources were invested in the early years perhaps we wouldnt see so many problems in secondary schools. In my current job I still visit and observe in schools and I am glad I am no longer a teacher. If any of my children ever said they wanted to be a teacher or a social worker I would have done all i could to talk them out of it!
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 15 Feb 2013
Time: 16:40:29
In response to Pete Fowler, I am very much of the view that Primary teachers, most especially those working with the very youngest ie fives to sevens, deserve medals and serious salaries. For those who scoff at such a notion, I suggest they try it for a day. They'll soon be running back to their banks and legal chambers, pleading to be let in on personal sanity grounds. I once put the idea to a close relative who advises very wealthy clients on legal (perjorative) tax avoidance schemes. Having rubbished folks who take on such menial tasks he declined my offer. I recall our friend Michael Portillo once spent a whole week on a council estate trying to run a family of about three children on reduced income. Brave chap. So how about the saintly Mr Gove spending a term in various classrooms up and down the land? He would be able to demonstrate to his new colleagues the benefits of his well thought out ideas. Go to it, Michael. (Gove that is!)
Name: Pete Fowler
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 56/62
Date: 15 Feb 2013
Time: 05:29:52
I wasn't meaning to be mean to the present staff - I have utterly no idea what they are like and I would not presume to know. But I want to add one other factor that's always struck me in education (and yes, I spent a lifetime career in the game). I was at an RSA event in the early 1990s and in a discussion group talking about staff student ratios. It was a big issue when the Polys were becoming Universities and numbers were rocketing. A guy called Sir Christopher Ball jumped into the conversation and said, 'let me propose an idea....let's take the age of the learner and multiply it by two....let's use that as our basis for ratios....oh, and let's pay those who teach the youngest the most...' I have often thought of this; and I've often thought how much wisdom there was in those remarks. A long, long way, Peter, from Michael Gove: but then most places are.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16at btinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 14 Feb 2013
Time: 15:59:33
Peter Fowler's comments on the brightest not necessarily going into teaching is controversial, although interesting. Speaking from experience, I strongly suspect that this has been the greatest long-standing problem of British education. So nothing new. Certainly some of the characters who taught my generation at HCS could hardly be classified as 'bright'. Another problem is that if and when 'bright' people go into school teaching they often don't last long, finding it repetitive, maybe too hard, unrewarding in all senses, life-cramping, too parochial etc etc. As a result, these people often leave after only a few years and develop other skills and talents. The knock-on effect in the schools is that amongst the remaining staff only a diminished pool of true talent becomes available for headships. This applies at both Primary and Secondary levels. In other words, some poor quality and over-ambitious teachers end up as Heads. Believe me. I've worked with them. The consequences do not have to be stated. Pete's comments are not especially kind with regard to the current teachers at the present school. One suspects that, in general, standards are rising although there is always much room for further improvement. If only (Utopia) it were possible to equate a teaching career with the rewards and prospects of banking, law, insurance, medicine et al. Dream on, but it might do the trick. Which political party would pick up that hot potato? I'm sure the especially bright and cocky Michael Gove will come up with all the answers. He's doing brilliantly so far.
Name: Paul Romney
Email: Yes
Years_at_school: 56-63
Date: 13 Feb 2013
Time: 11:35:39
Pete, your equation of the spirit that won the war with the spirit that built the welfare state seems to have reduced another guest to incoherence. I would add that even among the younger teachers most had presumably done National Service.
Name: Pete Fowler
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 56/62
Date: 11 Feb 2013
Time: 09:26:55
Reading Bob's paeans of praise to some of those teachers made me think of two factors. First, many of our best teachers had fought in the war and came out of that war with a still burning passion to serve the community. It was the same underpinning driver that led elsewhere to the creation of the welfare state that influenced the decision of so many of the brightest to teach in schools. There was a new world to be built; and where better to do that in a school for the next generation? Second, these teachers taught in a Middlesex borough where they all seemed to be able to buy rather nice houses in places like Pinner, Northwood and Kenton. I would hazard at a dangerous guess that neither the supply of the brightest into teaching, nor the ability of young teachers to find suitable housing in the South East, is as robust as would have been the case in the post-war peeriod.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 10 Feb 2013
Time: 04:29:49
Laurence Lando...a similar thing happened to me and my older grandson, in Tonbridge. I suggested the horse that came in last, that day, in the 2.45 at Doncaster. (It probably happened anyway.)
Name: Laurence Lando
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1957 -
Date: 09 Feb 2013
Time: 01:48:41
Fast food restaurant asked me if I wanted anything on my burger,'how about 5 pounds each way?'
Name: Bob Garratt
Email: garrattsatbtconnect.com
Years_at_school:
Date: 05 Feb 2013
Time: 10:31:24
Please God we pick up Laurence Lando's proposal and stop the bickering over events some fifty years ago! I found HCS hard going in my first year having arrived from a very "modern" primary school in Stanmore. However, it became much clearer as an organisation in year two, and then very easy to understand and use. Simultaneously I enjoyed my time in both the Scouts and the Cadets whilst learning to glide and fly. I found some of the teaching brutal (by today's standards) and yet paradoxically often remarkably flexible and encouraging. I was hopeless at French and Maths and was surprised that a combination of Harry Mees, George Yelland, and Paul Oliver propelled me to the sixth form without these O levels. I ended up with middling A levels and never got Maths until I left. I was hoping to go on to Cranwell when my eyes went slightly off and I was much too arrogant at 17 to fly anything other than Lightnings so was suddenly adrift in the world and without a univeristy background. But HCS had taught me how to handle large organisations and, using also the proverbial evening classes, I became very involved in organisational change, community development during the troubles in Northern Ireland, the development of Action Learning, the ending of the Cultural Revolution in China and the subsequent early development of management education there, and wrote some of the basic texts for the emerging field of corporate governance. After much international work I am currently involved in developing this across Africa whilst also helping develop a City Livery Company in London - to give back through pro-bono help to charities. Ironically, for such a non-scholar I now hold two Visitng Professorships and have had simialr positions at Cambridge and Imperial College. All of this stemmed from HCS's personal development help through building my confidence and intellectual curiosity whilst adding some rat-like cunning as to how you handle complex organisations. Square and Bigham were put into perspective by the time I left HCS, which has proved useful in handling bullies from then on. There are so many good stories of what has happened to so many people ex-HCS that we should concentrate on them - at least for a couple of years.
Name: Keith Palmer
Email: palmerdotkeith57atgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 1968-1975
Date: 05 Feb 2013
Time: 10:13:52
Thanks to all foregoing contributors to the "Golden Years" debate for a most interesting discussion. Apart from the fact that they certainly weren't the final seven years prior to the ending of the grammar school (precisely my own time as a pupil), I believe it was probably the period prior to WW2, remembering this was when, as Betjeman wrote so frequently, the suburbia that would later supply the school was actually being developed. The area was booming and the School was already well established in a time prior to post-war austerity and then the changing times of the 50s and 60s. However, I did have personal experience of the Portillo-Sheinwald-Anderson group, and for me the key word is "group". You can certainly add Geoffrey Perkins and Francis Matthews to their number too. It was clear, even at the age of 18, that all were destined to be high achievers in whatever their chosen field but I suspect the ultimate hierarchy at the school can take little credit. Michael Portillo has already publicly acknowledged the help given to him by Ken Waller, but I suspect all would give massive credit to Jim Golland, who has written his own piece on the 1971 leavers elsewhere on this site. Jim was, of course, Head of English and all the above were involved for some years in A2 (the English Department bookroom). I was in the group that overlapped with, and then succeeded Michael et al, so had first-hand experience of Jim's abilities. He, no doubt, considered himself fortunate to be able to work with such a talented group of individuals and I'm sure he would have taken that pleasure to his grave.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.wardatbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 03 Feb 2013
Time: 15:34:59
Match of the Day. AR Simpson XI vs OFSTED U15s. No contest. (Bigham, Amos and Thorne all sent off for bad behaviour.)
Name: Pete Fowler
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 56-62
Date: 03 Feb 2013
Time: 03:59:42
From what I've read on the Golden Years thread, I go with Brian: that sounds like a good time. A more open field, less fanaticism. The England of the 4th Harrow and not the CCF. Blake and not Kipling. Williams not Simpson. When thirteen year olds weren't forced into a really narrow group of subjects. When the Colonel was not a blot on the landscape. Sure, you can hold up the Anderson and Portillo years as the brilliant climax of Simpson's ideals, but that year was symptomatic of the times, the liberating culture of the late 1960s. They happened to be a bunch of really gifted youngsters who went to the school when the dreams of the young seemed so achievable. An accident of history. And they themselves witnessed, I think, the ending of the Simpson and Bigham Ice Age. But, all in all: I stick with Brian.
Name: Laurence Lando
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1957 -
Date: 02 Feb 2013
Time: 05:51:06
Well we have been given the challenge for starting something new! So rather than what went on at school, how about what you did afterwards. Whether it be Higher education, profession or other work, or maybe prison ;-) Laurence
Name: steve manning
Email: s.manning attalktalk.net
Years_at_school: 63-67
Date: 01 Feb 2013
Time: 21:55:41
I remember waiting outside Mr.Avery's office for my daily dose of corporal punishment and listening to Mrs. Chase and Cyril Atkins joking about my illegitamacy. Golden years indeed. Like Eric Clapton & Jack Nicholson I, too believed my parent wasn't who I believed her to be.
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash70panatyahoodotcom
Years_at_school: 1962-9
Date: 01 Feb 2013
Time: 07:36:35
Chaps, I'm pleased to see these matters being discussed in a somewhat less vitriolic manner than heretofore. There were remarkable experiences both good and bad which define what we have become. It is a fact that I always feel somewhat edgy in the presence of Old Gaytonians. You never know when some clever b****r is going to say something perceptive that you've not considered.
Name: Andrew Carruthers
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school:
Date: 31 Jan 2013
Time: 15:31:36
Comments noted, my reference to "silly" was directed to the headmaster to whom Laurence Lando had spoken, not to him. Certainly I did not intend any offence to Laurence. As to whether I had "problems", had I done I would have been a far more prolific contributor to this web site than I have been. The good, and I had plenty, was very good, but on the whole most of my junior school experience was pretty depressing, but I hardly think that unusual. Enough said.
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colindotdickinsatblueyonderdotcodotuk
Years_at_school: 1947-1953
Date: 31 Jan 2013
Time: 15:19:57
Laurence. It was gracious of you to apologise to Andrew, but your earlier contribution expressed so succintly and precisely what I have striven to convey that I think you should wonder whether Andrew has a problem. You did say yourself "despite problems", and I can hardly imagine anyone passing through any educational process without "problems" from time to time. I know I had plenty, but even then I rarely felt that they were the fault of the School, the staff or other pupils. Andrew. While the idea of "golden years" may be a bit silly, it is an idea put into Laurence's mind by someone else, and there are clearly several of us who find it not "silly" but interesting food for thought. To throw in the note - after all these years - that "more than half of my time at the school was miserable and unfulfilling" suggests an enduring resentment that most of us have long cast aside. But then, you do say (against a common tenor of criticism) that "whatever Dr S's faults, and they were many, I clearly remember him saying the focus of the school was A Level success, and that was not a bad objective. I don't think it is fair to castigate him for neglecting those who did not make it to Oxbridge". My experience and recollection precisely.
Name: Laurence Lando
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1957-
Date: 31 Jan 2013
Time: 10:31:06
Andrew, apologies if my question has irritated you, as it clearly has, I suppose your golden years came later? I do recall being in the lower school in assembly, and looking behind and up, to see the seried ranks of the sixth-form. Wondering if I would ever make the leap heavenwards! In 1963, the moment arrived and that October we were in the balcony listening to the events occuring around Cuba. My thoughts were clear then, and I still remember them now, with a wry smile! Made the balcony just in time for WW3! Laurence
Name: Andrew Carruthers
Email: ajcarruthersatbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1961-8
Date: 31 Jan 2013
Time: 07:10:11
I don't often contribute but I must just say, with respect, that the "golden years" idea is pretty silly. I did well academically in the end, but more than half of my time at the school was miserable and unfulfilling, the sixth form much better. Which years exactly do I select? The same must apply to others, there can be no golden generation if their school experience is the test. If you mean to identify those who succeeded either at school or later in life, then it is meaningless, because chance plays so much part. There will always be achievers and it is entirely a role of the dice where they emerge, even at a selective school. Moroever, many have gone on to do great things but because nobody knows, they seem to be excluded from the debate. By the way, whatever Dr S's faults, and they were many, I clearly remember him saying the focus of the school was A Level success, and that was not a bad objective. I don't think it is fair to castigate him for neglecting those who did not make it to Oxbridge - but will the interminable debate never end!?
Name: Laurence Lando
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1957 -
Date: 31 Jan 2013
Time: 05:49:13
Brian, Colin et al. What wonderful responses to my question of the 'Golden Years'. I consider myself very fortunate to have been a pupil at HCS, despite the 'problems'. It gave a youngster from a family of moderate means, the chance to use his adequate sholastic ability to improve his cicumstances and that of his family to be. What always amazed me at the time, and even more so now I look back in retrospect, is the sheer excellence that came from the school, whatever decade you seem to choose. What a pity we cannot see what it might be producing in this generation. Laurence
Name: Michael Schwartz
Email: michaelwritesforyouatyahoo.ca
Years_at_school: 65-72
Date: 30 Jan 2013
Time: 19:40:29
"Improved rants opened up university aspirations..." Did they involve third-rate Swedish commercial travelers in shortee raincoats, Brian? Regarding golden years I would combine the 1964 intake of Michael Portillo and co with the 1963 intake of Richard Salter, Michael Woods, Stephen Games and many others such as the classicists like Geoffrey Egan, Michael Woods again, etc. My own year, 1965. Most seem to have become an accountant. Michael.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmail.com
Years_at_school: 40-47
Date: 30 Jan 2013
Time: 13:22:51
A feature of school life in the thirties that I did not mention was the way families were involved. There were several fairs and other events held to pay first for the pavillion and then the swimming pool. I believe the pool was excavated by volunteers drawn from parents and boys. Mothers operated the tuck shop in the front hall and at the pool. A large group of mothers met on Thursday afternoons under 'Lady Alice' in the main hall to sew athletic shorts and sports bags in house colours and there was an active trade in secondhand uniforms. The family spirit these activities engendered deteriorated quickly in the early forties under wartime conditions and were never seen again.I suggest that these activities contributed to making a culture of community spirit that made the period 'golden years' for everyone.
Name: Colin Dickens
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school:
Date: 29 Jan 2013
Time: 16:46:38
Golden years, or golden lads? I suppose the question put to Laurence Lando was, as Laurence interprets it, about the golden lads produced in a certain period, but there were always “golden lads” Just glance through the obituaries in this site. Without doing that, I can think of such as Ernie Amor CBE FRPS (who joined the school in Ernest Young’s time) and who became Chairman of Kodak, John Boothman, Schneider Trophy winner 1931, Professor Sir Charles Dodds, who led the team which discovered the first synthetic hormone, stilboestrol, in 1938, Vic Senior, double MC in WW2 with a notable career in the Foreign Office and charity work to follow, Len Taylor, of my generation, who co-founded Logica, and made it a world-leading software house, Professor Kel Fidler, former Chairman of the Engineering Council, the Michael Portillo, Sir Nigel Scheinwald and Clive Anderson years, and, of course, Sir Paul Nurse, Nobel Prize winner and President of the Royal Society.
Brian Hester has it pretty well. Perhaps he’s right to choose the 1930’s; the twenties and thirties were harder and more difficult times to excel. But I would prefer to regard all the HCS years as golden years. Having edited the Magazine for nearly 20 years I came across so many men who had achieved distinction and reflected the quality of the education from which they benefited. And, even more, I never cease to wonder at the success achieved in so many fields by those who gained no academic distinction – including many who never had a “career” at school. Maybe something just seeped into our bones from the ethos which pervaded the place.
I was given to much philosophical thought as I read the preceding contributions, which I have compressed into the above. For anyone who cares to pursue it I would commend a reflective reading of Cymbeline Act 4, Scene 2: “Golden lads and girls all must, As chimney sweepers, come to dust . . . “ But don’t let it bother you.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmail.com
Years_at_school: 40-47
Date: 29 Jan 2013
Time: 09:53:42
'When were the school's golden years?' is a great question but an impossible one to answer. All we have to go on is our own memories and an incomplete record of achievements. Old codgers of my generation wont achieve much more in our lives while the later ones are still in the act of 'producing'. As a place that produced lots of pleasant memories, I would think the school was the best place to be at during the thirties. Those were years of simple pleasures when nobody had any money so there was a lot of communal activity. The staff of that time were deeply involved. Quite a few were beginning to age by 1940 when I arrived and the war was in progressed so activities declined. By 1947 when I left. Randall Williams had retured, and Crowle Ellis had filled the headship for one year, and Simpson had arrived. ARS's first year was too full of axe swinging in the common room for cane activity. The elderly staff who had stayed on past retirement were leaving and the OG members of staff left along with others. The whole culture of the school was changing. Until the education act of 1944 or 5, compulsory schooling ended at age 14. Household incomes were low for most of us so there was pressure to join the work force. Williams got most of his pupils through what was then School Certificate at age 15 plus, a year ahead of usual. With this certificate, you could join, Glaxo, General Electric, Kodak, or others at entry level and work part time towards a degree. The certificate was also entry to accounting and banking among other jobs. Lifting the leaving date to 16 opened up 6 th form possibilities so in 1945, there was a huge influx to 6 th form. Improved rants opened up university aspirations for many. This was the situation ARS inherited and built on. Williams measured his achievement by the numbers of school cert passes, rather than oxbridge entries the Simposn found dear. Williams designed the schoola ctivities around the masses while Simpson had a narrower view. For that reason, I believe the thirties were 'golden', although I di dnot experience them.
Name: Peter ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 29 Jan 2013
Time: 04:21:49
Laurence, I take your point. But I'm not sure of the logic that judges a school by the later journeys of its pupils. In my own case, I performed poorly (except at cricket and the unofficial soccer team.) Hardly surprising. Bigham for Botany and the inept Steed for Chemistry. A toxic combination of hopeless teaching at 'A' Level. However, I flowered at my subsequent College thanks to the influence of outstanding lecturers. But it is not the violence (you mention) I judge Simpson by - that always amused me in a ludicrous way. It was his inability to connect with the non-Oxbridge potential pupils. So many were laid waste, at least in academic terms. And I speak as one who has been in education in one form or another all my professional life. This is Simpson's ultimate failure. In my view, it was no Golden Age unless judged by the narrow criterion of Oxbridge awards. There's more to education than that - even in the 1960s.
Name: Type your name here
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school:
Date: 28 Jan 2013
Time: 10:09:37
Peter, the violence was undoubtably encouraged; Waller, Beauchamp and Keith Neil, all of whom also taught me, were part of the exception. My question about the Golden Age, is judged by the eventual journey that the pupils made after leaving the school, some made good even though they didn't attain academic excellence. How did the pre-1939 cadre of pupils compare with the 1950s. Did the number going to Oxbridge increase with Simpson? Did the selection at 11 plus give the school the best choice during the baby boomers generation. Laurence
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 28 Jan 2013
Time: 02:46:35
In response to Laurence Lando...one swallow does not make a Summer. With the greatest respect to Sir Paul Nurse, even he does not 'make' a school. That particular era, as we all know, was full of faults, and it was just fortune that the likes of Sir Paul turned up. That said, I must be fair and recognise he was inspired by two gifted teachers. One was my old form master (Rod?) Beauchamp, a chemist and botanist and clearly no sympathiser of the Simpsonian Regime. The second, Keith Neal, went on to do big things at Manchester Grammar School (son of E S Neal, the great badgers expert.) These teachers were also, in their way, 'swallows'. However, they taught in a grim, repressive time of the school which, for reasons discussed elsewhere, was no Golden Era.
Name: Laurence Lando
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1957 -1964
Date: 28 Jan 2013
Time: 02:01:57
Out to dinner with the Headmaster of my grandson's Prep School. I have known him a long time, as he was the jumior latin master, when my son was a pupil at the same school in Oxshott Surrey. I was telling him about HCS and was asked when did I consider were the Golden Years of the school. Well I suppose those when I was there! In the same era as Paul Nurse etc. Was I correct? Laurence
Name: Graeme Young
Email: No thanks
Years_at_school: 1947 to 1953
Date: 25 Jan 2013
Time: 08:11:15
Hello again. As a survivor of the Simpson+Amos+Bigham years, I really only want to send greetings to all those steadfast souls who suffered under that regime. I am facing my 77th birthday in a month's time AND 51 years of marriage. If beaten (and we were, frequently) try again!
Name: Michael Schwartz
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school:
Date: 24 Jan 2013
Time: 19:07:05
Brian - by coincidence I found myself on the Cambridge University website. Alan Reece was an outstandingly generous benefactor towards the university. When you are next in Toronto, Brian, the kettle is on!
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesrteratgmail.com
Years_at_school: 1940-7
Date: 24 Jan 2013
Time: 06:22:04
Thanks Michael for drawing our attention to Reece's obituary. What an incredible career. I remember him both from his days in the Air Training Corp and for what was at rhe time an amusing incident. During the war years the dining rooms at the head of the stairs opposite the clock were abandoned and those of us who took school dinners ate from a series of tables in the basement corridor next to what was then called the New Physics lab. George Thorn was in charge and insisted on complete silence while we ate. One day he called out "Rees you were talking, stand up'. The two Rees brothers together with Reece all stood. In case you were wondering - the food was cooked in the attic kitchen and brought down by dumb waiter.
Name: Michael Schwartz
Email:
Years_at_school: Good when I dropped sciences.
Date: 23 Jan 2013
Time: 18:40:01
From Wednesday's Daily Telegraph: The son of a soldier, Alan Richard Reece was born in London on March 7 1927 and educated at Harrow County School.
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colindotdickinsatblueyonderdotcodotuk
Years_at_school: 1947-1953
Date: 22 Jan 2013
Time: 08:00:45
I thought he looked rather well in it. I wonder whether anyone enquired of its origin and significance. [Para] Did anyone notice mention of another notable OG in Saturday's Times, Spitfire historian Peter Arnold? He was interviewed in connection with the so far unsuccessful search for buried Spitfires in Burma. Peter has a long history of seeking out Spitfirs in Burma, particularly four known to exist (above ground). He mentioned the present treasure hunt, from which he seemed to be keeping his distance, when we met at the School in October. He clearly thought the much-hyped "imminent" discovery was something not to be missed, and, although nothing was found last week, he does say that the hunt is not ended.
Name: Dave Buckley (53-61)
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 20 Jan 2013
Time: 04:15:48
Ref the last post - I thought the same thing myself. Maybe he was not far from home and could change quickly for the rest of the journey!
Name: John Clark
Email: jmclark dot two at virgin dot net
Years_at_school: 1954-59
Date: 17 Jan 2013
Time: 15:39:33
Did anyone else see Michael Portillo's latest railway journey on Wednesday 16th. January and notice that he appeared to be wearing an Old Gaytonians blazer, instead of his usual pale pastel shade? He was passing through central London so I wondered if he was going to stop off at Harrow before heading north, but this proved not to be the case. I didn't hear him make any mention of the blazer or what it represented, but it certainly caught the eye!
Name: Bob Garratt
Email: garrattsatbtconnect.com
Years_at_school: 1954-1962
Date: 03 Jan 2013
Time: 08:40:04
What tragic news about Clive Pigram! I have just heard that Paul Oliver is in the John Radcliffe Oxford with a broken hip. More news as I get it.
Name: Dick Worsfold
Email: rjworsfoldatgmail.com
Years_at_school: 1951-1959
Date: 02 Jan 2013
Time: 18:29:39
As a further comment about Mr Butler, Jon should be very proud of his father, as a fine teacher and a very good person he was one of the best at HCS and one who helped me along the way. I remember him with great affection.
Name: Steve Grimes
Email: Jeff has it
Years_at_school: 1958 to 1964
Date: 27 Dec 2012
Time: 13:45:28
Idling away over Christmas, I came across these interesting old Episode 6 clips on You Tube featuring Roger Glover. Apologies if they have been posted on here previously.
1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whKCktnLfMw Roger Glover 1968 Episode 6 - A Hazy Shade Of Winter
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDwg5WLY7ak Episode 6 - Morning Dew 1967
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zE8rqjlwsFk Episode 6 - I Hear Trumpets Blow 1967
Name: Dr Graham Clingbine
Email: graham at moneymakers dot go hyphen plus dot net
Years_at_school: 1961 to 1969
Date: 26 Dec 2012
Time: 08:59:42
Greetings to any staff and pupils who may remember me, and to former members of the Old Gaytonians cricket club.... I played in the 2nd and 3rd teams with the Pinfields, Howard Collins, Deryk Pepperell, Ian Park, Martin Flack, Alan Able,John Alderman, Graham Cutts, Graham Carter.....plus my friends of the time Oliver Burrows and Tony De Vletter. A special hello to Fred Bilson who taught me English (and Don Kinkaid for French).I remember most of the staff of the time (1960's) and many of my classmates. A lot of water has passed under the bridge since then so I won't go into hours of historical memories. Very briefly, having gone through University I ended up with degrees in Biological Science and Neurobiology and later a PhD for memory research. I married twice and have one grown up daughter from each marriage. I became a good badminton player and eventually was our college team captain being awarded colours. I have indulged a passion for angling all over the UK and Europe and caught all kinds of big and small fish species in rivers, lakes and at sea. I had a brief spell in a pharmaceutical company but have spent most of my life in school teaching and am a qualified teacher.I moved into Further Education and enjoyed a fantastic job as a Course Manager and Lecturer at a large college Ofsted grade 1 (outstanding) in north London...my subject area was Anatomy and Physilogy, and Biochemistry. I decided to do a voluntary early retirement a couple of years ago and now am chilling out on the internet, fishing and having fun. If anyone wants to know more or would like to get in contact,feel free to email. Wishing everyone a happy Christmas and great 2013. Graham Clingbine
Name: Fred Bilson
Email: fbilso at gmail.com
Years_at_school:
Date: 24 Dec 2012
Time: 08:49:19
Hi all Have just seen Don Kincauds Round Robin Bente has had tto have a couple of operations, but otherwise they seem fine, travelling between Britain and Demnmark. Bente reviews exhibitions and plays in London for her Danish newspaper, and Don has written a concerto this year Best wishes to you all Fred
Name: Robert Tabb
Email: robert.tabb73at gmail.com
Years_at_school: 56 to 63
Date: 19 Dec 2012
Time: 08:33:18
Thanks Jon Butler for your comments here. Your father was certainly inspirational for me & introduced me to the Chemistry Lab!I went on to Bristol Uni but those lecturers were not so inspirational & my degree proved it! However I got into Plastics & did much better at Loughborough doing a MSc & spent a further 35 years in the industry!Did he persuade you to study Chemistry?
Name: Jon Butler
Email: jon at jonbutler.net
Years_at_school: I wish
Date: 17 Dec 2012
Time: 16:43:11
Thank you for an excellent website. I know HCS meant a great deal to my father, Charles Butler, who taught Chemistry in the late 50's. To fill in a couple of blanks, he was the master in the cricket team photos for IVth eleven in '57 and '58. I always wanted to be a pupil at HCS, but he sent me to Watford Grammar...
Name: Alan Turing
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 17 Dec 2012
Time: 08:57:51
To Chris Rickwood. Kind of you to offer help. We've been busy at Bletchley, what with the War on, but I consulted a Major Skillen. Clever man. He cracked the clue in no time. Ah well, back to the Enigma Code
Name: Robert Tabb
Email: robert.tabb73at gmail.com
Years_at_school: 56 - 63
Date: 17 Dec 2012
Time: 00:37:18
Thanks Esmond abot Cultybraggan comments. I too remember that Camp especially the open sewer pipe we had as toilets & the high winds blowing your cornflakes away from your bowl! You had to walk to the catering tent with your hands holding everything down!
Name: Laurence Lando
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1957
Date: 15 Dec 2012
Time: 06:27:42
May I wish you all a wonderful Xmas and a Happy, Healthy New Year. Laurence
Name: Chris Rickwood
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 11 Dec 2012
Time: 16:50:15
Alan, No luck with your clue. I'm dependent on a friend Emailing the Xword and I can't even find that clue. Wondering if they Emailed right one or if your date of 10 Dec is right?
Name: Esmond Sanders
Email: esmond.sandersatualberta.ca
Years_at_school: 56-63
Date: 10 Dec 2012
Time: 16:55:15
A few years ago on this board there was a discussion of the CCF camp held at Cultybraggen in the summer of 1958. A photograph of one of the appalling huts was posted by John Clark and there were some reminiscences of that week spent in Scotland. It was widely believed at the time that Cultybraggen had been a POW camp in the recent past. I have just finished reading a book titled: Churchill's Unexpected Guests. Prisoners of War in Britain in World War II, by Sophie Jackson. In it, the author covers Comrie Camp, as it was called during the war. It turns out to have been a POW camp used for particularly passionate Nazi POWs, because it was considered a difficult camp from which to escape (those of us who were there would all agree with that!). Indeed, it was used to hold Rudolf Hess after his plane crashed in Scotland. In the book there is considerable detail on a murder that occurred there in December 1944 when Nazi POWs strung up a non-Nazi German POW in the lavatories. That would account for the bad feeling that I had every time I used them - or maybe it was just the cookhouse food! The murder was the subject of a detailed investigation at the time. If you go to You Tube and type in Cultybraggen, you can see the camp today. It is little changed from 1958, or indeed from when it was a POW camp.
Name: Alan Turing
Email: ash71panatyahoodotcom
Years_at_school: 1949-54
Date: 09 Dec 2012
Time: 18:14:53
Times Crossword 10 Dec. Clue 1 across Drown RC dossers.
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash70panatyahoodotcom
Years_at_school: 1962-9
Date: 07 Dec 2012
Time: 05:30:42
Oh no, what have I started?.
Name: chris Rickwood
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 06 Dec 2012
Time: 17:50:03
Anagram of Champion Many Nymphomaniac
Name: Pete Fowler
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 56/62
Date: 06 Dec 2012
Time: 16:04:46
Devils in a burning square? (1,1,7)
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colindotdickinsatblueyonderdotcodotuk
Years_at_school: 1947-1953
Date: 06 Dec 2012
Time: 14:10:40
OK Chris. Now what did you make of 26 across today? If you've solved it, well done. It's clever, amusing and slightly startling. For non-Times readers, it's a 12 letter word and the clue is,"Woman who loves the other champion, many having failed."
Name: Chris Rickwood
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 06 Dec 2012
Time: 08:21:18
I got the Times 8 Down as Bradshaw just because of the nail and timetables connection. The "wood" part defeated me but now I have the explanation which I post without comment BRAD,SHAW. A shaw is an archaic forest. ORIGIN, Old English sceaga, of Germanic origin related to shag. George Bradshaw, the eponymous publisher of railway timetables.
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash70panatyahoodotcom
Years_at_school: 1962-9
Date: 05 Dec 2012
Time: 01:34:35
I am very pleased to report that yet again the editor of the Times crossword has come up trumps for Old Gaytonians. This time Portillo has worked the oracle with today's 8 down ... Nail on wood a collection of timetables (8).
Name: Peter Leeson
Email: peteratpeterleeson.co.uk
Years_at_school: 1951-8
Date: 04 Dec 2012
Time: 15:21:58
Thanks Brian-as you say there's some fascinating detail on the web. I also discovered a musician known as "Twink" who once played drums for "The Fairies. He actually did derive his name from the home perm kit and his hair resembles an hilarious exaggeration of Dr.B's. Now that my memory has been jogged, I do recall"Twink" Bradley's "dry cleaning service" as well as his strange love-hate affair with window mechanisms that lead him to perch on window sills like an inverted bat. He would boast of "a string of degrees from top universities" and ensure us that we were not fit to be taught by him. Although from the on-line references he had certainly distinguished himself in academia, I don't recall ever actually learning anything from him - unlike Msssrs Heafield and Hall wo thankfully got me through O-Level Lang.& Lit. I am also now convinced that the home perm product was in fact named after Dr.B. rather than the reverse - probably via some Old Gayt who ran Unilever.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 40-47
Date: 04 Dec 2012
Time: 12:07:27
Type the name 'Patrick Brendon Bradley' into your search engine and you'll find several interesting entries about the man. One from Friends Reunited appears to be posted anonymously and has a photograph of Twink teaching. There also some interesting photographs of the school that I had not seen before. A note gives another explanation of the derivation of the name 'Twink'.
Name: Chris Rickwood
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 04 Dec 2012
Time: 05:52:47
I find it difficult to remember Twink with any affection having been the recipient of two of his favourite punishments. What he called "dry cleaning" - an incredibly violent shaking leaving one dazed and his hair pulling, where he'd reach across a column of desks, grab the alleged miscreant by the hair which he then would round his fingers and hauled the unfortunate to the front of the class. I recognise that norms have changed over time but I cannot regard these behaviours as "normal" by any standards. Today of course he'd be facing jail time - and it would be well deserved.
Name: Michael Schwartz
Email: michaelwritesforyouatyahooca
Years_at_school:
Date: 03 Dec 2012
Time: 20:03:11
I am intrigued by this name Twink. In Toronto a twink is a boy who is old enough to get into a club but not old enough to buy a drink legally. I am assured of this by my friends in the Toronto Gay Village where I am the only straight in the village (sorry Little Britain fans).
Name: Peter Leeson
Email: peteratpeterleeson.co.uk
Years_at_school: 1951-8
Date: 03 Dec 2012
Time: 14:22:23
Never mind the "literals" Colin. Its a wonderful story. It may seem unkind to laugh if you don't remember the man himself. I can imagine the drama that he must have put into the gestures and the sense of inevitability in the onlookers. By the way, I was quite pleased with the "literal" in my earlier email as it seemed to provide a new word for the Uxbridge if not the Oxford Dictionary i.e. "maaintain - to look after ones hair".
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colindotdickinsatblueyonderdotcodotuk
Years_at_school: 1947-1953
Date: 03 Dec 2012
Time: 10:40:28
Dammit! How these literals do creep in. "Ireland's", not "Irelanc's".
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colindotdickinsatblueyonderdotcodotuk
Years_at_school: 1947-1953
Date: 03 Dec 2012
Time: 10:37:37
I'm sure Paul's right, Peter - mainly because he's Paul - but Twink did profess to be "Irelanc's finest swordsman". He was givem to such extravagant claims, many unsupported by evidence but others surprisingly true. Brian Spencer told me an amusing story about Twink: he stayed in touch with him and would visit him (Brian), at his home in Kenton. On one such occasion, I think for a dinner party, Twink had invented a quick-release sword scabbard (no, I don't know) and brought it round to demonstrate. After several lightning withdrawals and returns of the sword to its scabbard he managed to miss the return and drove it into his leg casusing profuse bleeding and an urgent visit to hospital. I seem to remember that the blood took some removing from Brian's carpet.
Name: Peter Leeson
Email: peteratpeterleeson.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1951-8
Date: 03 Dec 2012
Time: 09:06:55
How quickly and cruelly beliefs held since childhood can be shattered! But "twinkle twinkle little star" is also disappointing and does little justice to the confirmed and accomplished eccentric that the dear old doctor had become by the fifties. Paul Oliver writes that he carried a sword-stick in the staff room! Thanks for the suggestion of a hair transplant Colin but in this cold weather I think I will continue to wear my cap - after all I've been properly trained.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 1940-7
Date: 03 Dec 2012
Time: 06:16:45
Twink was already so named when I first arrived in 1940. As I recall, there is an explanation for the name buried in this Guest Book. The author claimed that Twink had his Speech Training class reciting 'Twinkle twinkle little star' but there must have been more to it. Under his direction. we all took Speech Training in our first year but I do not recall this recitation. Of all the staff, many of whom I see in retrospect to have been eccentric, Twink was by far the most inclined in that direction.
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colindotdickinsatblueyonderdotcodotuk
Years_at_school: 1947-1953
Date: 03 Dec 2012
Time: 02:57:00
Sorry, Peter. He was Twink when I arrived in 1947 and had been for some time. Good luck with the hair transplant.
Name: Peter Leeson
Email: peter at peterleeson.co.uk
Years_at_school: 1951-8
Date: 02 Dec 2012
Time: 11:23:31
"For everyone who longs for shiny soft waves-Twink is here!" Apparently 'Twink' was a home perm kit available in the 50's (not just the late 60's and 70's as claimed by Wikipedia). Surely this is the origin of Dr Bradley's nickname . Come to think of it how did he maaintain all those curls? OK I'm jealous.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 40-47
Date: 30 Nov 2012
Time: 04:35:42
For the benefit of those of us who do not subscribe to The Times, may we ask Henry to provide the clue?
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash70panatyahoodotcom
Years_at_school: 1962-9
Date: 27 Nov 2012
Time: 01:36:54
The chaps will of course recall the recent correspondence between myself and Colin Dickins over the merits of ante and paene. Well, I am pleased to report that the editor of The Times crossword has today obliged with 12 down. The influence of this site marches ever on!
Name: PJR Phillips
Email: pandgphillips12athotmail.co.uk
Years_at_school: 53-60
Date: 25 Nov 2012
Time: 18:16:49
I have in my possession the last authenticated moustache of Col. W.M.Bigham OBE.I am hoping to auction this rare and collectable item for charity. Is anyone out there interested in starting the bidding and nominating a suitable good cause? I would prefer to go through your channel as opposed to Amazon. I suggest a starting figure of $25.
Name: Kevin Gough
Email: kgoughatbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1967-1974
Date: 23 Nov 2012
Time: 13:18:49
Good to find the site after so many years and recognize some names once familar. Wonder where we are all now. I am in Hereford having escaped the SE twenty years ago and enjoying life working and volunteering in the Third Sector.
Name: Laurence Lando
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1956 -
Date: 20 Nov 2012
Time: 09:38:59
Hello guys, just a request that you visit my Movember website to help my scrappy 'tache stay after this month, my wife of 42 years has said she will match the donations for growth, if she can shave it off! So come on guys, at lets make madam's pleasure expensive. My moustache can be found on Movember laurence lando 6297145, and many thanks in advance. Laurence
Name: andrew mcalister
Email: andrew.mcallisteratporcelanosa.co.uk
Years_at_school: 1974-1977
Date: 19 Nov 2012
Time: 05:30:53
hi just been on site,i was their at browndown camp when we "shot" at that hovercraft.just bad shots Im afraid
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colindotdickinsatblueyonderdotcodotuk
Years_at_school: 1947-1953
Date: 16 Nov 2012
Time: 17:27:52
You didn't miss just Brian Hester in Ontario, Laurence, you also missed my old friend Phil Chesterman in Calgary. Others I have been (and mostly still am) in touch with in the OG diaspora live, or were living, in the USA,Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, France, Germany, Norway and Ireland. (Do Wales and Scotland count?)
Name: Laurence Lando
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1956 -
Date: 16 Nov 2012
Time: 09:00:54
So Brian lives in Canada, set me wondering how far OGs have strayed from Harrow. I have been in touch with Tony Arkey, who runs an investment company in Hong Kong. Laurence
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratmail.com
Years_at_school:
Date: 15 Nov 2012
Time: 14:53:07
Glad to learn you enjoyed Canada, Lawrence. You literally drove past the end of our street on your way to Niagara. Always interested to meet other OGs so next time you visit the colonies, drop in. The same goes for other OGs.
Name: Laurence Lando
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1956-
Date: 15 Nov 2012
Time: 10:49:33
Phil. My wife and I visited Canada this summer. Landed in Toronoto, did Niagara Falls, that were awsome, despite the mass tourism trying to spoil the area. The town of Niagara on the Lake, was beautiful, a bit like rural Surrey. We then flew to Calgary, my idea was of cow town, but we were surrounded by oil men at an enormous convention! Went by bus tour to Banff, Lake Louise, and wonderful Jasper, where there were black bears on the golf course, certainly didn't look for my wayward golf balls! Boarded Rocky Mountaineer to Vancouver, great trip despite being over hyped. Vancouver, was just beautiful, no wonder it is supposed to be the world's number one city. Next trip to Tokyo and Kyoto! Retirement is great... Laurence
Name: Phil Chesterman
Email: philconnieatshaw.ca
Years_at_school: 46-51
Date: 13 Nov 2012
Time: 20:18:51
Sorry about that Dr Lando, as I remember from your contributions of yore. No, not California; just fly north over two states and turn right before you get to Alaska. Then cross one provincial boundary. Don't bog down in the ill-named tar sands (try bitumen), simply turn south, drive for 4 hours and "welcome to Calgary". We all make errors, some big some small. After stating that I was 'closer than most' to George Thorn I felt that an explanation was in order. I played not one but two stringed instruments in what was his very pathetic orchestra; neither was a violin. But to get in George's really good books involved his musical appreciation society and I was proud to join. It was an excuse to avoid the cadet corps. However Dr ARS found a way to shut that down too.
Name: Laurence Lando
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1956-
Date: 13 Nov 2012
Time: 12:01:52
Phil, I was nearly worried, as you could have called me Laurence Rambo! I see from your email address, ending in dot ca, that you are in California, maybe that's wrong as well! Laurence
Name: Phil Chesterman
Email: philconnieatshaw.ca
Years_at_school: 46-51
Date: 12 Nov 2012
Time: 15:59:33
Further to the question about child abuse, please remove Brian Hester's name. Should read Laurence Lambo. Sorry for that.
Name: Phil Chesterman
Email: philconnieatshaw,ca
Years_at_school: 46-51
Date: 12 Nov 2012
Time: 15:54:00
Answers to a couple of questions: -'Eggy' Webb was so 'nicknamed' due to his initials..E.G. - Brian Hester inquired about any instance of 'child abuse' at HCS. Immediately comes to mind is George Thorn. Being one of his apparent favourites I did get to know him a little better than most, and the only time he ever laid a finger or hand on me was use of his 'trademark' arm around a boy's shoulders. I have read insinuations over the years that he became a brute being in charge of corporal punishment, but that was after I left school. Another insinuation was homosexuality; never.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 40-47
Date: 12 Nov 2012
Time: 15:53:46
I quite agree with you Peter. Arriving as most of us did from primary schools which were dominated by women teachers, I believe we were over-awed by all those eccentric men running around in black gowns. Face it, they nearly all were eccentric but they were also, for the most part, devoted teachers. The violent element came to the fore under Simpson who was never backward in telling his listeners that just about every malfeasance a boy could commit was 'a clear case for corporal punishment' followed by his conclusion that 'boys respond well to the short sharp shock of the cane'. Little wonder that some of the staff adopted the same attitudes.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1958-63
Date: 11 Nov 2012
Time: 10:17:10
Perhaps it is time to praise old masters? Let us not forget(appropriate on Remembrance Sunday) Old Spargo. Or Wing Commander Rawnsley, I believe highly decorated for heroics during the First World War. Spargo was apparently a true flying ace in primitive planes and may have joined, not the RAF, but the Royal Flying Corps. By my time, he was a kindly old Physics teacher. Boys took advantage of his age and eccentricity until they discovered he was a good and amusing person, deep down. He thus commanded respect and affection. In the Second World War I seem to remember he was in charge of the air balloon defence of South East England. Some contribution. We admired him and would egg him on to tell a truly risque joke about how he broke his glasses whilst kissing his girlfriend. I shall leave the apparent circumstances undisclosed although these were the actual point of the joke. God bless him!
Name: Steve Grimes
Email: Jeff knows it
Years_at_school: 1958 - 1964
Date: 10 Nov 2012
Time: 13:15:04
Amusing quirky stories are fine but ......... Indeed, and there's more historical analysis of Mr Schofield courtesy of Martin Cutter available here: www.jeffreymaynard.com/Harrow_County/mcutter.htm
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colindotdickinsatblueyonderdotcodotuk
Years_at_school: 1947-1953
Date: 09 Nov 2012
Time: 09:32:30
Alan Schofield joined the OGCC during the mid- to late-1950's and I played with him in the 2nd XI. I found him pleasant and agreeable, a competent cricketer. As did the Rugby Club, when a team was short we would often recruit boys from the School. Unfortunately, Alan did not feel comfortable playing with them and - I believe for this reason - dropped out before the end of his first and only season. Perhaps a character flaw, but I have to say that I never heard until this correspondence that he was called Runt. [Para} Incidentally, he may well still be alive, probably aged around 80, and it might be well to remember this in any further mention of him. Amusing, quirky stories are fine, but . . .
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1958-63
Date: 08 Nov 2012
Time: 15:26:13
Having initiated the Runt Debate, I did not expect my mockery of his cricketing prowess to be taken seriously. The famous 'rocking action' (one arm goes up as the other goes down rather like a windmill) implies little control or accuracy. He had no idea whatsoever. Pete Fowler is right, however, about the run into the corridor prior to a slippering. Runt, though creepy, was no more violent than many others. As a product of two Grammar Schools I can confirm similar practices at my former one 'up North'. On the abuse theme, having worked at the Beeb all of the 70s and 80s, with J.Saville working once a week in a nearby studio to my office, I never caught any rumour about him. He was deeply in with the BBC commissionaires. They were smart, switched-on Cockney and Hackney-type characters and through them I would have heard of things if his crimes had been known within the organisation. It may be that a tiny group of Beeb people (fingers on one hand) suspected him but I do assure readers that 99.99% of employees had no clue to his awful behaviour.
Name: Peter Fowler
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 56-62
Date: 08 Nov 2012
Time: 09:22:40
I wouldn't have thought so, Laurence. What we have learned these past few weeks is that child abuse and paedophilia were at least as rife in the conservatively romanticised years of the 40s and 50s as they are now: there's a quite extraordinary piece in the current edition of The London Review of Books which will change forever any lingering warmth some of us may feel for iconic figures like Uncle Mac and Gilbert Harding. Those days contained very dark secrets. And we know, at a much more mundane and trivial level, that sadism, child abuse and even a very definite (though I don't think ever realised)sexual leaning towards pretty young boys were endemic in institutions of that time; but never really spoken of. And exactly as those at the BBC might mutter, 'it's just Jimmy', so we, at the lighter level, would have made similar remarks about the slipperings. Even though it is abundantly clear, with the benefit of hindsight, that some of those slipperings gave a quite disproportionate pleasure to the provider of the pain.
Name: Laurence Lando
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1956-
Date: 08 Nov 2012
Time: 07:53:21
With all the current news of child abuse, despite the evident violence used by several of the staff, was there ever any such incident reported at the school?
Name: Peter Fowler
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 56-62
Date: 08 Nov 2012
Time: 06:30:55
The reason that the chant was used in the corridor was, no doubt, due to Schofield's constant presence there. When slippering someone (a regular feature of his pedagogic practises), The Runt would invariably open the classroom door of the lab in which he was teaching and walk, slipper in hand, out into the corridor. This would allow him the required space for a 'run up' back into the lab (presumably using the overarm method that he taught his cricketing proteges) so that the slipper could be used with a much greater force on its intended target. Unfortunately, since his deep understanding of bowling techniques was not matched by even an ounce of common sense, his momentary absence from the classroom allowed just enough time for the victim to place his 'rough book' under his trousers at the point of impact. Not so much leg as 'rough book' before wicket, as it were.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmail.com
Years_at_school: 40-47
Date: 08 Nov 2012
Time: 06:21:07
I suspect the product to have been 'Andrews Liver Salts' which was always advertised as 'good for inner cleanliness'. It was a white powder that when water was added produced a clear fizzy drink with great laxative effects.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peterward16at btinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1958-63 or was it 1858-63?
Date: 08 Nov 2012
Time: 05:05:13
Steve Grimes has hit on something here. Faint memories and echoes. I believe there was a cleaning product advertised on ITV at the time. Can't get its name but the ad. spelt out the brand eg A.N.D.R.E.W.S. ...'for inner cleanliness.' A musician can make it work rhythmically (dotted crotchet on 'D' and quaver on 'R'.) Thus (although I had forgotten) R.U.N.T.U.S. ...for inner cleanliness. In this case, minims on 'N' and 'S', others straight crotchets and it works. The last part of the phrase has to be quavers and emphasised. Whilst this may not be clear to non-musicians, it does prove that both the Andrews example and the Runtus work perfectly. Lecture over.
Name: Steve Grimes
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school:
Date: 07 Nov 2012
Time: 09:19:04
Just seen Pete Ward's mention of Mr Schofield. I seem to remember a chant that used to echo down the corridors whenever he was around. It went something like this: "R....U....N....T....U....S... Runtus, Runtus, for inner cleanliness". I have no idea what that meant, but I recall it being popular at the time.
Name: Steve Grimes
Email: Jeff knows it
Years_at_school: 1958 to 1964
Date: 07 Nov 2012
Time: 09:11:12
A few weeks ago a small packet floated through my letterbox and I have just spent a remarkable few hours viewing the contents, "A Year to Remember", (the DVD celebrating the School's Centenary). I instantly recognised many former pupils and staff and even places within the school grounds even though it has been almost half a century since I last set eyes on them. The highlight for me however, must be Michael Portillo's after dinner speech in which he gave a very lifelike and amusing impression of Doctor Simpson ranting about elastic sided bootees. What a treat that was! I suspect Michael will not repeat this any time soon, so the DVD was well worth viewing just for that performance alone. Many thanks to the OGA for producing this magnificent programme of nostalgia.
Name: Chris Rickwood
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 06 Nov 2012
Time: 06:19:40
Peter Ward on Schofield brings back a faint memory. As I recall Schofield left suddenly in mid-term with no explanation. Inevitably there were rumours but I will not repeat them. There was another similar incident a new Math master called Downes who simply disappeared after about three weeks - again no explanation or even announcement
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1958-63
Date: 05 Nov 2012
Time: 17:02:45
Let us not forget the immortal 'Runt'. An unfortunate title for a not very pleasant little man who ran the Scouts on Fridays, at School. Alan Schofield. A bespectacled Chemistry master with a wierd expression, a twisted smile, and alleged hairy knee caps (as in the Goon Show.) The Dreaded Spon. Very visible and large 'Runt' signs appeared scratched onto the concrete wall at the edge of the playing field, bordering the Kenton Road. Runt was once known to ask a confidant, 'Who is this Bunty?' I last saw him at Bromley High School for Girls GPDST Speech Day circa 1986. My younger daughter won the Doubles Tennis U13 and was presented with a trophy by the newly married middle-aged Headmistress, a Mrs Schofield. My daughter had already told me her Headmistress was about to be married to a Chemistry master who lived at Wembley. And sure enough, there on stage was the by now considerably middle-aged but recognisable Runt. His claim to fame other than hairy knee caps was his cricketing excellence. He coached the U14s and 15s in my time although never dared appear in a Staff Match (very wise.) He advocated the 'Windmill Action' in bowling. As the left arm went straight up, the right hand bowler's arm went down behind his back. Then both arms whirled at enormous pace keeping the same distance between each other during the delvery. In effect, it was a 'slinging' action now prevalent in Test Cricket. Runt was therefore ahead of his time. When I later qualified as an ECB Coach, the Windmill Action did not feature in the copious training manual. England's loss. Poor Runt. His new although not young wife soon developed Alzheimer's and had to retire. So he could not have spent a very happy retirement. On a happier note, Peter Woollard, Mike Regan and I will shortly meet in London for lunch. It will be a pleasure to reminisce with Regan, the very bane of Dr Simpson's declining years. We shared numerous canings. Although Woollard and I meet regularly, we have not seen Regan since 1962. A mere half century. Thank you the HCS web site as it brought us together.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 40-47
Date: 05 Nov 2012
Time: 04:37:56
Interesting comments by Colin D on nick names given to masters. R.S. "Killer" King was an old boy but before returning to HCS to teach maths he spent several years in the same capacity at Lord Williams Grammar School at Thame in Oxfordshire. There he was known as "Rex" which seems appropriate for Reggie King. I suspect the "Killer" name is possibly a hangover from his rugby playing days at school. He was an inspirational teacher and was the only 'old boy' on staff to stay on under Simpson.
Name: Colin Dickims
Email: colindotdickinsatblueyonderdotcodotuk
Years_at_school: 1947-1953
Date: 05 Nov 2012
Time: 04:06:14
Hugh Skillen was indeed always known as Charlie. I never knew why. But then I never knew why Whiteside was called Suzie, although I assumed it was because he had fair, curly hair and pink cheeks. On the subject of nicknames, Walter Lane (Latin) was called "Hubie", after William Brown's (as in the Just William stories) regular adversary Hubert Lane. (I see he often appears erroneously in these entries as "Ubi". Perhaps boys long ago gave up reading Just William.) Nicknames do change. "Jumbo" Jones, a large and benign Maths and Latin teacher was known to earlier generations as "Hippo". I think I prefer the alliteration of "Jumbo". Perhaps "Killer" King was so called for alliterative reasons. He was actually a very nice guy. "Whiffey" King was named after a brand of small cigars, King's Whiffs. And D J King was always called "Dee Jye" because of Simpson's pronunciation of J. "Cob" Webb is obvious; but why was "Eggie" Webb so called? Or Twink" Bradley, for that matter? "Swanny" Amos was obvious because of his long, narrow neck. Simpson was christened "Square" by Len Taylor, because, as he says, of "a square mouth in a square face in a square head." It was exactly right for him. Just one more: I cannot omit my dear old friend,"Beaky" Fooks, presumable named for a fairly distinctive proboscis. He did confide to me in later years, "I never much cared for it." I wonder how some of the others felt.
Name: Chris Rickwood
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 04 Nov 2012
Time: 16:21:36
Dave, Suzy Whiteside taught economics I think he left about 1955-6
Name: David Fleming
Email: sueanddaveflemingattiscali.co.uk
Years_at_school: 1958-65
Date: 04 Nov 2012
Time: 05:00:21
Hugh Skillen has been a frequent topic of correspondence in the Guestbook over the last few years. However, wasn't he universally and affectionately known as "Charlie" during his time at the school? I've no idea why - can anyone throw any light on it? A few months ago someone referred to a master as "Suzy Whiteside" who liked caning boys. I've not seen this name elsewhere on the site. When was he there and what did he teach?
Name: Dave Buckley (53-61)
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 02 Nov 2012
Time: 04:31:10
Ref last posting - here we go again with someone with a strange sense of humour, although I did get a bit of laugh out of the comments! I would suggest whoever it is reads........ www.jeffreymaynard.com(slash)Harrow_County(slash)wmbigham_early.htm
Name: Heinz Schiller
Email: hschathotmail12.com
Years_at_school: Nein
Date: 01 Nov 2012
Time: 13:52:38
EDITORS NOTE - This was obviously written as satire. the author has chosen to stay anonymous and I have not edited it out - but PLEASE do not include this information as serious history of the school! - Jeff
Please to forgive me. I have heard about about your Major Skillen. If my researches are correct was he not resident at Bletchley Park near Tring in Southern England? The Hitler years have long passed and we Germans must now view the Second World War in a historical perspective. Although it goes without saying that we do not condone, in any shape or form, the atrocities carried out in the Nazi period of the 1930s to 1940s, across Europe. I have hit upon your web site as I am currently researching W.M. Bigham as he was known in your country. I believe I may be correct in asserting he was a teaching colleague of the great Major Skillen? I am most curious to know why Major Skillen was not aware of 'Bigham's' true origins. On your web site it is claimed that W.M. Bigham was a serving British soldier with a distinguished war record. Indeed, that he performed heroically behind German lines at the time of the Fall of Tobruk in the North African Campaign. What evidence is for this? I can find none. In fact, quite the opposite. Unless I am mistaken this 'British' soldier was in fact a senior operative in German Military Intelligence. It appears his codename may have been 'Schwok'. But I am yet to confirm this. It is possible that 'Schwok' played the role of double agent, passing on military information from British sources to Rommel's Desert High Command. This is yet to be confirmed. What is certain is that after the War, and interrogation by American Army officials in occupied Europe, this individual was secreted into UK where he provided valuable information on Nazi conspiracies, to the Allied War Commission. He was rewarded with British citizenship and later an OBE, passing himself off as a member of a distinguished Scottish family. With his liguistic skills he had little difficulty in enacting the role of a Lowland Scotsman of high birth with a fervour for education. He was a great admirer of the Scottish regiments that fought so bravely against Axis forces in North Africa. I have managed to track down that W.M.Bigham may be Karl-Heinz Zimmerman, Iron Cross First Class. Further, that on post-war transportation to England, he enrolled for teacher training and taught at a North West London Grammar School for Boys. Correspondence with Major Skillens's son in New Zealand suggests this school may be the one to which your valuable web site is dedicated. I would be interested to hear from those more expert than I as to the accuracy of this possibility. At present, I remain doubtful but attempt to keep an open mind.
Name: Ian Gawn
Email: Write word 'at' ian.gawnatorange.fr in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1955-62
Date: 01 Nov 2012
Time: 12:08:23
Not sure what Bill Harrison's gripe is - I was merely inviting attention to the parts of the book about Hugh Skillen's contribution to the "Y" Service, not the author's sources. But if reading the book, and not all the notes, is a "crime", mea culpa. I enjoyed the book, and doff my hat, or school cap, to the Major.
Name: Bill Harrison
Email: billdotharrisonatbtinternetdotcom
Years_at_school: 1961-1968
Date: 01 Nov 2012
Time: 06:17:20
I can't help wondering how thoroughly Ian Gawn read The Secret Listeners. The author lifted much of his material from books Hugh Skillen wrote and gives appropriate credit for this in the book! I worked this out from a simple browsing in a book store.
Name: Alex Bateman
Email: via Jeff
Years_at_school: 1980 - 1984
Date: 30 Oct 2012
Time: 15:32:37
Apologies, last message by me...
Name: Type your name here
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school:
Date: 30 Oct 2012
Time: 15:32:00
All, I had an email from Jeff today to say he is well, and pretty much escaped the storm today that swept across New York. Power is down at his home but is on in the office. His home and family are pretty much unscathed too
Name: Peter Vincent
Email: peteratvinntecdotcodotuk
Years_at_school: 1966-1972
Date: 30 Oct 2012
Time: 09:55:11
Ian - sorry to say that Major Hugh Skillen died on Sunday, 4th January, 2004.
Name: Ian Gawnhere
Email: ian.gawnatorange.fr
Years_at_school: 1955-62
Date: 30 Oct 2012
Time: 02:11:47
I apologise if this has been mentioned before, but being on holiday in Denmark seeing No2 son, daughter-in-law and the grandsons, I have more time for reading (we have rented a house, not staying with them - cannot do the early mornings these days!). Have just read "The Secret Listeners", about the wartime radio "Y" service which listened in to enemy (and I suspect some other) radio transmissions. Ome name that keeps coming up is that of Hugh Skillen. Very interesting, and even more so had we known of his exploits when at school. The book was oublished this year, so the interviews of him by the author must be fairly recent - is Hugh still around? If so would anyone in contact please pass him my kindest regards. Regrettably I canot make the Remembrance Day service but thoughts will be with you who are Ian Gawn
Name: Michael Schwartz
Email: The usual - keep the scams coming
Years_at_school: Character-building
Date: 29 Oct 2012
Time: 17:18:45
Colin - I was wondering about that, too. MY opponents - silenced? Surely not, Sir!
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colindotdickinsatblueyonderdotcodotuk
Years_at_school: 1947-1953
Date: 29 Oct 2012
Time: 10:15:43
Nothing new for a fortnight. Is it something you said, Michael?
Name: Michael Schwartz
Email:
Years_at_school: 1965-1972
Date: 15 Oct 2012
Time: 09:46:13
I will contribute to this linguistic debate by demonstrating my knowledge of Arabic. I know very few words in Arabic but one describes when I will actually reply - bukhra. It is the same as manana in Spanish - but without the sense of urgency. I hope this is a humorous contribution to "this disappointingly serious website."
Name: Robert Sanderson
Email: rob.suesandathotmail.com
Years_at_school: 1962 - 1967
Date: 14 Oct 2012
Time: 18:10:37
Yes,thank you Chris Rickwood. I still have the old Pete and Dud LP in possession. The 'silent 't' in 'fox' joke is one of their greatest lines. Its inclusion was an attempt to inject a little mirth into this disappointingly serious guestbook. Some items redefine the term 'tedious'. Simpson's effect was far reaching. The Simpson Effect? Now, there's a thought!
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratmail.com
Years_at_school: 40-47
Date: 14 Oct 2012
Time: 08:14:23
On that vexing 'penultimate' question - I believe the Swahili language has a contribution to make. With its intriguing mixture vocabularies of Arabic and Bantu languages, combined with the grammatical rules of Bantu languages, it has some interesting twists of usage to offer when referring to time. One of these is the range of words not just for 'tomorrow', 'today', and 'yesterday' but 'the day after tomorrow' (kesho kutwa) and 'the day before yesterday'(juzi).
Name: Chris Rickwood
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school:
Date: 13 Oct 2012
Time: 14:12:43
For Robert Sanderson "Frog and Peach" by Peter Cook and Dudley Moore Source: live at the Plymouth Theater, 1973 (on the lp Good evening) Synopsis: Sir Arthur Strebe-Greebling (er... Sir Arthur Grebe-Streebling) has opened a rather unique restaurant in the middle of a bog, in the heart of the Yorkshire moors. Only 2 dishes are on the menu: frog a la peche, and even worse...peche a la frog. Interviewer: "I'm speaking tonight to Sir Arthur Strebe-Greebling..." Sir Arthur: "Oh no you're not." Interviewer: "Pardon?" Sir Arthur: "You're not at all. You're speaking to Sir Arthur Grebe-Streebling. You're confusing me with Sir Arthur Strebe-Greebling. My name is Grebe-Streebling. The 't' is silent, as in 'fox'..." Interviewer: I'm terribly sorry. I would like to ask Sir Arthur about his rather unique restaurant, the "Frog and Peach." Sir Arthur: "Well this seems like an ideal opportunity really, what with me being here and you being there. Marvellous opportunity. Seize it!" Interviewer: "Yes I certainly shall..."
Name: Peter Fowler
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 56/62
Date: 12 Oct 2012
Time: 11:23:16
What the fox does that mean? Penny Penulimate begins to sound like a buxton wench when the shivering town in which Shwartzus formerly resided still included its silent 't'. (And, before you hit the roof, 'buxon', for us Old English scholars - those who denounced the Ubi Lane smash and grab raid on our history - was an acceptable alternate spelling. By the way, I wonder if Ubi, long gone, I assume, can still see, from wherever he might be, that his beloved Gloucestershire are actually bottom of Division Two these days....ubi est Tomus Graveney nunc, Ubi?...)
Name: Robert Sanderson
Email: rob.suesandat gmail.com
Years_at_school: 1962 - 1967
Date: 11 Oct 2012
Time: 16:16:33
Fascinating to read the erudite discussion between learned Latin scholars. I envy them as I was never any good at classical languages. If memory serves me correctly the first 't' in 'paenepenultimate'is silent as in 'fox'. I believe it was a master called Marchant (Merchant?) who told me this. I have never understood what he was getting at. Can someone explain?
Name: Michael Schwartz
Email: michaelwritesforyouyahoo.ca
Years_at_school: Seven (who said seven was a lucky number?)
Date: 11 Oct 2012
Time: 09:27:19
Reggie Gough. Not my guru, Colin. I do remember a piece of graffiti which appeared on a classroom wall. Someone added the letter G to the second word, making Goff. The first word remains a four-letter obscenity. Last but two - how very logical, correct and sensible.
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash70panatyahoodotcom
Years_at_school: 1962-9
Date: 11 Oct 2012
Time: 03:13:18
Michael Schwartz has made a substantial contribution to this important discussion and I am very happy to concur with his opinion. I must confess that the Anglo Saxon in me (which I'm sure exists notwithstanding my surname) does hanker after Brian Hester's definition.
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colindotdickinsatblueyonderdotcodotuk
Years_at_school: 1947-1953
Date: 10 Oct 2012
Time: 03:07:13
What an interesting question, Brian. Now that you mention it, I realise that Beaky never did smile in class, although something like a smile was often in his voice. On the other hand, he never scowled. We were close throughout his retirement and I visited him regularly in his Winchcombe idyll. He would "smile" often then, but I now realise that his smile was not an upturn at the corner of the mouth, rather an opened mouth with a lift of his head and raised eyebrows.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesterat gmail.com
Years_at_school: 40-47
Date: 09 Oct 2012
Time: 19:39:24
Glad to learn of your appreciation of Beaky Fooks - a great teacher and a good man. Did you, or anyone else, ever see him laugh or smile?
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colindotdickinsatblueyonderdotcodotuk
Years_at_school: 1947-1953
Date: 09 Oct 2012
Time: 15:48:01
Latinist that he is, Michael Schwartz is prcisely right when he says, "paenepenultimate could literally mean almost penultimate" - and in his ellargement of that. Henry used the word at me in an e-mail exchange and, while I had never come across it, Latinist that I too am, I knew what he meant. I looked for it in vain in Chambers and the Shorter OED. And I have now looked, also in vain, for Michael's "propenultimate". (Antepenultimate does appear.) We all have our gurus; Michael says Reggie Gough was his source, Henry blames Ken Waller. Mine was Beaky Fooks - although he would never have used any of these words. He would have given Brian Hester a quiet nod of approval, gently pointing out that he should have said, "last but two".
Name: Dave Buckley (53-61)
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school:
Date: 09 Oct 2012
Time: 08:39:56
Perhaps it isn't a good idea for anyone to put their address and phone number on an 'open' forum, but I doubt if there has been any damage done. To be fair, it's not immediately obvious from the website that Jeff lives in NY! For info, as soon as I saw the post, I emailed Alex Bateman who has already been in touch with Mrs.Neal. Dave B.
Name: Michael Schwartz
Email: michaelwritesforyouatyahoo.ca
Years_at_school: Like the curate's egg, good in parts
Date: 09 Oct 2012
Time: 07:18:17
Moderator - that means you, Jeff! A recent contributor has left her address and telephone number on the guest book. Should this not be removed, with any would-be writers directed to you?
(Hi - I have removed it! Jeff the Moderator)
Regarding the one before penultimate, is not propenultimate not an accepted word? Propenultimate was used by Reggie Goff to explain a point during an exam at school. In theory, paenepenultimate could literally mean almost penultimate, ie, it could be three or even four before the penultimate - it is insufficiently accurate.
Yours in acute pomposity
Michael.
Name: Mrs Winifred Neal
Email: winnienealatntlworld.com
Years_at_school: None but widow of Peter George Neal
Date: 08 Oct 2012
Time: 16:00:44
Dear Jeff
I have a collection of Old Gaytonian Dramatic Club programmes etc from 1933 -1938 and am sorting through a number of The Old Gaytonian magazines to see which you may already have.
I also have a few photographs and a water-colour painting of the back of the school painted by George Neal (my father-in-law) late in 1937 from the playing field.
We have had clear-out of the loft and found these items. If you are interested I will get in touch with you again when perhaps you will be able to collect them as I don't have a car now.
Regards
Winnie Neal
(address and telephone number removed by Moderator -
Jeff)
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmail.com
Years_at_school: 1040=-47
Date: 08 Oct 2012
Time: 14:59:51
As an unrepentant pleb might I suggest the better words would be 'last but one'?
Name: George Angermot
Email: gang27athotmail.com
Years_at_school: 1962 - 1969
Date: 08 Oct 2012
Time: 13:51:44
Regarding Henry Wyatt's latest. A plea for help. Are we missing something? Eg the actual clue itself. Merely a small point. The 'dispute' appears to harp around 15 or 16 letters. Someone's got to be wrong by default. A reflection on inadequate Maths teaching perhaps?
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash70panatyahoodotcom
Years_at_school: q1962-9
Date: 08 Oct 2012
Time: 09:08:14
Colin Dickins and I have recently been engaged in a correspondence of some considerable import but we have stumbled upon a problem for which we require erudite guidance. I used the word paenepenultimate to describe my second from last answer to today's crossword puzzle but Colin feels that the term antepenultimate would be more appropriate. We are both genuinely perplexed as to the correct usage and I therefore feel that an appeal to the readers of this log would be apposite. No finer body of men. ..................What say you, chaps?
Name: Keith Palmer
Email: palmerdotkeith57atgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 1968 - 1975
Date: 02 Oct 2012
Time: 02:06:15
Yes, Dennis Orme, very sad news of the passing of Derek Wolfe. I didn't know him personally, but I felt I knew a little about him through his athletic achievements and the fact that he was (of his time) the best at what he chose to do. Taken far too soon. R.I.P.
Name: Dennis Orme
Email: dennis_orme at msn.com
Years_at_school: 1967 - 75
Date: 25 Sep 2012
Time: 02:09:59
It is with sadness that I have to report the sudden death of Derek Wolfe (HCS 1966 to 1973) yesterday 24th. He had just turned 58. Derek will probably be best remembered as one of the schools top athletes in the early 1970s. He was Cross Country Captain 1972 to 1973 and competed in the English Schools Cross Country in 1973. He served on the Old Gaytonians Athletic Club committee for more than ten years before work took him away from the London area. During his time at school and with the club he did a lot to encourage and coach the younger athletes. Indeed three of his athletes from that time made up three quarters of the Harrow AC team which won the South of England over 50 Road Relay title at Aldershot just last weekend. Derek had a number of jobs during his career. After leaving school Derek initially went into accounting. He soon switched to local government serving in several borough education departments including Harrow, Hammersmith and City of London. By the mid 1990s he was taking up Town Clerk positions and the places worked in included Bicester, Helston, Portland and Barry. He took early retirement from Barry at the end of last year but had been working part time as an acting Town Clerk in Marlborough. He is survived by his wife Lynette and two step children.
Name: Keith Palmer
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1968 - 1975
Date: 23 Sep 2012
Time: 05:09:54
Henry Wyatt, with whom I clearly overlapped at HCS during my first year, names his chosen "Teaching Stars". I would not disagree with a single name, most taught me and I am certainly aware of how revered others were even though our paths did not cross academically. I note, however, an absence of mention of the Maths and Physics departments, so would offer the names of Groombridge and McEwan to give balance. I certainly can't think of anyone after Henry's time, up to the end of the school as we knew it, who merited inclusion in this select group.
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash70panatyahoodotcom
Years_at_school: 1962-9
Date: 20 Sep 2012
Time: 10:35:56
Chris, There were an awful lot of stars. I know one looks back with rose tinted spectacles but even so.In my earlier post I hesitated to name names, knowing that I ran the risk of omission, but here goes. In Classics, Ken, Ubi, George Cowan and Bernie; in English Jim Golland, Fred Bilson and Jock Lafferty; in French, Hugh Skillen, Don Kincaid and Don Wilkey; in History Harry and Geoff D'Arcy; in Russian Ken again; in Science Norman Tyrrhitt & Keith Neal; in Music Arthur Hailey and Ken Waller; .................. I know that those of you of earlier and later generations will have their favourites whom I have omitted........By the way, did I mention Ken Waller?
Name: Chris Rickwood
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 20 Sep 2012
Time: 08:18:31
Henry Wyatt's comments about the quality of staff he attracted was interesting. True there were stars but it is worth remembering there was also complete dross. There were masters who taught next to nothing and who could not control a class. I won't mention names because I would not wish to distress any descendants since several of them were apparently thoroughly decent men - just hopelessly incompetent.
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash70panatyahoodotcom
Years_at_school: 1962-9
Date: 20 Sep 2012
Time: 05:30:11
My old friend Andrew Carruthers hit the nail on the head a while ago when he said that there was something odd about Simpson in his later years at school. This may have been an increasingly desperate realisation that the Times were a changin'. Those who were at school during the fifties seem to have a different, more favourable opinion of the man compared to those of us of a later vintage. In any event, it is quite common for a man to be thought of very differently by his family. As Andrew says, it would useful and indeed, possibly redemptive, for us to have access to the Doctor's papers, if they really exist. Incidentally, you may be interested to know that Ken Waller felt similarly about Simpson, as told to me in a conversation a year or so before his death. For the present, the only good thing I have to say about Simpson was his ability to attract staff of so high an intellectual calibre and so varied a range of personalities.
Name: Chris Rickwood
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 19 Sep 2012
Time: 17:55:55
Nice try Ross but ARS style was truly inimitable. I can remember numerous assemblies when there were genuine debates "Does anybody have any idea what he was talking about?" It was often entertainining to watch the staff during one of his less intelligible or more outrageous rants learly desperately trying not to show amusement or complete contempt.
Name: ANDREW CARRUTHERS
Email: AJCARRUTHERSATBTINTERNET.COM
Years_at_school: 1961-8
Date: 19 Sep 2012
Time: 17:32:05
IF ROSS SIMPSON IS THE GENUINE ARTICLE, THEN I WOULD ENCOURAGE HIM TO MAKE AVAILABLE THE FAMILY PAPERS TO WHICH HE REFERS TO THE ARCHIVIST, WHO MIGHT BE ABLE TO CAST A DIFFERENT LIGHT ON DR S, AND PERHAPS HIS REPUTATION. ONE CANNOT BUT ADMIRE HIS LOYALTY BUT I DO HAVE TO ASK IF HE KNEW HIS GRANDFATHER. THE WORDS HE QUOTES SOUND PRETTY TYPICAL OF AN EFFUSION AT SCHOOL ASSEMBLY!
Name: Michael Schwartz
Email: Grateful language student at Joe's diner
Years_at_school: 1965-1972
Date: 19 Sep 2012
Time: 14:52:18
Nick Salisbury - How is your brother? Simon and I were in the same English class in 1969-1970. Hope you are both well. Keith Palmer and Pete Fowler: the commas did seem strange. In addition, both effects and affects could be used although effects probably wins out. "In which" is not exactly a crime so I absolve you, my child. Regarding Dr Simpson and his grandson's comments, while I was never taught by Dr Simpson, entering Harrow County immediately after his leaving the school, I have read every single entry made on this site. Dr Simpson had an effect on many pupils. Ross G Simpson has encountered a number of people who did not enjoy his headmastership and yet there were very high academic standards. Is it not time for those who did enjoy HCS to record their comments on this site?
Name: Ross G Simpson
Email: randvsimpsonatbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: NA
Date: 19 Sep 2012
Time: 05:28:36
I have read with some sadness the somewhat detracting and petty comments regarding the writing ability of my grandfather Dr Alexander Simpson. It seems that there is a destructive element repeatedly returning to your site to harm the reputaion of an erstwhile fine man. In searching through the family papers I happened across a letter Alexander wrote and copied to all members of his teaching staff shortly before his retirement. I quote the middle section which proves his undoubted intellectual command of language and his deep down concern for the young: 'The mind of the adolescent boy, unfurled, myopic, untramelled yet decorous in its juvenile vivacity reminds us of our temporary grasp of ancient realities unexamined and unsieved through the intellectual process of time that only the nebulous dimension of non-understanding beyond recall can explain. To my mind, the complexity of direction is diametrically opposed to the parametrical concept of metaphysical interaction between the forces of light and darkness. This may be regarded as a simplistic view although based on many years of experience, linking the great classical authors to knowledge so profound that we,in our feeble forms,stand in awe of the greater mysteries. From the tiny seed of the oak, the very symbol of our school and emblazoned upon the badge, emerges an explosive potential of tumultuous activity destined to journey along the prescribed railway of truth. It is upon that frail belief of certainty and uncertainty that I tentatively founded my philosophy of approach with the undying support of a loyal and gifted staff dedicated in their different ways to the forwarding of excellence par excellence. Olympic was our aim and we achieved.
Name: Nick Salisbury
Email: nwsalisbury at yahoo.co.uk
Years_at_school: 1968 - 1974"
Date: 18 Sep 2012
Time: 12:55:34
Fascinating to look back and very interesting to see music programmes from 1970s. Very touching tributes to Ken Waller - perhaps the most inspirational teacher I knew.
Name: Chris Rickwood
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 18 Sep 2012
Time: 11:37:05
Even more unintelligible (at least to me) was Simpson's tribute to Bigham: Conclusively and on a higher plane I believe the timely yet untimely emergence of the Combined Cadet Force and Colonel Bigham, against indeed the many contradictory factors in the time, the place, and the action of their happening, each with its adverse complexity of the improbable, so specially familiar to myself, to have been both paradox and providence. Why such a conjunction? Why then? Why there? Whence and to what being and purpose? For it is to my mind in such spectacular manifestation that providence is best seen to exist - - in the reversal emergence of the opposite unlikely, the improbable, and the seemingly impossible. This is the context in which I would very deliberately place the Colonel's great work and achievements.
Name: Keith Palmer
Email: palmerdotkeith57atgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 1968 - 1975
Date: 16 Sep 2012
Time: 16:33:30
Pete Fowler, I cringed not only at Dr. Simpson's use of the comma but also the spelling. Should it not have read "Travel affects" rather than "Travel effects"?
Name: Pete Fowler
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 56/62
Date: 16 Sep 2012
Time: 12:29:07
And before Michael and Paul shoot me down (and I curse at the lack of an edit button), please delete the 'in which' in my last sentence below.
Name: Pete Fowler
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 56/62
Date: 16 Sep 2012
Time: 12:25:26
As we ponder the general inadequacies of language and learning nearly forty years after the demise of HCS, may I slip in a sentence I have just read by our esteemed old Headmaster, Dr Simpson. It is the very first sentence in the Foreword from the Headmaster's Study written for Hugh Skillen's Makers of Men film: "Travel, effects at first hand by degrees, what drama does at second, in a single dose - a cleaning and freshening of the mind and emotions". That is exactly as the Doctor wrote it. Read it and weep at his control of the comma and read it and gasp at the sheer obtuseness of the way in which the Great Man wrote.
Name: Chris Rickwood
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 14 Sep 2012
Time: 10:30:51
Does anyone know anything of a lawsuit (1934-6) Sorrell v. MCC in relation to the construction of the swimming pool? That leads to a wider question, has anyone trawled the records in relation to the school at the London Metropolitan Archives?
Name: Chris Rickwood
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 13 Sep 2012
Time: 12:36:26
Elizabeth Newson, Are you sure you aren't confusing HCS with the Valkyrie Prep School near Southend? Sometime ago you posted this message " Re: Valkyrie School 1940's to 50's. by newson on 10 Jul 2011 Hi I would be interested to know if you have any recollections of the prinicple Mr.Banks Mawson who I belevie was head sometime in the mid-late 40's many thanks "
Name: Ian Johnson
Email: igjohnson at btinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1942 to 1948
Date: 10 Sep 2012
Time: 02:18:59
I see my old mate Alex Copeland has dredged up a skeleton from our past life in Kodak (9 August 2012). I did not realise then how great a genius George Eastman was, so much missed when he took his own life with the words "My work is done. Why wait?" Sadly, Eastman Kodak was just another victim of its own success, too confident of its own film and paper technology which was immensely profitable. So it may well be true that they discovered digital photography and failed to exploit it. Yet, for many Old Gayts Kodak Limited was a good and loyal employer, without the inequalities of reward common today. On the other hand, the writing on the wall was pretty clear when I left in 1982 and Rochester was firmly in charge.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianhesteratgmail.com
Years_at_school: 1940-7
Date: 09 Sep 2012
Time: 05:35:49
Banks Mawson is not a name that springs out of a corner of my memory. Are you sure Liz that you have the right achool? Perhaps he was appointed when a gap in succession of headships appeared imminent but a permanent candidate was found. Williams was head until 1945 when he retired. Crowle-Ellis who followed lasted only a year before being moved to Harrow Weald. Simpson arrived in 1946.I remember all three well and have never understood why C-E was moved. He actual spoke informally to the senior boys and I recall his telling us he was being moved, and how surprised he was. Simpson was recruited from an obscure school in Scotland. How he was found remains a mystery. All I can suggest is that your B.M. was to be stop gap that was not needed oce Simpson was recruited.
Name: lizabeth newson
Email: lizabethnewsonatgooglemail.com
Years_at_school:
Date: 08 Sep 2012
Time: 13:42:07
I would love to hear if anyone recalls "Banks Mawson" acting headmaster date unknown, but might well be sometime in the forties. Many years ago I came across a newspaper cutting from a newspaper (since lost) regarding this post. Many thanks, Liz Newson Nee Mawson
Name: Chris Rickwood
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 04 Sep 2012
Time: 09:12:02
To get at the NY Times article on Sir Paul Nurse simply Google using: A Redoubt of Learning Holds Firm should link you
Name: Paul Romney
Email: paulromney03a taim.com
Years_at_school: 56-63
Date: 03 Sep 2012
Time: 16:45:23
That was me, by the way.
Name: Type your name here
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school:
Date: 03 Sep 2012
Time: 16:44:31
The New York Times is currently carrying an article on the Royal Society, featuring our own "Dr. Nurse". I can't post the URL because the whatsit won't accept some of the digits.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1940-7
Date: 02 Sep 2012
Time: 05:15:43
As I recall the display in Eastman's house in Rochester, he alone dreamt up the Kodak name. What a pity to see a company like Kodak end up the way it is. The cause seems to have been unimaginative, but still well-compansated, management. Many of us from HCS owe the company something. In my case Kodak gave me my first job when I worked one evening a week as lab assistant for a photo class at Harrow Tech. This was a plum job that several of us got when U6Sc.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1940-7
Date: 02 Sep 2012
Time: 05:14:52
As I recall the display in Eastman's house in Rochester, he alone dreamt up the Kodak name. What a pity to see a company like Kodak end up the way it is. The cause seems to have been unimaginative, but still well-compansated, management. Many of us from HCS owe the company something. In my case Kodak gave me my first job when I worked one evening a week as lab assistant for a photo class at Harrow Tech. This was a plum job that several of us got when U6Sc.
Name: Chris Rickwood
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 31 Aug 2012
Time: 15:25:01
The Yellow-Red colour combination for Kodak dates back to the 30s but I think the "K" was much more recent and I don't think occurred until the 70s
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash70panatyahoodotcom
Years_at_school: 1962-9
Date: 27 Aug 2012
Time: 04:19:49
It is interesting to note that the word Kodak is quasi palindromic and I believe that this was consciously copied by the people at Xerox for the same kind of memorable reasons. Kodak's graphic design was also very strong with the stylised letter K in red on the yellow background. They were very fussy over the correct pantone numbers for the two colours and enforced their copyright rigorously. The company was often cited as a good example of the benefits of international graphic design. It made it possible for a punter to go anywhere in the world and easily buy film for his camera just by pointing to the product on the shelf. It's a shame such a great company has fallen so far so fast..
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colindickinsatblueyonderdotcodotuk
Years_at_school: 1947-1953
Date: 27 Aug 2012
Time: 03:51:07
Good luck to Keith Palmer with his genealogical research. I had a recollection that the name Kodak came from the sound the shutter made, but a bit of Googling produced the following: NAME: The letter "K" was a favorite of Eastman's; he is quoted as saying, "it seems a strong, incisive sort of letter." [13] He and his mother devised the name Kodak with an Anagrams set. Eastman said that there were three principal concepts he used in creating the name: it should be short; one cannot mispronounce it, and it could not resemble anything or be associated with anything but Kodak.[14] It has also been suggested that "Kodak" originated from the suggestion of David Houston, a fellow photographic inventor who held the patents to several roll film camera concepts that he later sold to Eastman.[14] Houston, who started receiving patents in 1881, was said to have chosen "Nodak" as a nickname of his home state, North Dakota (NoDak).[15][16] This is contested by other historians, however, who cite that Kodak was trademarked prior to Eastman buying Houston's patents.[17]
Name: Sarah Palmer, aka Peter Ward, aka, Spliggins, aka sloggett
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school:
Date: 24 Aug 2012
Time: 13:38:50
I agree with the poster below, I hope we don't hear any more. It's a boring joke already...
Name: Type your name here
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school:
Date: 24 Aug 2012
Time: 13:33:19
Did someone say that lunatics frequent this guestbook? They are taking to stealing identities now! Someone better tell the real Peter Ward. Someone has far, far too much time on their hands...
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peetr.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 24 Aug 2012
Time: 12:27:35
My apologies to Alex Bateman. In my recent missive I inadvertently used the name 'Alex' in the second line when it should have read 'Clive'. I trust this will not result in litigation and that the apology will be taken in good grace.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 24 Aug 2012
Time: 12:20:50
Reading Alex Bateman's rather unkind comments on the exploits of the great Clive Sloggett DFC (and bar) I would ask how he claims the gentleman had a brother named Spliggins. I suppose it is a possibility that they may have been half-brothers. Mr Bateman also makes the assumption that Alex and his lady lover intended returning to Blighty by Hurricane, despite the obvious lack of storage space. Is it not possible that they were passed 'down the line' by French resistance workers? In my researches, equally concscientious to those of Alex, I have discovered that a cafe owner named Rene (don't know how to do accents) hid Flight Lieut. Sloggett behind a pair of antlers hanging on the cafe wall. Sadly, it appears that things did not work out. His lover betrayed him to a certain Herr Flick of the Gestapo offering services in return. This was prior to her entry into a nunnery. She later became Abbe at Toulouse. I suspect this now lays the mystery to rest and we shall not hear of the old heroes' exploits again. God bless them. They don't make them like that any more.
Name: Keith Palmer
Email: palmerdotkeith57atgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 1968-1975
Date: 24 Aug 2012
Time: 09:02:57
Going off at a slight tangent from the recent Kodak discussions, I have spent much of the past year initially finding and then starting to sort through much paperwork belonging to my late father. Amongst all of this is a family tree going back (so far) to the mid 19th century and various letters. There were several cousins of my paternal grandfather (b. 1874) who bore the name "Eastman" and many were in the photographic business from its early days. One (I can't recall the name right now, but it may have been John, I'll be able to confirm another time), emigrated to the United States where he met a Polish gentleman, and they went into business together. The Polish gentleman's name was Kodak, hence the beginning of the company which, I believe, is still registered as Eastman-Kodak. Although I have no reason to wonder, other than the name, could Linda Eastman (later McCartney) be descended from this branch of the Eastman family, she was a photographer herself. I have much research to keep me occupied during the long winter evenings!
Name: Martin Goodall
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1959 to 1966
Date: 24 Aug 2012
Time: 08:09:20
I greatly enjoyed the recent contributions from Messrs Spliggins and Sloggett. Their colourful (if somewhat imaginative or, dare one say, imaginary) reminiscences considerably enlivened what was becoming a rather boring recital of inconsequential trivia. Is there perhaps a sub-text here? - a possible suggestion that this site is the venue for a load of boring old farts. Old Gayts boring????? Perish the thought! (P.S. Can that dreadful song, which rings out every time one visits the main site be removed to a separate page of the website, so that only those who really want to hear it can indulge their fetish privately? My irritation is not lessened in any way by the recollection that my own piping voice was one of those contributing to the dreadful dirge on this recording.)
Name: Alex Bateman
Email: via Jeff
Years_at_school: 1980 - 84
Date: 24 Aug 2012
Time: 04:50:49
As I said, many lunatics... A remarkable man Mr S, his RAF signals training being sufficient to enable him to pilot front line fighters. Being as he pinched a hurricane, I wonder where he was going to stow his beloved, as its a single seater. I can see why he was so highly decorated, was it for ingenious use of small space? I guess he avoided the court marshal upon his return? He doesnt have a brother does he? A Mr Spliggins?
Name: Alex Bateman
Email: via Jeff
Years_at_school: 1980 - 84
Date: 24 Aug 2012
Time: 04:50:27
As I said, many lunatics... A remarkable man Mr S, his RAF signals training being sufficient to enable him to pilot front line fighters. Being as he pinched a hurricane, I wonder where he was going to stow his beloved, as its a single seater. I can see why he was so highly decorated, was it for ingenious use of small space? I guess he avoided the court marshal upon his return? He doesnt have a brother does he? A Mr Spliggins?
Name: Sarah Palmer
Email: sarah.palmer3atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: HCS Girls 1968-75
Date: 24 Aug 2012
Time: 03:51:17
How very kind of Mr Bateman to respond. I am happy to confirm that my great grandfather, though frail, is still with us. Mr Bateman is in one way correct in doubting GGD's RAF credentials. It is true that he was over age at the start of the Second World War and was initially turned down for active service. He was, however, permitted to join the Signals Section and it was from there he 'borrowed' the Hurricane ( a plane I believe)that was shot down in France. His aim, it appears, was to attempt to rescue his first lover, Mme Amelie de la Rose, but found she had entered a nunnery just prior (no pun) to the outbreak. I suppose, quite justfiably, the RAF was right to expunge his name from the record despite his lifetime friendship with Wing Commander Rawnsley, who later had some connection with your emminent school. After repatriation, GGD lived with the WingCo and his wife, Connie, on their barge on the Rickmansworth Canal. This kept him out of the way of the authorities. Later, when it was safe to emerge, GGD joined the colour printing department at the Kodak factory, Wealdstone, Harrow. He would welcome visitors at his current residence but can only communicate via his ancient ear trumpet which has been remodelled from his old Hurricane's landing gear. Visitors (Wednesdays only 10.00 to 13.00 and not during the Jeremy Kyle Show)please contact The Matron, Rest Home for Old Spammers, Funny Farm Industrial Estate, North Hoaxers Lane, Wendover, Bucks HP67 OAP. It would be wise to carry body armour as GGD can grow violent and lash out with his ear trumpet inflicting terrible damage. Thank you for your interest and that of other correspondents to your valuable site. xx
Name: Alex Bateman
Email: via Jeff
Years_at_school: 1980 - 84
Date: 24 Aug 2012
Time: 02:41:18
To Sarah Palmer. Please dont be offended by the comments regarding your grandfather. I dont see them as insensitive, just sceptical. The guestbook has been the target of spammers and other lunatics in the past, which occasionally raises suspicions. Im afraid your recent post does little to allay the thoughts however. To begin with, aside from his current age (which is remarkable) we have no record of a Clive James Sloggett having ever attended the school, and he appears on no record (the same can be said of Mr Spliggins). As archivist to the school and Old Gayts Association, I find it odd he has never made himself known to either before. Also, it is odd that you reply on his behalf now, but his original post was written under his own email address, which is very commendable for someone of 108, who is deaf and blind. You continue that he was a much decorated fighter pilot who was shot down. It just so happens that I am also a military and aviation historian, and have just had a quick look at two RAF related records. Aside from the fact that he was over the age during wartime to have been considered for pilot duties of any sort, there is no record in the London Gazette of a man of that name having ever been commissioned in the RAF or having received any decorations between 1914 and 1950. Allied Prisoner of War records also confirm that no man of that name was ever incarcerated during World War Two. I am close to Wendover, perhaps you can tell me which home he is in? I would love to speak to an HCS veteran of such a vintage.
Name: Sarah Palmer
Email: sarah.palmer3atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1968-75 HCS for Girls
Date: 23 Aug 2012
Time: 14:38:16
I am somewhat taken aback by the insensitive remarks about my great granddad, Clive James Sloggett, who is alive and relatively well going on 108 in his nursing home at Wendover. Granddad Clive lost his sight several years ago and is now hard of hearing. I have kept from him the doubts raised about his age - possibly his very existence. One small tremor could be harmful, possibly fatal. This much decorated war hero, serving in the RAF as a Hurricane (a plane I believe) pilot, was shot down over France and taken prisoner of war. He was on the run for nearly a week before the Germans finally caught him. Granddad Clive claims he was betrayed by a French nun but we have no way of verifying this.
Name: Dave Buckley (53-61)
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 23 Aug 2012
Time: 13:21:11
Ref two posts ago - and what about Mr.George Spliggins (6th August)who says that he was at school 1912-1916! That would make him about 115!!
Name: Alex Bateman
Email: via Jeff
Years_at_school: 1980 - 84
Date: 23 Aug 2012
Time: 11:16:10
We were very much a Kodak family. My Great Grandfather began working there about 1897, with an employee number of 67!! Sara (Pilkington), nice to see you! Your dad and mine (Dave Bateman) were both Kodakids together, another scheme that was heavily influenced by Ernest Amor (sending children of UK Kodak familes to stay with US Kodak families for the duration of the war). I remember Ernest Amor very well, although by the time I became involved with the OGA he had sadly long since passed.
Name: Chris Rickwood
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 23 Aug 2012
Time: 04:57:27
Congratulations to Clive Sloggett. Let's see, if he joined school in 1916 at 11 that would make him 107. Hmmm!
Name: Clive Sloggett
Email: sloggoathotmail13.com
Years_at_school: 1916 to 1921
Date: 22 Aug 2012
Time: 10:46:03
My great grand daughter helps me with this. She has recently drawn my attention to your blog. What a funny word. She is typing this. As a boy, I lived on my father's farm in Harrow Weald. I believe it is all built on now. I distinctly remember hearing the 5 am Kodak hooter as I helped milk our pedigree mixed herd of Guernseys and Jerseys. Very chilly in Winter I can tell you. I believe the milk went to the local dairy that supplied the school. I later farmed ostriches in East Africa. Keep up the joly good work and thank you.
Name: Bob Blackburn
Email: With Alex Bateman
Years_at_school: 1943-1949
Date: 22 Aug 2012
Time: 02:46:09
Peter Hammond. I should have mentioned that the Memorial Service for Peter At St. Peter's Church, Berry Lane, Mill End, Rickmansworth, WD3 7HQ will be at 11 AM.
Name: Robert Paige
Email: roberttpaige (at) aol.com
Years_at_school: None
Date: 21 Aug 2012
Time: 12:25:48
I am an outsider from the USA and maybe searching for the proverbial needle in a haystack and my apologies if this is the wrong website. I am searching for a former student who made some remarks about studying at York in later years. He might have posted his comments on this website.
Name: Bob Blackburn
Email: With Alex Bateman
Years_at_school: 1943-1949
Date: 21 Aug 2012
Time: 00:21:34
Paula Hammond has let me know that there will be a Memorial Service for Peter Hammond on Saturday, 8th September at St. Peter's Church, Berry Lane, Mill End, Rickmansworth, WD3 7HQ. Bob Blackburn
Name: Bob Blackburn
Email: With Alex Bateman
Years_at_school: 1943 - 1949
Date: 20 Aug 2012
Time: 02:54:06
PETER HAMMOND. Peter was a truly remarkable man, we came together in Upper 5, a small form of about 10 of us in the small room, on the left, up the stairs opposite the clock, over Cyril Atkins office. We were both pretty good at tuppenny hapenny football. We again joined forces at Sudbury when playing in the great Jack Herman's B fifteen and also in the OG Athletic Club. Peter set up the Green Diamond Ski Club, also the Green Diamond Sailing Club, he also won the 10,000 pounds Daily Mail Civilian Prize for the race between the top of the Post Office Tower in London and the top of the Empire State Building in New York. The Fleet Air Arm won top prize. All his profits went to charity. Peteralso reinstated the OG Swimming Club. His biggest venture was the organisation of the sailing facility for disabled people on Ricky Aquadrome. A small army of volunteers, several single adapted sailing dinghys for disabled people and a few double seated boats for a disabled person and a helper. A motorised inflatable to check that the sailors were OK and a jetty with a hoist to lift disabled people out of wheelchairs and into the boats. Altogether a brilliant organisation. A photo of Peter can be seen under his nickname Wally Hammond in the 1949 School Swimming Team, 4th from the left sitting down. It just happens I am standing back row, 6th from the right. Peter, you were a great character and a thoroughly nice guy, will miss you. Bob
Name: Bob Blackburn
Email: With Alex Bateman
Years_at_school: 1943 - 1949
Date: 20 Aug 2012
Time: 02:03:27
Paula Hammond has let me know that there will be a Memorial Service for Peter on SATURDAY 8TH SEPTEMBER AT ST.PETER'S CHURCH, BERRY LANE, MILL END, RICKMANSWORTH, WD3 7HQ.
Name: Alex Copeland
Email: alexccattelus.net
Years_at_school: 1941 to 1948
Date: 09 Aug 2012
Time: 11:34:17
Interesting to read about the Kodak Hooter, which revived,some memories. My first full time job was with Kodak,I cycled in from Kenton.It was on one of these journeys that a great number of emergency vehicles drove by,there had been a horrendous rail crash at the station.A very good friend and colleague at Kodak was among those who were killed. A more happy memory was the time when Ian Johnson and I attended the Christmas party at the Head Office on Kingsway in London. After entering the building we walked up a very grand marble staircase, at the top of which was a large bronze plaque of the much revered George Eastman, Founder of the Company.Upon seeing this Ian and I knelt and made our obeisance, not realising that the Chairman and Secretary of the Company were standing close by,they were not amused!! Too bad what has happened to such a great company.Must be because Ian and I are no longer working for them! I played rugby for Kodak as well as the O.G. club, and can recall one time at a sevens tournament playing for Kodak, I believe at Merchant Tailors in a prelim. to the Middlesex sevens, that we won a couple of rounds but then came up against the mighty Wasps with at least three internationals on their team Sykes, Stalder, and Woodward. Trying to tackle the latter was akin to trying to stop an express train.I do not recall the score but I do know that it was a very humiliating experience. A change of topic, but I must say that we are very much enjoying the Olympic games and all in the U.K. deserve congratulations for the quality of the venues and the excellent organisaion. A job well done. Cheers to all Alex Copeland.
Name: Chris Rickwood
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 07 Aug 2012
Time: 07:44:53
Talk of the Kodak hooter and its importance for timekeeping reminds me of the whole issue of being late. Prefects were positioned at both entrances assiduously taking names of all latecomers. Being late once equalled a detention, twice a caning from George Thorn. I had a solution. Getting off the bus near te Granada I would walk via Bonnersfield Lane then Northwick Park Avenue to Gayton Road just East of the school. I'd wait for passing traffic to impede the view of the sentries, make a dash across Gayton Road and into the front garden of the nearest house. From there, I'd cross garden fences until entering scholl grounds over the fence next to the 5th form entrance.
Name: George Arthur Spliggins
Email: gaspliggins47at hotmail.co
Years_at_school: 1912 to1916
Date: 06 Aug 2012
Time: 17:00:06
I remember the old Kodak hooter shattering a window in our house in Headstone Lane. My grandfather had to wind up the old mechanism to force steam through the hooter's patented American valve system. He told me it used to frighten the horse trams that passed the factory carrying commuters to the old Harrow and Wealdstone station. Do they still run trains? The hooter also sounded when the first zeppelin passed over London dropping its bombs on an ice cream factory. Rev Randall Williams,the school's first Headmaster, set his gold pocket watch by the hooter which is why he always started assemblies precisely on time. Break,lunch and home time bells were also synchronised with Kodak time.
Name: Chris Rickwood
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 03 Aug 2012
Time: 08:55:24
That Kodak hooter must have been really loud. I could hear it quite clearly in Edgware through closed windows.
Name: Chris Rickwood
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 01 Aug 2012
Time: 08:35:50
Colin, on reflection I'm sure you are correct about times.
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colindickinsatblueyondercouk
Years_at_school: 1947-1953
Date: 01 Aug 2012
Time: 02:48:51
7.40 and 7.45 in my day, Chris. Maybe they worked longer hours then. But you have brought back a strong memory.
Name: Chris Rickwood
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 31 Jul 2012
Time: 13:57:23
Kodak was SO important to me at HCS. The hooter which sounded (as I recall) at 7:55 & 8am told me whether I was going to be on time or get yet another detention.
Name: Sara Pilkinton ( nee Hall)
Email: sara.aberfarmatbtinternet.com
Years_at_school:
Date: 30 Jul 2012
Time: 07:07:30
Hi there message to Dave Buckley, my great-uncle Ernest Amor that I mentioned in my last post was indeed the Chairman of Kodak UK and a great many of the social support ideas that are still in use today for many of the past and present employees came about because of him. He was a marvellous man and in fact many of my family worked for Kodak in Harrow over the years, especially my father Lionel Hall. (Ernest Amor was his mother's brother.)
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 27 Jul 2012
Time: 18:04:31
I heard from Peter Garwood (1st XI Cricket capt. 1960 and 1961?)that Bruce Langrick, opening bowler, is very seriously ill. Does anyone remember Bruce's bowling? Shortish run, white necktie, quick pace. Outstanding control of swing, length and line? He made Middlesex Grammar Schools XI but chose not to go into pro cricket. I guess the two best cricketers produced by the school were Ramprakash (just retired) and Angus Fraser - judging by their excellent records. Bruce, however, would surely have made it at a higher level if he had had the inclination. He once took 10 for 10 vs St Marylebone Grammar School whilst I bowled at the other end! So, once again...does anyone remember Bruce? We wish him well although not with great optimism.
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash70panatyahoodotcom
Years_at_school: 1962-9
Date: 25 Jul 2012
Time: 02:17:00
I have just returned from Wealdstone railway bridge where I supervised the passing of the Olympic torch on behalf of the Old Gaytonians. I was supported by my wife Asheeta, my daughter Hazel and some of her friends from Bentley Wood school. I am pleased to report that all went well. The Torch was preceded by the sponsors tour buses and we received a Union Jack from Samsung and a free bottle of Coke. Sad to say, the TSB was not giving out free money. In a spirit of Entente Cordiale, I wore my trusty kepi to keep off the sun. I find that our French friends sometimes have difficulty in pronouncing my surname WYATT so I teach 'em the following mnemonic Waterloo, Ypres, Agincourt & Trafalgar. Usually does the trick. And our boy won the Tour de France. I see from the Times that Gordon Banks will be one of today's torch bearers so that's the Germans sorted as well. The sun's shining, we're gonna win lots of medals so all's well with the world. All the best.
Name: Dave Buckley (53-61)
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 21 Jul 2012
Time: 09:11:59
With regard to the last posting, the Ernist Amor refered to was Chairman of Kodak Ltd. during the 1960s and was of great assistance to Hugh Skillen when he was producing the various school films which were made under the overall title of Makers of Men. As OGs are aware these films are now available on DVD.
Name: Sara Pilkinton ( nee Hall )
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 17 Jul 2012
Time: 14:48:02
My brother David Hall and my great uncle Ernest Amor were both pupils at the school. I had contact with the school as well when I was at Heriots Wood Grammar School and the 2 schools had a drama group called Convergence.
Name: Ian Gawn
Email: ian.gawnatorange.fr
Years_at_school: 1955-62
Date: 15 Jul 2012
Time: 05:59:11
Just to record the meeting today of the Fontenay-le Compte (Southern Vendee, France) Chapter of the OGA, held at Fontenay-le-Comte Aerodrome. Present were Ian Gawn and his wife, Jane, who drove 20 km from their home in St Hilaire de Voust, and Peter Mansfield, who travelled rather further, flying the 450 miles from Gamston, Notts, in his light aircraft, in 3 hours. Also present was Liz (formerly Ross) who had been Peter's Practice Nurse in Grimolby, Lincs, 30 years ago. The meetining was concliuded with the flypast and landing of the replica three-quarter scale Mosquito aircraft build by 5 Frenchmen over the last 15 years.
Name: Stewart Gillies
Email: stewart.gilliesatntlworld.com
Years_at_school: 1956 - 1965
Date: 07 Jul 2012
Time: 03:43:37
Rather belatedly I'd like to add my memories of the late Mory (Maurice) Venn. I recollect his Friday afternoon geography classes when I must have been in the third or fourth form. Friday afternoons' were of course when the weekly CCF parade was held. Mory would continue teaching by talking rather casually as was his style whilst he gave his boots a perfunctory polish with a brush & then put them on. He made more of an impact on me from his activities in the CCF. A kidnapping of one of the senior NCOs who was judged to be rather bumptious was planned by Mory to take place at the annual camp. The intention was to deposit him 50 miles away in his underwear. However the alarm was raised after the kidnapping & before the victim could be transported away. The perpetrators including me were all rounded up & put in the guardhouse. I can remember having to shuffle around the highly polished floor on squares of felt to preserve & enhance the shine - that was the British Army guardroom in action. In the morning we were all paraded in front of Colonel Bigham who carried out an enquiry. I don't know Mory's military background but he was a phenomenal shot by CCF standards. I can remember twice when we were at the ranges & he shot ten out of ten bulls eyes at 200yds from a standing position. Most of us couldn't achieve that prone. At Easter 1963 Mory organised a 10 day expedition in the Brecon Beacons. This was a required achievement activity for some boys who were working towards their Duke Of Edinburgh's Gold Award I & a couple of other boys including the German Assistant were brought in to bring the numbers up to ten - army standard squad size. Mory organised the procurement of proper military kit for this - high quality jackets & sleeping bags, carrier man packs & SLR rifles which were then the current rifle in service rather than the WW 1 & 2 varieties held in the armoury. Also a three ton truck driven by Captain Herbert was obtained to carry additional supplies between the nightly rendezvous points We were well loaded up - the Carrier Man Packs weighed some 50lbs & because they sat eshigh, partially above the shoulders one had to be careful not to bend forward too far as there was a risk of getting to the point of no return bent double. After the first day Mory decided the SLRs were too much for some members & they were deposited in the truck for the duration. We camped each night, it was quite chilly at times. Late one Sunday afternoon our actual position did not appear to be where it should have been on the map. We were up high, it got darker & colder & we had to proceed with great caution which was wise as eventually we encountered a cliff edge. At this point a few of the team were showing great concern at our situation. Mory was tremendous at keeping spirits up & required us to all rope up to minimise the risk of losing someone. Eventually we encountered a pub in the middle of nowhere. Being a Sunday in Wales in the sixties it was not open. However Mory hammered on the back door & a most welcoming beer was produced for us all Overall quite a character building experience. Thank you Mory, you added much to my experience at school. Stewart Gillies
Name: Laurence Lando
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1957 - 64
Date: 06 Jul 2012
Time: 06:53:53
Peter, I must agree with you that there was a culture of violence in the school that was probably endemic. Square did not appear to counter this punishment, and indeed by his actions probably condoned it. Clarkson was one of the worst masters in this respect, the PE masters were adept at corporal punishment and others at Colonel punishment. Ken Waller et al being the opposite side of the coin. Having said that I still remember many good aspects of the school, and it was a pleasure to have met some of my class-mates during the recent events. Big thanks going to Keith Baker and his team. Laurence
Name: Alex Copeland
Email: alexccattelus.net
Years_at_school: 1941 - 1948
Date: 02 Jul 2012
Time: 11:25:01
I read, and very much enjoyed Ian Johnson's comments.I have a few notes to add. I very much admired Randall Williams, however my introduction to him was a little different. One day, as new pupil, I had finished an Art Class, on the way back to home room I ran my ruler along the metal radiator, which I learned was outside the Head Masters room.Randall must have been constantly interrupted by others doing the same thing, because he rushed out and caught me redhanded, at least I was red handed after he had adminstered a few strokes with his cane!Ah well a little discipline never does too much harm. I also recall, having eventually received my Rugby Colours, that on the few away games to which we went by coach, that we would seranade Swanee Amos with some enthusiastical verses of Swanee, how I love you. His expression changed very little but a small smile would appear. After completing the sixth forms, well described by Ian, he along with Sam Weller,Brian Lewis, Gilbert Cunningham and I, all went to Exeter, at that time a College of London University, where we earned our London Bachelor's degrees as external students.We had great times at Exeter, and I for my final year was treasurer of the Student Union, or Guild as it was called in those days. I would be delighted to hear from any of my old classmates or University Colleagues who may read this. Greetings to all Old Gaytonians from Vancouver B.C. Alex Copeland
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 59-63
Date: 01 Jul 2012
Time: 03:51:38
Well Mr Dickins...Colin...all good stuff! In my previous, I did add the rider that I had only consulted Wickipedia re-the status of Monmouth. Not a thorough academic research. But I didn't go as far as actually stating Swanny Amos was Welsh. Being from that area, he had a distinctive Welsh influence in the voice and one could detect this. With respect, one did not miss your point. More disagree with it...cultural changes, old men falling behind etc. etc. I later went to College with Grammar School boys form different parts who had not been beaten up by thugs. It would appear their masters had coped well with the 50s-60s 'changes'. The truth lies nearer to the deep down character of the HCS individuals concerned. We shouldn't try to find excuses for them.
Name: Colin Dickins
Email:
Years_at_school: 1947-53
Date: 30 Jun 2012
Time: 20:34:15
Well, Peters both. What a reaction! To deal with the trivial matter of Swanny's nationality first, it was he who insisted he was English. Peter Ward's Wikipedia research must have been less than diligent. It deals quite extensively with the ambiguity of Monmouth's English/Welsh designation and it refers to the "Make Monmouthshire Welsh" campaign which was launched in August 1961 to gain parliamentary recognition that the county was in Wales. The index of my Phillips School Atlas of 1961 does, in fact list "Monmouth, Eng." - although more recent Atlases such as the Times World do place it in Wales. Both of you, regrettably, overlook the real point of my contribution, which tentatively concludes a cultural change and the old establishment's difficulty in coping with it. Finally, I did have some difficulty submitting my offering and sent it to the blessed Jeff, who kindly inserted it - as it happened mis-spelling my name. (It is Dickins, Mr Ward, but you may call me Colin.)
Name: Eric Driver
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1950s
Date: 29 Jun 2012
Time: 20:03:52
Mention of Twink Bradley brings back memories of English Lit. tests when he would write on the blackboard the chapter and page the particular quote could be found. We all would have the book open under the desks and came up with almost 100 percent accuracy. On revealing the results he complimented us all on how well we had all done. All was undone however when someone obviously mentioned this to a parent who then wrote in to complain -and that was the last we saw of Twink. At least we didn't suffer corporal punishment from him -unlike a number of other (in)famous names already mentioned in these columns, which require no repetition from me.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmail.com
Years_at_school: 1940-7
Date: 29 Jun 2012
Time: 17:48:53
I'm afraid we all gave the poor Rev. Dr. Dickie Dyer a bad time. Somehow he had been persuaded to give up holy orders (I believe C of E at North Harrow) to become a teacher of religious knowledge to a bunch of rebelloius schoolboys. I doubt he had any formal training as a teacher so was completely overwhelmed by us all. The law of the time required us all to have one class each week in R.K. but getting teachers in the subject was clearly always a problem, even at a school such as HCS. Twink Bradley used to take us rowing on Saturday mornings so we saw another side of him but wasy always eccentric. He marched us across Oxford Street on one occasion by stopping the traffic with his furled umbrella extended as "hurry up boys". Some of the drivers were not amused.
Name: Bob Blackburn
Email: With Alex Bateman
Years_at_school: 1943 - 1949
Date: 29 Jun 2012
Time: 06:04:06
Dickie Dyer used to lash about with his foot long ebony round ruler,terrible man and supposed to be a man of the cloth. Georgie Neil gave me a huge clump round the back of my head when he did not like my art work, sadly not saying what was wrong with it. In the huts with the stoves, Johnny Armstrong lost his rag with us, picked up a poker and brought it down on a desk lid, splitting the lid. In the middle corridor, first form room up the stairs on the right where we had gas lamps, just stepping out into the corridor at the end of a period when we had to step back very sharply out of the way of a lad being pursued by Randy Williams waving a slipper. Best of the lot, Twink Bradely was taking us in that same formroom and telling us the story of when he was standing by the window he saw a shadow through the frosted glass to the corridor, this shadow came to the door, stopped and bent down to look through the keyhole. Whilst telling us the story Twink had moved across toward the door, he continued with his story by saying he had opened the door telling the form that it was the height of bad manners to look through the keyhole only to discover that it was Joe Brister who was standing there. Whilst he was over by the door looking toward the room all the boys saw this shadow coming along the corridor, stop and bend down to look through the keyhole, we were all agog, who could it be? There was a tap on the door and a student lady mistress came in, of course all the boys collapsed in laughter, Twink went mad, shouting how dare we laugh when a lady entered the room, laughing bodies were being thrown all round the room, impossible to stop. Sad thing was that Twink never knew what had caused the uproar. Tongue in cheek, could I suggest that in 1943 with the state of the war that we were a hardy group who could take the rough with the smooth, did not tend to complain!
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: 1962-9
Years_at_school:
Date: 29 Jun 2012
Time: 04:54:36
I am not an expert, but I believe that Monmouth enjoys a unique status in that it is neither fully English nor Welsh. Indeed, did I not recently see on the telly a programme which insists that the county is still technically at war with Germany?
Name: Keith Palmer
Email: palmerdotkeith57atgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 1968-1975
Date: 28 Jun 2012
Time: 22:58:00
It is often said that a singer has "made it" when they are recognised purely by their first name, e.g. Frank or Dean from a few years back through to the likes of Whitney and Kylie in more recent years (I make no comment on the musical output of any of the above!) In a few walks of life one's initials take on a relevance when referring to an individual (cricket, in particular, springs to mind). Consequently, I thank Pete Fowler for reminding me of the initials of one man, the memory of whom was stirred in his most recent posting, namely JSG. At school, I was probably typical of thousands of students, went through the seven years, got a couple of A-levels, and left without a fond glance backwards (and haven't been back since that day in 1975, although I hope that may change one day.) I must have made an impression on Jim Golland, though, as although our paths did not cross academically in my final two years, he sought out my last report in order to leave a "good luck" message. One noteable thing about the internet, as we are all aware, is the ability to make contact with people from years gone by that previous generations did not have. So, when I found this site circa 2005 and saw pictures of Jim from only a couple of years previously, I thought how good it would be to make contact with someone who made a lasting impression on me (and who might just have remembered me). Sadly, all too quickly, I found his obituary. I would have loved the opportunity (which I understand he fully embraced even in his last years) to have discussed a plethora of matters relating to my time (and his) at HCS. However it wasn't to be, and it will always be a regret of mine that such exchanges did not happen.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 28 Jun 2012
Time: 11:27:50
By implication, Colin Dickens corrects me over the origins of Swanny Amos. I hinted at the PE master's Welsh accent in a previous blog. Only to be corrected by Mr Dickens that Amos was English having been born in Monmouth (England?) Well, swipe me. And there was I thinking that Monmouthshire was a County in SE Wales. I have checked Wickipedia, not necessarily known for its total accuracy. Monmouth appears to be in Wales as it always has been. Certainly in Swanny's birth time. Shades of Owen Glendower the well-known English Nationalist? Perhaps Mr Dickens went to a far superior school than we did with excellent Geography teachers. He certainly attended a different ethical school. His comments refer to the 40s to early 50s. Ours to the late 50s to early 60s. Things had moved on and in a not very pleasant direction. Trying to explain the Late Simpsonian Period as a reaction to the Swinging Sixties, laissez faire, anti-authoritarianism etc will not do. There were professional thugs in the school and their actions should not be conveniently air-brushed out of history. Let then stand by their deeds.
Name: Pete Fowler
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 56/62 (I keep getting that wrong, it was 62)
Date: 28 Jun 2012
Time: 10:10:02
I can only assume certain people from my period did not have certain teachers - since my years nearly exactly overlap with those who talk of a brief slap or its equivalent. What about the chemistry teacher who opened the door of his lab in order to take a long run up before the slipper found its target over his desk? Do you think that was acceptable behaviour? What about the English teacher who lifted you by a few strands of hair whilst twisting your ears at the same time? What about the Biology teacher who caned a boy because he wrote incorrectly a word dictated from the Biology text book? Which the teacher had to use because he did not appear to know any Biology? Harrow County in those years was built on violence and the threat of violence - a regime seen as entirely legitimate by its leading staff (I had very constructive email ding-dongs with JSG on this in 2001) until its ruthless expose in the late 1960s.
Name: Colin Dickens
Email:
Years_at_school: 1947-53
Date: 27 Jun 2012
Time: 21:37:42
Comments
Returning from holiday, I find violence has once again been a hot topic. I have said before that I experienced all forms of punishment (mostly deserved) including the strap, cuffs round the head, thrown chalk, being sent from the room, rapped knuckles, lines, detentions and once (briefly and unfairly) suspension. I found the “violence” the least of these. It was generally brief, instantaneous, quickly over and forgotten - and usually no more than to get one’s wandering attention or dismiss a momentary foolishness. What’s more, it rarely hurt – except when history master Campbell, who lost part of his right arm in the war, would dot one on the head with his gloved metal prosthesis. (To be fair, I don’t think he realised how much it hurt.) The only serious violence I encountered was by a poor, hopeless academic called Dixon who could not control a class, was ruthlessly bullied by the boys and flailed around with a heavy ruler in incompetent desperation. We knew we deserved it.
To deal with specifics, the only physical attention I ever saw from George Thorn was the opposite of violent and I can only conclude that the reference to violence by him was when, as Deputy Headmaster, it was his duty to administer the strap or cane. I saw quite a lot of Simpson both as Headmaster and as a Latin teacher and the only time I ever witnessed violence by him was when he administered the strap in his study. Swanny Amos, as Peter Garwood says, was never hard on anyone who tried – whether or not they succeeded – and his physical ministrations seemed to me trivial, although perhaps more frequent in the physical environment in which he toiled. He was certainly not in any way a sadist; it was just the “rough and tumble” of his job.
In my attempts to understand the periodic obsession with violence in the Guestbook I have come to the conclusion that there may have been a cultural crossover which developed in the late fifties, early sixties. (“Years at School” tends to support this.) Traditional discipline was questioned, rights were arrogated (often without responsibility), laisser faire became acceptable, authority ceased to be automatic, political correctness was born and we saw the “swinging sixties” and eventually student riots. It now seems likely to me that violence by authority in HCS did in fact increase in uncomprehending reaction to this zeitgeist. Whether it was as bad as anecdotal accounts have suggested I suppose I shall never know.
By the way, Swanny Amos would let anyone know who cared to listen that he was not Welsh, but English. He was born in Monmouth.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 27 Jun 2012
Time: 16:22:21
Chris Rickwood voices a view held at the time and, so it appears, by some ever since. However,in the case of Deputy Head and Head of Music George Thorne, whilst his bum-patting, cuddling and gross caning rituals were beyond reprehensible his real sin was his lack of musicianship. That was his greatest crime as far as we musical ones were concerned. Only when Mr Waller played the organ did it sound like the fine instrument it was (defunct, now, I gather.) Shame on those who let that happen. Please will someone advise? I joined the school late ie in the middle of the Third Year (today's Year 9.) Just before my time, I understand that the pipes of Thorne's Organ (no schoolboy jokes please) were filled with bags of flour. Thus, at the Assembly, when he played the first strident chord, a great cloud of white powder emerged from the loft and descended on the bemused audience below. Is this apocryphal or true? I really don't know. It sounds too good to be a figment of the imagination. There were certainly sparky anti-Thorne elements who were capable of pulling off such a stunt. The Great HCS Organ Flour Incident. True of False? We need to know. Also, was plain flour used or self-raising. There's a second joke there somewhere but I'll let it pass. Talking about jokes - whilst some regard HCS as the equivalent of Stalag Luft 32 or Colditz, we must remember that for many of us it was huge fun. And on a daily basis. Just as cheeking the 'goons' was for captured, interned and bored RAF types. I remember laughing at Simpson and Co.'s antics far more than resenting them. Very character-building. Thanks Doc.
Name: Chris Rickwood
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 26 Jun 2012
Time: 08:34:51
I agree with Peter Fowler but I'd take it further. I'd suggest that the behaviour of some Masters went beyond personal idiosyncrasies into much more sinister country. For instance George Thorn's cuddling, bum patting and the ritual he made of caning - Normal? Bigham, those cold, cold eyes and his obvious pleasure in caning a handful of boys every single lesson. Normal ? Suzy Whiteside patrolling the area around the Lecture Room between periods on the off chance he could find somebody talking who he could slipper. Normal? There are more examples.
Name: Chris Rickwood
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 26 Jun 2012
Time: 07:39:28
I agree with Peter Fowler but I'd take it further. I'd suggest that the behaviour of some Masters went beyond personal idiosyncrasies into much more sinister country. For instance George Thorn's cuddling, bum patting and the ritual he made of caning - Normal? Bigham, those cold, cold eyes and his obvious pleasure in caning a handful of boys every single lesson. Normal ? Suzy Whiteside patrolling the area around the Lecture Room between periods on the off chance he could find somebody talking who he could slipper. Normal? There are more examples.
Name: Peter Fowler
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 56/63
Date: 25 Jun 2012
Time: 06:00:19
It really makes me cross when it is assumed that those who criticise the Simpson days are written off as embittered failures (more or less the phrase Bill Peters used on a Facebook tirade). It is simply not the case; many of us who have subsequently had happy, successful and fulfilling lives look back agog at the antics that were endemic in the Doctor's School. The casual violence, sometimes extreme, of more than a few teachers; the single aspirational focus - Oxbridge for as many as possible - mollified only for those with particular abilities in sports, or on the stage, or as soldiers heading for Sandhurst; the crassness of the fourth form cramming which allowed those like me to skip the fifth year but have an almost perverse curriculum (no science after the third year? what lunacy was that?); the single sex aspect of the school which meant, as a sixth former doing arts subjects, no female comments on writers like Jane Austen and George Eliot, let alone Keats and Shelley; the awful treatment of those with special needs, with those like me, born with a heart defect, forced to sit in a freezing gym changing room for two hours whilst you lot played rugby. HMI tore the place to pieces - and they did this when HMI was still a byword for utter integrity, a respected group of gifted ex-headteachers who could smell the whiff of fanaticism from the Sheepcote Road.
Name: Chris Rickwood
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 24 Jun 2012
Time: 21:39:44
School Field in 1926 - Aerial View from English Heritage http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/epw018761?search=harrow&ref=14 Lots of photos of Harrow & Environs in 1926 http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/asearch?search=harrow Stunning quality considering taken with hand held cameras from open cockpit biplanes! Planes flew from Hendon Aerodrome - later RAF Hendon now RAF Museum.
Name: Keith Palmer
Email: palmerdotkeith57atgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 1968-1975
Date: 24 Jun 2012
Time: 17:16:15
The thoughts and further thoughts of Peter Garwood and Peter Ward respectively are largely accurate, but don't forget we all speak as we find (or found, to be grammatically correct). Bearing in mind I attended the school post-Simpson (indeed, I've learnt more about the man from this site than I ever did at school) my comments are based on the Avery era. I cannot agree that a willingness to work resulted in better teaching, though, certainly not in the earlier years. If you had a good teacher in a subject the likelihood was that you would thrive but, sadly, the reverse was also true. In my day this was epitomised by the Geography department, I did particularly well in the first couple of years under one teacher, then had a change in the third form, a man incapable of controlling the class, let alone teaching the subject. With regard to the streaming, I never understood why the C and D streams automatically took on more science (when it could have been poor marks in the science subjects that significantly lowered a pupil's average mark) and the A and B streams automatically took on another language. In my case, I was given Ancient Greek, the only good thing about that was I spent an enjoyable year in the company of Ken Waller! The point made about confidence is also very valid, I distinctly remember being relegated to Set 2 for French in the third year, where I did well enough to be promoted back to Set 1, only to struggle again. Going through the fifth form certainly did me no harm and, in the following year, I encountered the wonderful Reggie Goff who set me on my way to being an accountant from where, in 1988, I started my own business. However, with this last particular exception, I have always felt that I set out on life's rich path despite HCS, not because of it.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 24 Jun 2012
Time: 16:20:23
With great respect to Peter Garwood, I detect a contradiction in his logic. He claims HCS, under Dr Simpson, to have been a fine school, implying perhaps that those who disliked it may be embittered. That may be true in some cases. But the thrust of the debate is actually about Education and its values. Peter writes: 'to get to HCS we were the cream of the local crop.' And goes on: 'Accepting the fact that those in the 'C' and 'D' Forms were probably written off by Simpson...' Well, let's examine this. C and D Formers made up half of any one year in the first 4 years. Peter therefore admits that Simpson wrote off half of the local cream that came to him. Some school. Some waste. And confirmed by HMI the year after Simpson left. So much of good school teaching is about motivating, giving confidence and inspiring young people to believe in themselves. This is where Simpson let himself down. He wouldn't know what that means. HCS was the Curate's Egg. Good and bad in parts. It is not accurate to describe it as all good or all bad. In my own case, I write not out of feelings of bitterness or failure (a former 'B' Former who went on to gain a London Science Hons. Degree and 4-Year Teacher's Certificate.) I write as someone who has been in education, professionally, all my life with experience at both Primary and Secondary Levels. Young people should never be written off. If schools fail their pupils eg the 'C' and 'D' Formers or their equivalents, then examine the ethos. And let those in charge take the consequences. That's how schools are today - the irony being that many poor or failing Heads are encouraged to resign, some gaining re-employment as Ofsted Inspectors!
Name: Peter Garwood
Email: peterdotgarwood777atbtinternetdotcom
Years_at_school: 1953-61
Date: 24 Jun 2012
Time: 04:12:34
As one who went through the fifth form I cannot agree that we all felt 'vilified failures'. Accepting the fact that those in the C & D forms were probably already written off by Simpson, or certainly so by the end of the 3rd form, as making up the necessary numbers, a bit like the metalwork & woodwork shops. At the end of the fourth form most of us knew, to some extent, where our future lay. Don't forget that to get to HCS we were the cream of the local crop, so fairly intelligent. Some were obviously brighter than others and possibly more to the point, they were prepared to work and as a result, probably in receipt of better teaching. The school was what you made of it, if you accepted your limitations or weren't prepared to put the work in, then why should you feel vilified, disappointed perhaps but then life isn't so different from school. HCS was a fine school and in my view gave you a great start in life no matter what level you came out of it or where you went on to. This is borne out by the fact that those of my era, who are still in touch, have all been successful and more importantly seem happy with the way their life panned out, certainly not bitter, the school has to take some considerable credit for this.
Name: Keith Palmer
Email: palmerdotkeith57atgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 1968-1975
Date: 23 Jun 2012
Time: 17:48:21
Peter Ward is quite correct in his statement that those who went through the fifth form were "vilified and made to feel failures". Even 10 years after his attendance at the school, my parents were led to believe that skipping the fifth form should be regarded as the norm, consequently when I failed in this regard I received a parental ear-bashing when all I was doing was following a timetable as laid down nationally. I took 2 O-levels at the end of the fourth form, one of which was French, and passed both. However, for reasons that escape me now, I had to continue with the subject and take the exam again at the end of the fifth form, a waste of time that would have been better utilised on other subjects.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16at btinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 23 Jun 2012
Time: 14:29:35
Brian Hester misses the point. I suspect he was not at the school when Simpson's policy of 'O'Levels in the Fourth Year, thus missing ut the Fifth Year, was firmly established. The purpose of this policy was to produce an 'elite' that would jump a year and have two years to 'A' Level and an extra year for Oxbridge awards. Not standard entrance to Oxbridge but hot-housing the ablest pupils to gain special scholarships to enhance the Honours Board. To anyone at the school at the time, it was clear that the regime took great pride in a policy that included only a small minority of the most academic. The majority, who had to go through the Fifth Year, were vilified and made to feel failures (not necessarily borne out by their ultimate achievements.) This was the point made by HMI. A school is for everyone, not just the most academic. That is how we see things nowadays. Simpson's Greek view of education was myopic and two and a half thousand years out of date.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmail.com
Years_at_school: 1940-7
Date: 23 Jun 2012
Time: 06:43:50
We must not blame poor old Simpson for everything. The policy of 15+ O-levels, or School Cert as it was then, was put in place by Randall Williams. At that time, schooling was compulsory only to age 14 and many homes welcomed the prospect of an additional worker in the household. Earnings prospects were greatly increased when that worker held a School Certificate. Parents might have been persuaded to leave a son at school for one more year but not for two. With the prospect before them of having to join the services at 18, boys tended to stay on at school longer during the war years. This tendency accelerated with passage of an education act around 1944. Where previously few boys entered the sixth form, about 40 of us entered the science 6th in 1944 and there was an immediate problem in providing staff and classroom space. Increased use was made of existing arrangements to use facilities at Harrow School and the then Harrow Tech building and for a short while some maths classes were provided at the Girls' school. Those of us in the sixth form during this time often spent less than an hour a day in the schol building and could wander around town with impunity. Towards the end of the war, when food became more plentiful, a restaurant called Ann's Pantry opened up on Station Road. We would pause here each morning for coffee and Eccles cakes. On the one morning I missed this regular activity, Randall Williams showed up with the governors only to find all the tables occupied by boys. Repercussions of this event were far reaching but I was forrtunately in the clear. I sometimes wonder if it was the Ann's Pantry Affair that prompted the governors to conclude 'something radical must be done to straighten out the school' and led to the recruiting of Simpson. Apart from that incident, I neither saw nor heard anything of the governors.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmail.com
Years_at_school: 1940-7
Date: 23 Jun 2012
Time: 06:43:49
We must not blame poor old Simpson for everything. The policy of 15+ O-levels, or School Cert as it was then, was put in place by Randall Williams. At that time, schooling was compulsory only to age 14 and many homes welcomed the prospect of an additional worker in the household. Earnings prospects were greatly increased when that worker held a School Certificate. Parents might have been persuaded to leave a son at school for one more year but not for two. With the prospect before them of having to join the services at 18, boys tended to stay on at school longer during the war years. This tendency accelerated with passage of an education act around 1944. Where previously few boys entered the sixth form, about 40 of us entered the science 6th in 1944 and there was an immediate problem in providing staff and classroom space. Increased use was made of existing arrangements to use facilities at Harrow School and the then Harrow Tech building and for a short while some maths classes were provided at the Girls' school. Those of us in the sixth form during this time often spent less than an hour a day in the schol building and could wander around town with impunity. Towards the end of the war, when food became more plentiful, a restaurant called Ann's Pantry opened up on Station Road. We would pause here each morning for coffee and Eccles cakes. On the one morning I missed this regular activity, Randall Williams showed up with the governors only to find all the tables occupied by boys. Repercussions of this event were far reaching but I was forrtunately in the clear. I sometimes wonder if it was the Ann's Pantry Affair that prompted the governors to conclude 'something radical must be done to straighten out the school' and led to the recruiting of Simpson. Apart from that incident, I neither saw nor heard anything of the governors.
Name: Jeff Maynard
Email: jeffrey at jeffreymaynard dot com
Years_at_school: 1962-69
Date: 22 Jun 2012
Time: 16:31:24
Fellow Old Gaytonian Below is an email from Christopher Swan re Bill Swan's Memorial Service. If you are able to go, please contact Christopher directly. Geoff Spring Association Secretary Old Gaytonians Association Subject: W H Swan - Memorial Service Hello Geoff, The Memorial Service for my father will be held at St George's RAF Memorial Chapel at Biggin Hill, on Thursday 28th June at 15:00. Any Old Gaytonians who wish to attend the service will be most welcome to the service and to tea afterwards. The postcode for the Chapel is TN16 3EJ. Would you please circulate this information as appropriate. We would appreciate an indication of the number of people who will attend (for the catering arrangements!). With kind regards Chris Christopher Swan 32 Westfield Avenue Sanderstead South Croydon CR2 9JU United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0)20 8657 4757 Mobile: +44 (0)7500 116 928 Email: swan.chris at yahoo dot co dot uk
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 22 Jun 2012
Time: 15:30:49
In response to Brian Hester, HMI would have inspected HCS, at some stage, although I am certainly not aware of that in my time. However, I gather the school was inspected almost immediately after Simpson retired and was castigated, esp. his established policy of force-feeding 15 year-olds to take 'O' Levels and jump the Fifth Form. Five years being the norm in most Grammar Schools of the time. I have tried to check into this but cannot penetrate the World of Ofsted which appears to have taken over the old HMI - well beyond my computing powers or patience. Of course, the old-time HMI was a toothless puppy when compared with the present Ofsted. How do I know? I have been inspected by both in my time. HMI in 1968 and Ofsted in 1999. Chalk and cheese. Or British Rail ticket inspectors and the Gestapo! Simpson vs. Ofsted? No contest. He would have been 'offered retirement' by the otherwise complacent Board of Governors. Does anyone recall the Alderman Mrs Nott-Cock? (I kid you not, cock.) At Speech days in the 60s, she would spiel out as Head of the Governors, sycophantic nonsense about the supreme excellence of Simpson's elitist Academy. He had people like her eating out of his hand. It was another world.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 22 Jun 2012
Time: 15:30:48
In response to Brian Hester, HMI would have inspected HCS, at some stage, although I am certainly not aware of that in my time. However, I gather the school was inspected almost immediately after Simpson retired and was castigated, esp. his established policy of force-feeding 15 year-olds to take 'O' Levels and jump the Fifth Form. Five years being the norm in most Grammar Schools of the time. I have tried to check into this but cannot penetrate the World of Ofsted which appears to have taken over the old HMI - well beyond my computing powers or patience. Of course, the old-time HMI was a toothless puppy when compared with the present Ofsted. How do I know? I have been inspected by both in my time. HMI in 1968 and Ofsted in 1999. Chalk and cheese. Or British Rail ticket inspectors and the Gestapo! Simpson vs. Ofsted? No contest. He would have been 'offered retirement' by the otherwise complacent Board of Governors. Does anyone recall the Alderman Mrs Nott-Cock? (I kid you not, cock.) At Speech days in the 60s, she would spiel out as Head of the Governors, sycophantic nonsense about the supreme excellence of Simpson's elitist Academy. He had people like her eating out of his hand. It was another world.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmail.com
Years_at_school: 1940-7
Date: 21 Jun 2012
Time: 13:51:07
I am sure Chris Rickwood is right about the rules governing corporal punishment being codified. That was why Simpson kept a record, incomplete though it might have been. I was never aware of inspectors visiting the school although I suppose they must have. What surprises me is the change in attitudes. You would think some of the parents would have raised a fuss. Putting canes into the hands of men like Thorne and Bigham was unforgivable.
Name: Chris Rickwood
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 21 Jun 2012
Time: 08:39:20
I believe that in 50s & 60s each County Council had its own set of rules about corporal punishment. I suspect, at this late stage, there is no way of discovering what rules Middlesex had in place. However, I would be very surprised if HCS obeyed or even acknowledged such rules existed.
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash70panatyahoodotcom
Years_at_school: 1962-9
Date: 21 Jun 2012
Time: 00:57:43
Last night I was pleased to attend the premiere of The Time Traveller a comic opera in one act at the Grimsdyke Hotel, Old Redding. Music by Bryan Kesselman,words by Philip Barnett who both also performed. Chris Coote played the piano and a lovely lady by the name of Alexandra McPhee sang. I was with my wife Asheeta and we sat with Keith Adamson and his wife Hazel. I am not sure whether there were any other Old Gayts in the audience but the event was well attended. Anyway, well done to all concerned and I am sure that we all wish Philip and Bryan well when they take their creation to the Gilbert & Sullivan festival at Buxton kn August.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 20 Jun 2012
Time: 17:19:15
Interested to read my old cricket captain's comments on old Swanny Amos. Other than the one incident (see a previous 'blog' if that's what this is) I generally got on OK with him. But it was a huge advantage being good at sport (like Peter.) It was also wise to keep out of the scrum in his Third XV in which I played Fly Half. I had to watch him swinging his metal whistle on a chain into the arched spines of the 'scrummers'. 'Get your back down, boy!' in that husky Welsh voice. Whilst Simpson was an awful snob, I don't suspect that the woodwork, metalwork, gym and caretaker's flat were deliberately sited away from 'academe.' These were planned just prior to the War and the building held up (there are interesting photos in the Archive.) This would have been pre-Simpson. It also makes sense to place a gym, woodwork and metalwork complex away from normal classrooms. At my first Grammar School at Doncaster (circa 1350) the Music Room and Woodwork were in adjacent Victorian buildings. We had a gifted and splendid Music Master (the antithesis of G. Thorn) and it must have been murder for him trying to work through all the biffing and banging next door. This arrangement had one advantage. The Music Master, one Cyril Busby, one day raced into the Woodwork Room and wrestled a piece of four by two from the bully Woodwork man's grasp. He was heavily engaged in clobbering one of my friends for no good reason. Cyril Busby was also our caring Form Master.This goes to show, of course, that Grammar School bullying in the 1950s was not restricted to Simpson's inglorious 50 year-old academy. In the case of the HCS arch-hitters;slappers;caners;slipperers;chalk throwers etc. I suggest that some of these brutes were at the school for far too long. In terms of overall society they held very minor professional positions. But in the microcosmic Grammar School context they gradually assumed the mantle of big fish in a rather small pond. How would they have got on in the big, outside world of adults? They were hardly fully-formed and rounded human beings. Also, I believe that institutional thuggery by somewhat inadequate individuals became the accepted norm under the Simpson regime. A culture of violence developed and possibly grew to a head during my own time there. At Doncaster Grammar, I enjoyed an amusing moment when my Geography Master, also Cricket master, hurled a piece of chalk at my head for daring to talk. Being a useful cricketer (aged 13) I caught it one-handed and returned 'over the top of the stumps'. He took this well but whether or not I would have dared do such a thing to the likes of Bigham, Swanny, Clarkson, Thorn etc is open to doubt.
Name: Peter Garwood
Email: peterdotgarwood777atbtinternetdotcom
Years_at_school: 1953-61
Date: 20 Jun 2012
Time: 07:50:19
Interesting to read peoples' comments about Swanny Amos. Apart from one occasion when I got whacked by him for swimming the length of the pool underwater during a swimming lesson, I did get the house points for it, I got on well with him and Gordon Underwood. They like all of us had bad days but as has been said you were fairly safe if you tried your best at whatever it was. Also bear in mind that they, unlike most of the other members of staff, had to work a six day week supervising sport on Saturday. I'm sure it's fair comment that they, Harry Webb and Hervie Collins probably felt a bit isolated from other members of staff. Did Square ever talk to them. As far as I'm concerned they were better teachers at their subjects than many other members of staff Do you think it was a coincidence that the new gym,caretaker's flat, the metalwork and woodwork shops were as far away as possible from the rest of the school, housed in the extension that abutted the main building.
Name: Brianwhesteratgmail.com
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1940-7
Date: 19 Jun 2012
Time: 19:48:37
In retrospect I have come to wonder if Amos had a mental health problem. His popularity clearly declined over the years. He was stuck in the same job which must have been fun when he was young but not when he got older. I don't suppose he had much in common with the rest of the staff all of whom were 'gowned' and presumably earning more money. He also got to take the morning and afternoon line ups so had to stand out in the cold while the rest of the staff were having a last smoke in the warm common room. By the time we got to know him, I believe he felt trapped in a job he hated. Hence his behaviour problem.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16at btinternet.com
Years_at_school: Far too many
Date: 19 Jun 2012
Time: 16:42:20
Poor Swanny Amos. He does come in for stick - yes, 'stick's' the word. Those that live by the stick perish by the stick. Or words to that effect. Peter Woollard's account is curiously close to my own. Having received a TB jab the day before, my arm swelled a little but did not prevent my doing PE. As the crowd of boys pushed through the gymnasium door, Swanny slashed out at me and swung a heavy hand across the plaster protecting the superating injection. Really painful but a good shot. A man amongst boys. What a hero.
Name: Peter Woollard
Email: peterewoollardathotmail.co.uk
Years_at_school: 1955-1960
Date: 18 Jun 2012
Time: 00:35:41
My recollections of Swanny Amos invariably contain some form of brutality. It could be making overweight boys run an extra lap of the school field or using a knotted rope on those unable to perform an exercise. An example from my own personal experience is when I produced a letter from my mother requesting that I be excused from PT as I had a large and painful abscess on a delicate part of my anatomy. 'A note from Mummy eh Woollard' said Amos disdainfully as he tore it up. 'Get changed, exercise will do it good' He was also witheringly contemptuous when I opted for cross country rather than rugby as my failing sight was causing me to grab boys' heads instead of the ball. He clearly felt that cross country was for cowardly wimps.
Name: Martin (Bogue) Humphrey
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1947-1955
Date: 14 Jun 2012
Time: 07:43:47
Fascinating! Particularly the posting by Gerry Freed since we were together in the sixth form and he mentions several occurrences which have awakened long forgotten memories. Leonhart was one although I do remember an occasion after school when the grand piano had been left unattended on the stage of the new hall and 'Split' as he was known to me, sat at the keyboard and played one of the classic piano concertos. Whilst I cannot remember which it was I can remember 'Split' imploring me not to tell anyone that he could play the piano for fear of it coming to the attention of GT. Another piano related memory is a concert given in the new hall in which three boys played six hands on the piano. The piece was Qui Vive by Ganz but who were the players? Possibly two of them could have been the brothers mentioned by Gerry Freed and the other might have been Hayward. Has anyone any suggestions? Going further back in time before the new hall was opened there was a film event which has left a permanent impression on me to this day. The film was 'Metropolis' and because of its great length we were allowed to start during the last period of the afternoon. This film and its history has intrigued me ever since and due to the loss of much of the original I have often wondered what became of the version we saw all those years ago. It was undoubtedly 16mm and would have been safety film. Can anyone throw any light on where it came from and what happened to it? My closing comment goes back to Gerry Freed where I remember him making his own transistors by poking phosphor-bronze wires into germanium diodes. Very much hit and miss.
Name: Brian Hester
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 13 Jun 2012
Time: 19:30:54
The level of violence was much lower in pre-Simpson days. I sometimes wonder what the masters were really like. I was in awe of them until the sixth form.What would they have been like as neighbours for instance. What other job might they have been capable of? Many of them were very eccentric. Simpson condoned violence far more than Williams did but both kept their staff on a tight rein. Simpson's job description was clearly to shake things up. This is why five of the six old boys on staff left shortly after Simpson's arrival. The staff room must have hosted some interesting conversations but we'll never know.
Name: Chris Rickwood
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 13 Jun 2012
Time: 11:21:30
Ooops - posted before I intended. Was going to add that Glyn Johns and Gerwyn Williams were nice enough individuals but both very free with the slipper. As an aside, I imagine many of the masters today would face jail for their violence - and that includes some we all lionised. Harry Mees for instance was quite happy to smack somebody hard around the head (in my case once hit 3 times hard enough to cause a concussion)
Name: Chris Rickwood
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 13 Jun 2012
Time: 11:11:46
It seemed that violence was a requirement for PE teachers
Name: brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmail.com
Years_at_school: 1940-7
Date: 13 Jun 2012
Time: 05:30:45
I agree 'Swanny' was never moted for abstinence from violent behaviour but suspect he became more so in his later years when the Simpson regime actively encouraged it.
Name: Chris Rickwood
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 12 Jun 2012
Time: 19:52:13
Sorry, but I cannot agree with the exculpation of Amos. Routinely he would take a slipper or a rope end to some unfortunate whose only crime was a physical inability to perform one exercise or another. Additionally, I can't forget the runs down to Watford Road rugby fields when he'd cut a switch from the hedge and joyfully whack any laggards across their bare legs, leaving marks that were still there days later.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmail.com
Years_at_school: 1940-7
Date: 12 Jun 2012
Time: 15:07:42
Sorry to learn Ken is not in good shape, Bob. He looked much as ever when I spotted him 'across a crowded room' at the school's 90th but I did not want to interrupt what was obviously a deep conversation, I think with Hugh Metcalfe. I recall Ken's, and that of Peter Bellamy. athletic prowess. We were all in the ATC together. Please remember me to Bob. I believe your assessment of Amos to be fair. He needed to know you were trying and I cannot fault him for that.
Name: Bob Blackburn
Email: With Alex Bateman
Years_at_school: 1943 - 1949
Date: 12 Jun 2012
Time: 07:42:55
Tops of Post Boxes were painted in a yellowy-green colour to change back to red if there was a gas attack, no-one said how long the process took ! Well done Alex for the OG Magazine and to all the contributors. Lots of golden names from the past. I was inthe great Jack Herman's B 15 in the 1950's, best team. Also concur that Tony Rhoades deserves accolade of best ever OG, a perfect gentleman. Quite unhappy with comments about Swanny Amos, if you were prepared to work he gave all the encouragement needed to better sporting performances. Missing trophies, have not heard of the 'Victor Ladorum'cup awarded to the best all round athlete, Peter Bellamy I believe had a monopoly of winning during the 1940's, but my big brother Ken Blackburn also won it in about 1946. Sorry to say that Ken is in very poor health. Best wishes to all who remember me, Bob Blackburn
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmail.com
Years_at_school: 1940-7
Date: 10 Jun 2012
Time: 05:37:22
I'd forgotten about the removal of signposts but now recall it was done with the intention of confusing paratroopers in the event of an invasion. Drivers of cars were required to remove the rotor arm from their cars' distributors so the same paratroopers could not hot wire them! Place names on railway stations were also covered with paper labels bearing the name in small print. All serious stuff at the time and based on experiences of the invasion of the Low Countries. We were all required to keep 'iron rations' in the form of chocolate biscuits or similar item in our desks. Such items become unobtainable but we kept them for several years. We all ate them in a single orgy one afternoon when told they were not longer needed.
Name: Roy Goldman
Email: roygraceatbigpond.net.au
Years_at_school: 1943-1949
Date: 10 Jun 2012
Time: 00:07:37
There were many secrets in those days Colin. All signposts were removed from road junctions for example, to impede wicked German spies in their travels. Paradoxically as every 4th Harrow scout knew at the time, Ordnance Survey maps could be purchased in Woolworths for a few pence!
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colindotdickinsatblueyondercouk
Years_at_school: 1947-1953
Date: 08 Jun 2012
Time: 03:04:41
I remember it well, Brian. It was scheduled for 4th June, but the meteorologists advised the later date. My most puzzled recollection is of my mother (my father served abroad most of the war) telling me on 4th that it had been put back - but not to tell anyone. Even at the age of eight, I wondered how a timid housewife knew such a momentous secret. I never did ask her, and it's too late now.
Name: brian hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmail.com
Years_at_school: 1940-7
Date: 06 Jun 2012
Time: 06:00:34
The D-Day invasion of Europe was 68 years ago today. After school lunch we all trooped into what was then the New Chemistry lab to hear Churchill's speech in which he reported the landings were successful. He is reported to have comitted to making the speech whatever the outcome so he must have had a 'failure' speech ready as well, but text has never been disclosed. It was a big day in world history but receives little note now.
Name: Kathie Hulley
Email: kathiehulleyatgmail.com
Years_at_school:
Date: 03 Jun 2012
Time: 20:48:02
Michael - I did get a rounded education at HCGS. However, typing was not one of the subjects, neither was proof-reading. I wasn't THAT bad at history though! Kathie
Name: Michael Schwartz
Email: Same as ever
Years_at_school: Seven of Joe Avery
Date: 30 May 2012
Time: 16:27:50
I was at HCGS from 1952-1058. Kathie - did anyone tell Edward the Confessor? Michael.
Name: Kathie Hulley
Email: kathiehulleyat gmail.com
Years_at_school:
Date: 30 May 2012
Time: 14:29:29
I was at HCGS from 1952-1058. My brother was Alan Bray who went to HCBS from 1949. I went out for a short time with the pipe major from CCF pipe band, one John Franklin. I believe he is the "X" on the far right of the W.O. photo from 1958. BTW Major Bigham lived at the corner of the road where we lived.
Name: Kathie Hulley
Email: kathiehulleyat gmail.com
Years_at_school:
Date: 30 May 2012
Time: 14:29:28
I was at HCGS from 1952-1058. My brother was Alan Bray who went to HCBS from 1949. I went out for a short time with the pipe major from CCF pipe band, one John Franklin. I believe he is the "X" on the far right of the W.O. photo from 1958. BTW Major Bigham lived at the corner of the road where we lived.
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash70panatyahoodotcom
Years_at_school: 1962-9
Date: 28 May 2012
Time: 05:14:55
I had a marvellous afternoon at the 4th Harrow reunion yesterday afternoon. I met Tony Horne for the first time in many years. His dad owned the timber yard in Edgware and was a great pal of my father and indeed myself. Also great to see Tom Backer. Thanks also to both Edward Kerr and Philip Levi. They have digitised an enormous archive of 4th Harrow films. My wife was delighted to see film of a smart young man on the Paris -Switzerland trip of 1967. As I told her, Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose. Edward was also kind enough to organise a dinner in the evening. Well done to him and everyone else concerned.
Name: Angela Jones
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 27 May 2012
Time: 10:05:33
Looking for any information I could find in relation to Mr Alan Somerset - I am compiling a Life Book on his behalf - he attended Harrow Grammar School in the early 1930's. You have some wonderful photographs on your site! Kind regards, Angela Jones angela.jones@age-concern-cardiff.org.uk
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmail.com
Years_at_school: 140-7
Date: 27 May 2012
Time: 09:32:59
Over the years, the temptation for the holder of a cup has always been strong, especially for a 'leaver'. When I started school,caps were still being worn even by senior boys. Prefeccts qualified for special caps bearing a metallic silver badge. Colour caps had a ight blue segment at the front. The school captain had a cap bearing an oval badge of enamel in black and red with gold trim. There was quite a strom in a tea cup when one cpatain failed to return the badge at the end of his term. By the time I reached the exhalted status of prefect, none of the senior boys wore school caps and the silver badges had all gone. Not one seems to have found its way to the archives.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmail.com
Years_at_school: 1940-7
Date: 27 May 2012
Time: 08:37:47
The temptation to keep cups instead of returning them on the 'due date' has always been strong and especially so when the culprit was a leaver. When I started at school, the prefects all had special green caps with a school badge made of silver. Those boys who had earned school colours had caps with a light blue segment at the front. The school captain had a cap with an elegant school badge in red and black enamel with I believe, gold lettering and edging. The badges were supposed to be handed back at conclusion of tenure. The whole system fell apart about 1944 when there was a 'storm in a teacup' about one head boy retaining his badge. The prefects must have followed suit as the practice of silver badges had ceased by the time I made the grade in 1946. None seems to have its way into the archives!
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 26 May 2012
Time: 04:02:06
A number of 'cups' appear to be missing, incl. the Cricket Batting and Bowling in which I have a personal interest. Likewise the Charles Darwin Spirogyra Gold Medal, awarded in 1963, to the late and great Biologist Lt. Col. W.M. Bigham. Even Sir Paul Nurse has missed out on this but the Nobel Prize for Science may have brought consolation. Keep trying Paul!
Name: Dick Worsfold
Email: richardworsfoldathotmail.com
Years_at_school: 1951 1959
Date: 24 May 2012
Time: 10:16:46
Browsing through the site to catch up on any new stuff, I noted the absence of the Chandler trophy in the trophies section. It was for the most improved athlete Did it get nicked or just forgotten. It was not very big as I recall.
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash70panatyahoodotcom
Years_at_school: 1962-9
Date: 24 May 2012
Time: 05:03:47
Bit of a disaster last night since our speaker was caught up in that shambles on the Jubilee line. Still, he got out safe ly eventually. The event was saved by Jeremy Krause who paid a fulsome tribute to the late Maury Venn who inspired Jeremy to pursue his career in Geography.
Name: Chris Rickwood
Email:
Years_at_school: Harrow County Items on Ebay
Date: 22 May 2012
Time: 17:05:34
Two items on Sale now School Cap Card and - very puzzling to me: HARROW COUNTY SCHOOL IN CAMP AT RUSTINGTON NEAR CHICHESTER
Name: Edward Kerr
Email: edward-kerr at hotmail.co.uk
Years_at_school: 1960-66
Date: 13 May 2012
Time: 10:13:49
Some OGs will be attending the 4th Harrow's event on the 27th and may be interested in reviving another old tradition. In days gone by, we often ended Sunday afternoon activities with a curry - in those days at the "New Taj Mahal" on the corner of Blawith Road and Station Road. Sadly, the New Taj Mahal is long gone. In order to revive the tradition (and, also, because we will be hungry !!), a number of us are proposing to have a curry at the Kasturi Restaurant in Kenton (very close to the Masonic Centre where the OGA Dinners are held). I have talked to the Restaurant Management and suggested that the numbers could be "between five and twenty-five" - they are quite happy with this. They normally open at 18.00, but would open earlier if they knew that numbers would justify this. You can decide on the day, but it would be much better if we had some idea of numbers beforehand. You are most welcome to send me an e-mail, as above. Obviously, partners are very welcome and children would be fine. Regards to all EDWARD KERR
Name: Derek Edwards
Email: dejodelatgmail.com
Years_at_school: 1947 -1952
Date: 12 May 2012
Time: 02:58:24
Good to catch up on some of the new additions. Best Wishes. Derek
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58063
Date: 11 May 2012
Time: 17:33:11
Pete Fowler is to be congratulted for bringing to our attention the significance of Simpson's sister who later made royal connections (not to mention dubious assignations of a similar nature with the then Nazi German Ambassador to Great Britain.) But Fowler fails to mention Simpson's brothers who, for many decades, ran a successful gents outfitters in Picadilly. Simpson Brothers, as they were known, were responsible for bringing out brown suede shoes, 'shortie' raincoats and 15 inch trouser bottoms. And more notably the infamous 'woodpecker' shoes much loved and fondly referred to by their revered and more academic brother. The family appears to have been multi-faceted and talented. I understand a later member captained the Australians at cricket, following his Third Cousin's fine example in representing Scotland at the sport. Dr Simpson's fine Test batting average is of interest. I believe it is somewhere in the 4.1 region. That said, he was responsible for a number of catches behind the wicket and stumpings. No mean feat. Perhaps we should open a file in Wickipedia on him.
Name: Paul Romney
Email: paulromney03a taim.com
Years_at_school: 56-63
Date: 11 May 2012
Time: 08:10:04
Naturally Bert Weedon's death was noticed in the UK, but I was surprised to see a "celebrity" (as opposed to local-interest) obituary in the Baltimore Sun (recycled from the Chicago Tribune).
Name: Pete Fowler
Email:
Years_at_school: 56/63
Date: 11 May 2012
Time: 04:02:05
I think Simpson had a sister who seduced our glorious King and nearly brought down The Empire: he kept this very quiet, but was forced, as a result, to give a job to an army corporal who knew the dark secrets of Dunfermline. On another point, and as a new paragraph, Bert Weedon's son Geoff was, indeed, in a band. This was The Soul Brothers, in which I pretended to be a blind black singer. The group was described, in a Harrow Observer review of one of the school concerts, as a 'local band who will stay that way'. When we performed a tortuously long version of What'd I Say, waifs and strays used to get on the stage to sing the grunts required in the call and response sections of the song. These included, on at least one occasion, Harvey Schildkraut and Roger Glover; and I remember saying to Roger 'you really ought to get out more and do something with your life. Perhaps you should learn the bass, it's only got four strings and is therefore cheaper than a normal guitar'. The Soul Brothers, in the meantime, had a stunningly memorable recording test at Pye Records. The producer at the session was Tony Hatch who was a bit miffed from the beginning because one of our hangers-on knocked over the drumkit belonging to The Searchers. When we had completed - somehow - four numbers, he called me and Geoff to his desk and told us 'he had never, ever, had his time wasted so badly'. Geoff, by the way, had a really successful advertising career and now lives near Exeter. He was gutted about his Dad, of course, he was a really great father to him. (WARNING! There may be some inaccuracies in this entry for which the Editor takes no responsibility)
Name: Ian Gawn
Email: ian.gawnatorange.fr
Years_at_school: 1955-62
Date: 11 May 2012
Time: 01:58:04
I saw or heard the other day that Bert weedon had died, aged around 92 as I recall. Did he not have an input into one or two the school pop bands - indeed I seem to recall he had a son who played in one of them. I think Bert was also a speaker at VIth Form Society.
Name: Richard Buckley
Email: richardatspaceplanner.co.uk
Years_at_school: 1959-65
Date: 10 May 2012
Time: 04:50:26
As I may have posted before, we named our first born Alexander Russell in complete ignorance that these were the hated Simpson's first names. We only found out many years later. We were always set on Alexander but had we known I somehow think we would have found another middle name! How sad that I feel it proper to call Simpson 'the hated Simpson'. Not much of an epitaph is it for a man who, for all his many faults, I suppose did his best?
Name: Chris Rickwood
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 09 May 2012
Time: 06:50:30
Brian, I'm sure you are correct. A little research (which I SHOULD have done BEFORE posting) shows that Alexander Russell is a pretty rare combination of names in England, it is much less rare in Scotland
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 58-63
Date: 08 May 2012
Time: 16:15:23
I know of no connection with the former, distinguished Scottish knight (see previous correspondence.) However, recent research reveals that Dr A R Simpson, the popular and well-loved Headmaster of Harrow County County School in the mid-20th century, was descended from an historic line of Gaelic despots, the McSquares of the Outer Isles. Family motto: (they had no Latin at the time)'Boys should be caned and not heard.'
Name: Brian Hester
Email: Brianwhesteratgmail.com
Years_at_school: 1940-47
Date: 06 May 2012
Time: 17:38:31
An interesting speculation there Chris but I suspect if it were true we would have heard of it long since! I had never heard of the gntleman in question.
Name: Chris Rickwood
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 02 May 2012
Time: 18:02:29
I suspect this has been asked before but I cannot find the answer. Was our Dr Alexander Russell Simpson descended from SIR ALEXANDER RUSSELL SIMPSON, Kt., M.D., D.Sc.(Hon. Causa), LL.D
Name: Ian Park
Email: ianparkathillwooldridge.co.uk
Years_at_school: 1962-1968
Date: 12 Apr 2012
Time: 01:12:51
I enjoyed the Centenary Dinner very much.Seeing Martin Flack in his Barbados cricket tour blazer was amazing.Mine was much too large for me,so I ditched it !!That was the tour when Flacky broke the 24 hour rum punch drinking record,mind you he passed out at 11 in the evening,and had to go back the following morning to beat the record. Happy days,the cricket was of high quality,we played against several West Indies cricketers,including Collis King,Albert Padmore,Desmond Haynes and Malcolm Marshall,to name a few.Keep up the good work on the website Jeff.
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colindotdickinsatblueyonderdotcodotuk
Years_at_school: 1947-1953
Date: 09 Apr 2012
Time: 09:34:03
Very sorry to hear of the passing of Bill Swan at the grand old age of 90 after a brief illness. A wartime fighter pilot, he became a test pilot and flew more than 50 types, including nearly every marque of Hurrican, most Spitfires and early jet fighters - and a Lysander at one stage. And a Tornado in his eighties! I once asked him whether preferred the Hurricane or the Spitfire. His reply was, "The Spitfire for flying; the Hurricane for fighting." After the war he joined the Foreign Office where he was a contemporary of Ted Blundell. A regular and loyal attender at OG functions, he just missed the Centenary Dinner. He would have been the first to rise at Roll Call. Much missed.
Name: Callum Kerr
Email: ckerrATSkorpionzinc.com.na
Years_at_school: 70-77
Date: 01 Apr 2012
Time: 00:55:27
Saddened to belatedly note the passing of Maurie Venn last month, coming after I also belatedly learnt of the premautre death of the other inspiration of my geological career (a university lecturer). I dont think I can say Maurie Venn was a great teacher, to be honest, though as I try and remember specifics of all those years ago in the mid 70's it is somewhat vague. He was intimidating, i think, but not in a nasty way - more aloof I think. Certainly a pretty unique character at the school, and the source of some great quotes. I did get a chance to see him at the school when I had started my career, but found him just as intimidating then!
Name: Robert Tabb
Email: robert.tabb73atgooglemail.com
Years_at_school: 56 - 63
Date: 28 Mar 2012
Time: 22:08:52
Just seen BasketBall Video 2011-2012 on NEW items. The team looks fantastic. Never had BB in my day at HCS although I should have done it at 6ft 5ins. Tennis and Badminton was my sport
Name: ian sanderson
Email: iansanderson2209atgmail.com
Years_at_school: 1981 to 1984
Date: 26 Mar 2012
Time: 13:26:18
i was in mr stanleys form from 1981 to 1984
Name: Bob Garratt
Email: garrattsatbtconnect.com
Years_at_school: 1954-62
Date: 26 Mar 2012
Time: 05:45:39
Just had a message from Paul Oliver who has been ill but wants to come to the OGA Centenary at Kenton on Friday. Is there anyone driving down and back from Oxfordshire (Wotton)on Friday who could give him a lift, please? Be careful, sadly he's not even sure that he will be fit that day: and i found that he seemed to be having a bit of memory problem. Thanks for any help that can be offered. Bob Garratt.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1958-63
Date: 19 Mar 2012
Time: 04:19:37
Referring to Alf Wallbanks' comments (6 March 2012) I note fresh input to the never ending Simpsonian Debate. The embers burst into flames every now and again. He provided interesting insight into the Doctor as a teacher of Classics. As a mere 'scientist' I was not subjected to the great man's classroom attempts. Just an aside...I am surprised that, before now, the distinct connection between Homer and Simpson has not been made. The Doctor would have made a memorable cartoon character in his mortar board, academic gown and blue suede 'woodpecker shoes.'
Name: Ian Gawnhere
Email: ian.gawnatorange.fr
Years_at_school: 1955-62
Date: 17 Mar 2012
Time: 08:05:58
Sad to read of the death of David Ogilvie. He lived a couple of hundred yards from me on the corner of Pamela Gdns in Eastcote. If I remember correctly he and his family were the "family" in a 1950s National Savings poster. Used to make model aircraft with David and a guy called Tribe (Mike?) who became well known in national model aircraf circles. RIP
Name: Paul Danon
Email: paul at danon.co.uk
Years_at_school: 1966-73
Date: 17 Mar 2012
Time: 04:56:16
John Ling taught maths to form 2A in 1967 and 1968 and then became form master of 3A and 4A in 1968 to 70. He and his wife Mary (who as Mary Hughes also taught at HCS) have offered to host a lunchtime reunion of that form in Harrow on Saturday 30 June. If you'd like to attend, please email paul@danon.co.uk Partners also welcome but, if you bring children, bring something to keep them amused as the Ling children have all grown up.
Name: Chris Rickwood
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 14 Mar 2012
Time: 19:40:08
Was Tom Dimmick the one who wrote the "threefold Amen" Being totally non-musical I was always intrigued by the phrase "we'll close with Dimmicks three fold amen" I just could not fathom what could be difficulkt about writing an Amen - no matter how many fold.
Name: Adrian Kerridge
Email: adrian_kerridgeathotmail.com
Years_at_school:
Date: 12 Mar 2012
Time: 09:25:30
I am looking to get in touch with Tommy Dimmick he was at the school in 1951 I found his picture on your site Form 3b 1951. At that time I was at Ealing Grammar, Tom was a friend of mine - perhaps you can help me to locate him. Adrian Kerridge p.s. a great website I wish Ealing Grammar had one like your one.
Name: Peter Garwood
Email: peterdotgarwood777atbtinternetdotcom
Years_at_school: 1953-61
Date: 09 Mar 2012
Time: 00:57:46
Alf, good to see you are still around and as feisty as ever !!!!
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash70panatyahoodotcom
Years_at_school: 1962-9
Date: 08 Mar 2012
Time: 06:08:15
Paul Nurse has written to the Times today (headline 'Unsatisfactory'), dealing with one of the topics which he raised in the Dimbleby lecture last week, namely the lack of support by government for R&D in science and engineering. If you believe that he is right (which I do), it doesn't take two minutes to bang off a letter to your local MP drawing the issue to his her attention.
Name: A Wallbank
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school:
Date: 07 Mar 2012
Time: 01:20:25
Oop,s! Far too many "wrong notes." Apologies, especially to Aul' Reekie. Regret eyesight not what it was. However,problem with privilege deeply unalterably genetic. A.W.
Name: Jeremy (Jerry) Krause
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 06 Mar 2012
Time: 21:45:47
Maurie Venn
I'm saddened to hear of the death of a brilliant teacher. I quote from my
article about Harrow County which, ironically I've just submitted to the OGA.
When the option choices were presented to me I chose Geology. Maurie Venn
inspired me with his innate ability to turn complex ideas into accessible
strands of knowledge, skills and understanding. Dry humour, a twinkle of the eye
and a deft touch of anthropomorphism could turn the highly idiosyncratic study
of graptolites into the ‘must have’ piece of knowledge! The greatest gift the
school bestowed on me was Maurie asking me to write field guides for Geology
society field trips. I got to grip with research ideas and planning the visits
so that others could have a ‘good day out’ and also learn something! The ability
to write and plan and think coherently has never left me.
Name: Alf Wallbank
Email: A.Wallbankattesco.net
Years_at_school: 55-61
Date: 06 Mar 2012
Time: 03:57:18
I have only just become aware of various comments concerning Dr.Simpson and his regime and perhaps I can offer an explanation that I as an Aberdonian brought up in England have known from the the moment I met him in the classroom. Simpson was a 2nd rate Scots "Dominee" who could not teach, so depended on being a bully and using the stick. I too had the privilige of being taught by the superb, memorable Bernie Marchant,and the inadequate ARS and was probably Simpson's only pupil who was accustomed to hearing Scots and London accents every day of my life. Simpson's pathetic efforts to sound "not Scots" in England and "Oxford" to Scots are a treasured memory, but showed his total insecurity. Hons, Phd. etc. are hardly uncommon in Scots education and Arbroath and Dundee are very worthy; but he had reached his limit. Dr.Simpson of a great Scots Academy? Professor Simpson of Edinburg, Aberdeen,St Andrews? No! He was a also ran who had emigrated to England and found he needed to fight Culloden in Harrow every day. Every time he ranted on about Oxford Failure, he was talking about himself. In Scots, terms he was "not even a bit special" and he knew it.
Name: Peter "Min" Vincent
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1966-1972
Date: 04 Mar 2012
Time: 08:19:00
John - if you google your father in law's name you will see three or four places where his name is mentioned on this site. Then you need to look at the photo collection for around his time at the school particularly rubgy related, and see if you can spot him on any of them.
Name: John Wells
Email: johnseagullsathotmail.co.uk
Years_at_school: researcher
Date: 04 Mar 2012
Time: 07:47:57
I am researching the " Harrow " life of my late father in law REG GIGNEY and wonder if anyone has any photos of him at the school. thank you john wells son in law
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: 1962-9
Years_at_school:
Date: 03 Mar 2012
Time: 06:14:51
I watched the first episode of Class and Culture and thought it quite good but the second last night was a bit too wide ranging. I was in my usual Friday night semi comatose state when I too noticed the familiar portals and sparked up a bit. My father was a printer by trade who then chose to become self employed. My mother left school at 15 with no qualifications. Both, however, believed strongly in education and found the means for me to go on, even though money was tight. I was only vaguely aware of issues relating to class whilst I was at school, due largely I feel to the efforts of those teachers whose names recur here so frequently. I chose the arts route; I think Paul is wrong to conflate issues relating to class with the pursuit of knowledge, although obviously he speaks from his own experience.PARA. Like Paul and Colin I have recently had a triple by pass on the NHS(at Hammersmith). The medical care was absolutely marvellous anf reinforces my absolute belief in the superiority of our way of doing things, not least the way in which it binds the nation together.PARA. I recently lost an old friend of mine, Dr Albert Manning who was one of the first GPs to sign up for the NHS after distinguished service in the RAMC during the war. Albert had a strong belief in the NHS and spent 50 years of devoted community service as both a GP in Burnt Oak and a member of innumerable NHS committees, the bane of several Prime Ministers and Ministers of Health. It was due to Albert's campaign that we managed to prevent the closure of Edgware Hospital a few years ago. Anyway, Paul Nurse is right. These things matter and ought to be the subject of continuing public debate with recourse to polemics.
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colindotdickinsatblueyonderdotcodotuk
Years_at_school: 1947-1953
Date: 02 Mar 2012
Time: 16:19:50
And here he is again! I watched the second of 3-part series "Melvyn Bragg on Class and Culture" on BBC2 this evening. It's not a great oeuvre, but pleasingly nostalgic and deals much with the progress of Grammar School pupils from a modest background (like Bragg himself) to acceptance and often distinction. Ring a bell? [PARA] Suddenly the familiar un-"carved portals" jump into focus and he's interviewing Paul Nurse in his old school laboratory (much changed, notes Paul). He was as engaging as ever. For the record, he remarked that science was easier than the arts for someone of working class background like himself because there was less inherent class about it. Bragg, who, of course, took the arts route, made no comment on this.[PARA] Reverting to the excellent Dimbleby Lecture, the other popular and recently much televised scientist Brian Cox was among the luminaries in the audience. I think Paul's readiness to engage in so much TV and popular exposure is his mission, as experessed in the Lecture, to promote science to the advantage of us all, including economically. Among his themes was medical scienc: he had a life-saving quadruple heart bypass in January and allowed himself a glancing blow at the American right which is so opposed to the human research on which it was based. Having had the same op sixteen years ago I concurred warmly - perhaps vehemently, since I seem likely to undergo a bit more plumbing shortly. (I'm being a bit flippant here. My conviction that all medical research is utterly justified, including animal research, has been fiercely held for many years preceding my own benefice. I am sure the same is true for Paul Nurse and his own recent experience is cited only to emphasise the argument.)
Name: Ian Gawn
Email: ian.gawnatorange.fr
Years_at_school: 1955-62
Date: 29 Feb 2012
Time: 07:47:03
Great guy. Not many may know of his contribution to Chris Westerman's wish to become a geologist. The school did not provide a geology course, but MGV got a text book, and for 2 years was about a page ahead of Chris. CW got his A level, and a degree and then went to Canada on a student lectureship, and went on to become a very respected oil geologist, with two scholarshiops in the Canadian Oil Industry named in his honour.He was also a great support to me in my qust to enter the RAF College Cranwell. Finally, just to avoid 2 postings from me - thought Sir Paul Nurse's Dimbleby Lecture last night ws absolutely brillian. Can smoeone (Kel Fidler?) get a similar platform to promote engineering in the UK
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash70panatyahoodotcom
Years_at_school: 1962-9
Date: 29 Feb 2012
Time: 01:27:39
Last night I watched the Richard Dimbleby lecture given by Sir Paul Nurse. He spoke about the role of science in society. He started in a low key manner but laid out his argument most clearly, step by step. He dealt with all the key issues including food security, climate change, the relationship of science with religion, the development of energy resources and political & economic policies. As he spoke, he demonstrated a good knowledge of the history of science.PARA. As he went on, it dawned on me that each sentence had been crafted with care and was redolent of meaning. He managed to cram in so much in forty five minutes with not a word wasted. Although he spoke in a low key manner, he was not afraid to deal with politically controversially topics and although he gave balanced arguments, he came out with some very firm conclusions.PARA. I was particularly pleased to hear him acknowledge and name Keith Neil as an inspirational teacher. Altogether, an intellectual tour de force. For those who missed it, I strongly urge that you watch it on catch-up.
Name: Ray Parnell
Email: via Jeff or Alex
Years_at_school: 67-74
Date: 28 Feb 2012
Time: 09:16:22
I was saddened to learn earlier today via the OG Facebook page of the death of Maurice Venn. <para> Our paths crossed regularly during my latter years at HCS as a result of my taking A level Geology (my poor result was my fault rather than his - I can still draw a trilobite from memory!), and my involvement in the CCF. I wonder how many others he influenced in their career choices? At least two of my contemporaries into the world of Gelology (I suspect there are more that I am unaware of), and many others like myself into the forces. Albeit the RAF in my case but I suspect he admired that, given his own background. <para> I always found him to be a fair man with a good sense of humour (though admittedly I never crossed him!). I was even more impressed when he bought me a beer during one CCF camp at the infamous Browndown.
Name: Andrew Wright
Email: andyat4thharrowdotorgdotuk
Years_at_school: 1968 to 1975
Date: 19 Feb 2012
Time: 08:27:36
4th Harrow (County School) Scout Group Celebrated its centenary on 16 November 2011, second event of the the year to be held in May 2012 - details from www.4thharrow.org.uk
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash70panatyahoodotcom
Years_at_school: 1962-9
Date: 01 Feb 2012
Time: 09:03:04
As I mentioned before, I lived and worked in Chester for a time. The Grosvenor family's seat Eaton Hall is just outside the city and they own large chunks of real estate within the city walls, including the Grosvenor Hotel and the Edwardian 1960s shopping centre. They take a long term view of their investments and exercise a benign influence generally. The city is a wonderful place to visit with Roman, mediaeval and Victorian influences clearly visible.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmail.com
Years_at_school: 1940-7
Date: 01 Feb 2012
Time: 05:31:59
I grant you the point, Colin. Anyway, the Grosvenors got there first!
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colindotdickinsatblueyondercouk
Years_at_school: 1947-1953
Date: 01 Feb 2012
Time: 03:37:36
Well, Brian, I've always thought that the Grosvenor family chose the motto as a caution to themselves - especially, perhaps, their descendants - that it was not the nobility of their birth which counted but how they behaved and what they did. With that view, I've always rather admired and respected it.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmail.com
Years_at_school: 1940-7
Date: 31 Jan 2012
Time: 19:27:56
I agree with you Colin about the merits of reference books. The copy of Cassell's Latin dictionary that I have owned for a long time defines 'stemma' as a- "a crown or capulet" (Seneca) and b- "a genealogical tree" (Suetonius) and by Valerius Mart. as "nobility, high antiquity". Given these meanings, the school motto appear appropriate but I dont quite see how the Grosvenor family justifies it.
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colindotdickinsatblueyondercouk
Years_at_school: 1947-1953
Date: 27 Jan 2012
Time: 03:08:00
" . . it has come to symbolise monarchy in the sense of the Crown." Ah, metonymy lives! Thank you, Michael. I know you are a Greek scholar and I'm glad to be enlightened. And, Jon, enjoy your new purchase. Google notwithstanding, I still get much information and satisfaction from old-fashioned things like reference books.
Name: Jon Grunewald
Email:
Years_at_school: 1967 to 1972
Date: 26 Jan 2012
Time: 11:14:08
If Stemma is a laurel wreath, I think a better translation would be "hard work, not medals". Or perhaps "Look to your laurels". However, I'm wondering whether the Greek word, if there is one, would necessarily be synonymous with the Latin word. I'm going to buy a Latin dictionary now. My copy of "The Approach to Latin" which I purchased out of nostalgia has "why did they not attack the sailors with arrows" but doesn't include the word "stemma". I have little Latin and less Greek.
Name: Michael Schwartz
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: Seven, three on hard labour, ie, scicnce classes
Date: 25 Jan 2012
Time: 12:13:49
Glad Colin owned up to his mistake about PE departments. The mission statement of Vivian Edwards, head of PE for several years, was, "Any boy who does not bring his rugby gear will be crucified." Such compassion and humanity. Stemma does indeed mean a wreath used in a crowning. In Modern Greek it has come to symbolise monarchy in the sense of the Crown. Michael.
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1947-1953
Date: 24 Jan 2012
Time: 09:56:04
Oh, dear! That should have been "PR department".
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colinddotdickinsatblueyonderdotcodotuk
Years_at_school: 1947-1953
Date: 24 Jan 2012
Time: 08:42:21
"Broadly" eh, Jon? I confess to having checked my recollection before rushing into print (discovering in the process that the word comes from the Greek meaning "a garland" - but never mind). I think I would plead for "precisely, if succinctly". The motto is, of course, that of the Grosvenor family, as in the Duke of Westminster, for whom it resonates rather more than for us. Never mind - again. And I don't mind the use of Latin: it does allow conciseness, and 59 years on from my Latin 'A' level exam I still enjoy dabbling in the language. [Para] I was tickled to read Brian Hester's recollection of the resurrection of the School Song and Williams and Thorn being slightly uneasy about it. I think I would have been too. [Para] Oh, I do go along with your oblique cringe at the idea of a "mission statement", Jon. This ghastly fad came up in the nineties (presumably originating in some American corporate jargon machine) and many a company CEO or chairman succumbed to the pressure of their PE department to introduce one into their annual report, as well as their website. It's unlamented demise came with somewhat less than a whimper.
Name: brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmail.com'
Years_at_school: 1940-7
Date: 23 Jan 2012
Time: 10:03:00
I was interested to read Jon Grunewald's recollection about the school song which has clearly had a checkered history. When I joined the school in 1940, there was no mention of a school song to be heard. It was not until about 1945 that a contempory learned of the song's existence and organised a move to have it peformed again. Copies of the words were circulated one morning at assembly. Rather than displaying pleasure at hearing their work performed again, Williams and Thorne seemed resigned to the revival. The song was popular at the time but I am sure it is never heard these days except at OGS gatherings. I suspect school songs along with mottos in Latin and school caps have passed into history. .
Name: Jon Grunewald
Email: jongruATbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1967-72
Date: 23 Jan 2012
Time: 06:25:02
I think Colin Dickins is broadly correct, though "stemma" has connotations of aristocracy and coats of arms. Translating it as "birth" reminds me of our German lessons with Bob Tyler, an excellent but rather shouty teacher. If someone prepared an inadequate translation, based on a misunderstood dictionary definition, Mr Tyler would shout "Ah, you've been using COLLINS LITTLE GEM again, haven't you?". He knew that boys were usually too lazy to use a proper dictionary and generally preferred a tiny book with concise translations that did not give examples of context. Anyway, in my day nobody ever sang the "Worth Not Birth" school song, and most boys forgot the meaning of the Latin motto within minutes of being told what it was. Do schools nowadays have Latin mottos? Perhaps plain English might now be the order of the day. A long and tortuous "mission statement" could be placed below the school's badge!
Name: Pete Lawson
Email: plawson.collinsonatbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1969-74
Date: 20 Jan 2012
Time: 15:58:55
In response to Jon Grunewald's query, the Inner Quad was for the first three years. It was given over wholly to football with blazer pocket-sized lattice balls. Masters surrounded that space, not least in their Common Room, but I don't remember their presence, despite regular fights and an awful lot of swearing. I was disappointed to have to move to the Outer Quad in 1972, though the all-new Menu B did, at 12p, soften the blow.
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colindickinsatblueyonderdotcodotuk
Years_at_school: 1947-1953
Date: 20 Jan 2012
Time: 06:57:13
"Stemma" in Rome was the recorded genealogy of a family and translates best as "pedigree". Pretty good choice of word, given the intention behind the motto. "Birth" is a very reasonable synonym for "pedigree" and allows a handy expression.
Name: brian slater
Email: b123atgmail.com
Years_at_school: 57-61
Date: 19 Jan 2012
Time: 16:57:41
I see that Flower's passion in line with Portillo's predeliction has caused him a quandry. Has the school motto virtus non stemma been correctly interpreted from its Latin origins?. We all knew it as "worth not birth" Does it now mean you only get the education for your kids that you can pay for?
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash70panatyahoodotcom
Years_at_school: 1962-9
Date: 17 Jan 2012
Time: 02:10:18
Due to the large number attending, the funeral service for Ken Waller has been transferred to the larger West Chapel at Golders Green and the time postponed to 2pm. I repeat, 2pm. H
Name: Jon Grunewald
Email:
Years_at_school: 1967-72
Date: 16 Jan 2012
Time: 06:58:11
Browsing this site, I was struck by a link to Stemma Enterprises, a school project in 1998. The link is on the first page of this site. Keen to read more, I found the page. Was this a rearguard action to assert the benefits of an aristocratic background compared with our lowly origins? Seemingly not. "The name Stemma was chosen from the school motto. Stemma means birth, and this was the birth of a new company, which like a newly born plant would mature and grow into a successful business". Oh, I see. But Stemma doesn't actually mean birth, does it? I suppose that without a classics master on board, there's no way they could have known. I'm guessing that Stemma Enterprises, like an old and once great grammar school, is now mouldering in the great civic amenity site of history.
Name: Laurence Lando
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1957 - 64
Date: 15 Jan 2012
Time: 08:01:11
Over the past few weeks I have had the sad experience to learn of the 'passing' of four of my elderly patients. I have known them for over thirty years, and have tried my best to care for them throughout these past many years. The news that our dear Ken Waller has died makes me especially sad and whilst I only saw him once recently, at the 50th Celebration of his coming the HCS, he was always my special person from the teaching staff at school. It's not because of his teaching; Latin and my brain weren't well matched. He was my first form teacher in Class 1B, in September 1957, and quite frankly he was a star! He was the epitome of all that was good about the school. Always kind and to see him in full flow, with gown billowing and mortar-board in place was great. Indeed he was shown on the very recent 'Grammar School' TV programme just as I recalled his passage. At the reunion, he was kind enough to remember the boy who chose science rather that the Classics. RIP Ken. Laurence
Name: Michael H Jones
Email: michaelharoldattiscali.co.uk
Years_at_school: 1945/47
Date: 14 Jan 2012
Time: 02:50:12
I was prompted to look for the web site after seeing Michael Portillo on the Grammar SCHOOLS TV programme. I joined the school in 1945 - perhaps the first intake after the 1944 Act. I was in forms 2c and 3c before leaving with my parents to go to Ipswich (Northgate Grammar School). My memories are a bit faded (now nearly 78) but I have a very clear recollection of the buidlings, the"ruins" and the prefab. huts for the second forms. Some staff names I remember, "Jumbo" Jones as I think form-master and namesake. I also recall two women teachers whom we were instructed to address as "sir". I would be interested to know what happened after I left - were the "ruins" rebuilt and what was constructed on the playiing field ?.I have not been back to Harrow since 1947 ! If I can help with any more memories I would be pleased to do so
Name: Brian Hester
Email: BrianWHesteratgmail.com
Years_at_school: 1940-7
Date: 13 Jan 2012
Time: 19:34:10
Jon Grunewald writes of 'those doors that were never used'. In my 'pre-new buildings days' this was the opening through which we entered the school until we were in the sixth form and were allowed to use the front door. We were brought to positions of attention by a swift 'peep' from Amos' whistle. At the second 'peep' each form formed into two lines in order.I never found out what miscreants actually did to deserve Amos' attention but when they did, he ran through the parted ranks to haul the miserable boy out who was then required to stand with a row of earlier offenders at the front until the end of term. On the third 'peep' we would all file into school. When he had something urgent to tell us about, Randall Williams would open the window of his study with a slam 'one moment please Mr. Amos' would be followed by a tirade usually containing phrase such as 'certain boys', 'this practice must stop immediately'and finish with 'boys found doing this will be severely punished'. Thank you Mr. Amos and the window would be slammed shut. It was a memorable show! I always liked and respected Randall Williams but his peformances at the window were a bit like Mussolini addressing the mob.
Name: Jon Grunewald
Email:
Years_at_school: 1967 to 72
Date: 13 Jan 2012
Time: 09:59:34
Can anyone remember what the rules were about which quad you were expected to use? The inner and the outer? When I was in the first form I remember a prefect barking at me to "get back in the quad" and pointing in the direction of the inner quad, a sort of prison exercise yard where people played football with the plastic balls with big holes in them. There were majestic steps going up to a doorway that was never used. Or was it? I think older boys were allowed to use either quad. Were the oldest not allowed in the inner quad? In the outer quad, some boys gathered at the front railings where the pavement was above our heads, and hoped to look up some skirts. And that memory in turn reminds me of Mark Phillips in class, telling a rather startled Ubi Lane that at our age we were terribly sexually frustrated. I think Ubi found a polite way to change the subject and get us back onto the fourth declension.
Name: paul Phillips
Email: paulatbrianapul.co.uk
Years_at_school: 1971-76
Date: 13 Jan 2012
Time: 05:22:19
thanks Dave. That corridor makes sense now. Not one that would use much but I do not remember a ban in the Avery days. I know we were not supposed to use the stairs by the war memorial till year 5
Name: Carol Turnham for mother Joan F. Vernon
Email: brookfarm.fisheryatbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1937? to 1944
Date: 13 Jan 2012
Time: 03:21:38
Wondering whether anyone can remember my mother Joan Frances Vernon b.1926 who lived in North Wembley and attended Harrow Girls School up to matriculation?
Name: Dave Buckley
Email:
Years_at_school: 53-61
Date: 13 Jan 2012
Time: 02:22:53
In answer to Paul Phillip's post, the corridor in question was the top one which ran along the side of the hall, between the library and the art rooms (the inner quad is on the right of shot). In my time, anyone lower than sixth (or maybe fifth) form couldn't use it to get round the school. The shot in the film was specially set-up by Hugh Skillen in 1960 or 61.
Name: paul Phillips
Email: paulat brianpauldotcodotuk
Years_at_school: 1971-1976
Date: 12 Jan 2012
Time: 23:45:31
Watched the second part of history of the grammar school last night and it brought back memories. Wish I had taken that bet that one day Bernard Marchant would be on TV. para. How right Michael Portillo was about the opportunity taken away in 1975 from those that could not afford to pay for education. I well remember that last assembly in July 1975 when Mr Avery paid tribute individually to each teacher (and then of course himself) who were "scattering" themselves around other institutions. That assembly was long and I am surprised I am still not sitting there. To this day I resent not having had the opportunity to go into the HCGSB 6th form and to be taught in an environment where learning and understanding appeared to be nurtured. para Looking at the Makers of Men film and the crocodile of new boys walking down the corridor with a master (was it Ken Waller?)made me wonder which corridor it was. It seemed so narrow and my memory was that corridors were wide and that apart from the A floor reasonably bright and airy. para And then I thought of those doors which went into Jock Lafferty's room. Could you imagine swing doors in a school nowadays? Health & safety inspectors would probably close the place down. Enough of my ramblings but i feel better now. PAUL
Name: Michael Schwartz
Email: michaelwritesforyoutyahoo.ca
Years_at_school: 1965-1972
Date: 12 Jan 2012
Time: 18:40:40
Replying to Jon Grunewald. You will certainly find the HCS history worth reading, Jon. The inspectors were indeed critical of the physical conditions of HCS, describing them as squalid, but they also said they were surprised that the standards were so high despite that same squalour. I do not remember which aspects of the curriculum they disapproved of, but I agree with the conclusion that jumping the fifth straight into Lower Sixth was wrong. I found the fifth form a very enjoyable year, reading Richard II with Jim Golland and passing geography in the fifth in one year (Mr Haines). Any disappointment at not going into Lower Sixth Arts disappeared when I met my fellow fifth-formers who matured and went onto achieve whole strings of O levels. Someone who did do the jump told me that he had asked everyone else who had done the same whether they would have benefited from a year in the fifth and they all said they would have. We are not rewriting history - and certainly not because of a set of conclusions by the inspectors. One such inspector did turn up to monitor a Russian class by, yes, you've guessed it, Kenneth Waller. The inspector did not know a word of Russian... Michael.
Name: Jon Grunewald
Email:
Years_at_school: 1967 to 1972
Date: 12 Jan 2012
Time: 05:16:34
I've now received my copy of The History of the Harrow County School For Boys, published 1975, which was just as it was being transformed into a comprehensive. I am looking forward to reading it. I see that Ken Waller is listed as BA, LRAM,LTCL, AKC. I don't think there is anything about any individual members of staff, though. In 1971 there was a report by HM Inspectors that was very critical of Harrow County. They disapproved of some aspects of the curriculum and they particularly disapproved of the bypassing of the 5th Form by brighter boys (with the result that the 5th Form was a form for the less able). I had forgotten all that, but I think my parents were aware of it at the time. None of it was helpful when considering a year or two later whether this grammar school should be preserved as a centre of excellence. But if we assert that Harrow County's curriculum and customs (the streaming into arts OR science for example) were to be admired, will we be rewriting history?
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colindickinsatblueyonderdotcodotuk
Years_at_school: 1947-1953
Date: 11 Jan 2012
Time: 14:52:00
Clicking on "new" on the Home page, I came across the photos of the 1978 Review. Noticeably, the scruffiest soldier on parade was the nameless inspecting officer. And sad to see that dress of the day for the Naval Section was no longer square rig. It is only now that I realise how much I enjoyed wearing that uniform, bell bottoms, big flappy collar, black silk scarf and the white lanyard with nothing on the end of it.
Name: Pete Lawson
Email: plawson.collinsonatbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1969-74
Date: 11 Jan 2012
Time: 14:27:08
I went to Romania in 1974 with Ken Waller and John Ling. The trip was the start of a life-long interest in Eastern Europe for me. I have a feeling I wrote it up for The Gaytonian. Both men were outstanding in their guidance of us in terms of what to look for and what questions to ask. Proper schoolmasters.
Name: martyn glencross
Email:
Years_at_school: 1984-1988
Date: 11 Jan 2012
Time: 05:51:55
Hi its been nice looking around even found pics of my form. My form teacher was Mr Green (mike) he was a good man and our head of year was Mr cavnagh he was a bit of a bully , would love 5 mins in a room with him now lol .
Name: Jeffrey Maynard
Email: jeffrey at jeffreymaynard dot com
Years_at_school: 1962-69
Date: 10 Jan 2012
Time: 19:58:14
Ken Waller's funeral will be at 12.30 on Monday 23rd January at the East Chapel, Golders Green Crematorium, Hoop Lane, London NW11 7NL. In his Will, Ken stated that his body be cremated and his ashes spread in the Garden of Remembrance. His ashes will be scattered alongside those of his sister, Irene Wilson, who died two and a half years ago. Ken's nephew, Steve Wilson, has asked me to post this information so that former pupils and colleagues may be informed. They are very welcome to attend and to meet afterwards somewhere locally (place to be confirmed) to share memories of Ken and further celebrate his full and varied life. If you wish to attend, please email Steve at maryandsteve at ntlworld dot com.
Name: Paul Phillips
Email: paulatbrianpauldotcodotuk
Years_at_school: 1971 to 76
Date: 09 Jan 2012
Time: 05:40:38
Very sorry to hear of the passing of Ken Waller who was my form tutor in 3rd year. A true gentleman. Who can forget his translation of Gogol's Government Inspector from Russian and then its production? Added to his musical talents a very able man passes. I also remember the quality of the gowns he wore. He always said if i have to wear one of these things to keep the chalk off my suit then I may as well wear a decent one. Condolences to the family
Name: Jon Grunewald
Email: jongruATbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1967-72
Date: 09 Jan 2012
Time: 01:50:44
The Facebook page for Old Gaytonians can be located at : www.facebook.com[forwardslash]groups[forwardslash]2215577660 if searching for Old Gaytonians doesn't work...
Name: Dave Buckley
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 08 Jan 2012
Time: 15:44:34
With reference to the mention of the OGs being on Facebook, could someone please post the URL, as a Google search doesn't come up with a site, at least one that is uptodate (and I've tried various permutations!) Thanks.
Name: Peter Fowler
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 56/63
Date: 08 Jan 2012
Time: 15:21:43
A quick note to some of the regulars here who may not know: the Facebook pages of the Old Gaytonians (registered there as a group) have become extremely active. As an old hand on this site, I have said,'over there',that people ought to be contributing 'over here', but social networks tend to ignore such niceties. So: Peter Ward, Paul Romney, Michael Shwartz, Colin, Laurence and a dozen others, it's all happening at present on Facebook. Looking at the comments, though, for someone of my vintage is like Groundhog Day...
Name: Keith Palmer
Email: palmerdotkeith57atgmail.com
Years_at_school: 1968 - 1975
Date: 08 Jan 2012
Time: 10:53:59
Fellow correspondents may like to know that the BBC Radio 4 Programme "Top of the Class" featuring Michael Portillo and with contributions from Ken Waller, first broadcast on 19th July 2011, is still available on the BBC Radio Player.
Name: Bill Harrison
Email: bill.harrisonatbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1961 - 1968
Date: 08 Jan 2012
Time: 04:32:43
If I recall correctly, Ken Waller's synthesised name was Quintus Valerius Murifex (maker of walls - geddit!). I was far from a classics scholar but his hard and patient work got (scraped) me through the O level. May he rest in peace.
Name: Keith Palmer
Email: palmerdotkeith57atgmail.com
Years_at_school: 1968 - 1975
Date: 07 Jan 2012
Time: 17:46:09
I would just like to add my own feeling of sadness at Ken Waller's passing. Our paths did not cross too often during my seven years at HCS, but he taught me both Ancient Greek and Latin when I was around 13 and it was clear, even to a boy with limited ability in the subjects, what a first-class teacher he was. But, as Andrew Carruthers has previously identified, his contribution to music was fantastic. In my opinion Carmina Burana (circa 1969-70) was his finest hour, followed closely by The Bartered Bride a year later. The passion he was able to generate, even to those of us in the chorus, was extraordinary and I suspect neither production would have happened at all were it not for Ken producing them. The big Opera House in the sky has a new conductor, and a first class pianist.
Name: Stephen Frost
Email: sftankathotmail.com
Years_at_school: 1963-70
Date: 07 Jan 2012
Time: 07:43:54
I agree very much with Jeff Maynard's comments of January 3rd. Grammar schools offered many of us from modest backgrounds opportunities that we would not otherwise have had. No,the system was not perfect. But it should not have been thrown away with such indecent haste as it was. And I feel proud to say that both my sons attended one of the few state grammar schools that are left. Paragraph. Jonathan Gathorne Hardy has written an interesting history of public schools. Who from amongst the hundreds of old boys would be interesting in writing a history of grammar schools in ther post war period? I would be willing to help.
Name: Stephen Frost
Email: sftankathotmail.com
Years_at_school: 1963-70
Date: 07 Jan 2012
Time: 07:25:56
Very sorry to hear of Ken Waller passing on. Paragraph He took me for Latin for two years during 1963-65. A highly intelligent man, in 1966 he took a Russian course and returned to HCS so that this subject could be offered at O level to sixth formers. Remember going to the dentist once in Burnt Oak and spotted him on a 140 bus. I think he lived in Mill Hill. Most masters wore gowns, but he was the only master in the 1960s who still wore a mortar board occasionally. In Latin classes, he would fix me with his beady eye and ask me to translate: - Frost, si vis - . Ken also made up a Latin version of his own name: Quintus Valerius Maximus, or something like that, and for soccer fans his translation of - Up the Spurs - was sursar calcares. All subject exercise books were bound in different colours, Latin being red. And how I remember copying out verb conjugations and noun declensions. How many of us can still remember these, memorised by heart? Amo, amas, amat; mensa, mensa mensam, mensae, mensae, mensa. Paragraph. For 1960s Gaytonians, Ken's passing means that the Classics Department consisting of Ken, Bernard Marchant and Ubi Lane has now disappeared. As has the History Department, and much of the English, Modern Languages and Science Departments.
Name: Andrew Carruthers
Email: ajcarruthersatbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1961-8
Date: 07 Jan 2012
Time: 01:59:04
It is indeed sad to year of Ken Waller's death. For me this is the real passing of Harrow County. Ken was my form master for my first four years and I remember him vividly from my first day. He was a rare combination of intellectual quality, dedication, efficiency and kindness. He could have had a distinguished career as an academic but when circumstances meant that could not happen he devoted his career to teaching, which continued despite many frustrations at the changing atmosphere in the education world. His contribution to music at Harrow County was also immense. Those of us who attended the dinner to mark his 50th anniversary of joining HCS saw him, despite the advancing years, as bright and amusing as ever. A sad loss.
Name: Graeme Young
Email: under review
Years_at_school: 1947 to 1953
Date: 07 Jan 2012
Time: 01:36:08
Just to add to that I have written already, my years at HCS were fruitful but that reward came later-on in life. I was asked to teach basic electronic principles to members of the Armed Forces on re-settlement courses at Aldeshot Garrison, and then from the depths of memory came the physics lessons of Spadger Heys. My Maths, never very brilliant, proved better, even so, than the capabilities of many of my students. Thanks, HCS! I remember cycling to school one morning behind the School Captain. Like me he was bareheaded despite the orders of Square to wear the School Cap on such journeys. As we neared the School he reached back into the saddle-bag, pulled out his cap and donned it about 200 yds from the school gates. Now at age 75 and with a full head of hair, I still hate hats of any description.. I have never been back to Gayton Road as I went to Johannesburg immediately after leaving HCS and after a three year stay there returned, did National Service, and moved away from The Home Counties, finally ending up in a village near Mansfield, Notts. HCS was a good school despite the Simpson-Bigham-Amos rule of terror, I am still proud of having been there and gaining so much from the experience.
Name: Graeme young
Email: under review
Years_at_school: 1947 to 1953
Date: 07 Jan 2012
Time: 01:32:55
Just to add to that I have written already, my years at HCS were fruitful but that reward came later-on in life. I was asked to teach basic electronic principles to members of the Armed Forces on re-settlement courses at Aldeshot Garrison, and then from the depths of memory came the physics lessons of Spadger Heys. My Maths, never very brilliant, proved better, even so, than the capabilities of many of my students. Thanks, HCS! I remember cycling to school one morning behind the School Captain. Like me he was bareheaded despite the orders of Square to wear the School Cap on such journeys. As we neared the School he reached back into the saddle-bag, pulled out his cap and donned it about 200 yds from the school gates. Now at age 75 and with a full head of hair, I still hate hats of any description.. I have never been back to Gayton Road as I went to Johannesburg immediately after leaving HCS and after 1 three uear stay there returned, did National Service, and moved away from The Home Counties, finally ending up in a village near Mansfield, Notts. HCS was aa good school despite the Simpson-Bigham-Amos rule of terror, I am still proud of having been there and gaining so much from the experience.
Name: Michael Schwartz
Email:
Years_at_school: 1965-1972
Date: 06 Jan 2012
Time: 20:49:43
Like Henry Wyatt and Dave Buckley I too am very upset to learn that Kenneth Waller has died. I was taught by Ken for six years at Harrow County, both in conventional Classics and in Russian. I will prepare an appreciation - it will take a little while because Ken's achievements were so many - but I hope that someone else will also write some words of tribute. I was surprised when I was the only person on this site to write a tribute to Bernard Marchant a little while ago. Michael.
Name: Dave Buckley
Email:
Years_at_school:
Date: 06 Jan 2012
Time: 15:05:23
I am very sad to hear of the death of Ken Waller. This is the second death I have heard of today of someone I have known, the other being Bob Holness who was President of Pinner Players, a local amdram group I was a member of for some years before moving north of the border. Dave B.
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash70panatyahoodotcom
Years_at_school: 1962-9
Date: 06 Jan 2012
Time: 14:19:51
Those of you on Facebook will have learnt from Alex that Ken Waller died earlier this morning. I have been in contact with Ken's nephew Steven who tells me that he died apparently as a result of a fall at home. There will have to be an autopsy which will now not take place until Monday. Steven will let us know as more information becomes available. I am still in shock not least because I received a chirpy e mail from him on Wednesday morning in which he told me how pleased he was at the award for Carl Jackson. Requiescat in pace.
Name: Paul Romney
Email: paulromney03a taim.com
Years_at_school: 56-63
Date: 06 Jan 2012
Time: 10:24:32
Let's not get all sentimental here. Surely the rationale of the 20th century grammar school was to keep the middle classes happy by affording their children an education that would permit them at least to maintain their social status and offer some hope of upward mobility, while supplying the modern state with the necessary supply of pen-pushers. And isn't it true that the Eleven Plus rankings were biased to ensure that not too many girls passed?
Name: ye min
Email: yeyeye63athotmail.com
Years_at_school: 1963-70
Date: 06 Jan 2012
Time: 03:46:30
My mother rang me on Thursday 5th Jan to say this programme would be on as she had read an interview with Michael Portillo in the Daily Mail! She quoted him as saying there had been no drugs at HCS. as my wife said to me, 'How would he know?' and I laughed as my 84 yr old mother said,'There was drugs there, you had some.' I looked forward to hearing Michael, but alas he must be in part two..Must admit I do admire his jacket shirt combinations on Great British TRain Journeys, tho with all the cuts, are they the only train journeys we can make? Looking forward to more train journeys and part two
Name: ye min
Email: yeyeye63athotmail.com
Years_at_school: 1963-70
Date: 06 Jan 2012
Time: 03:40:45
My mother rang me on Thursday 5th Jan to say this programme would be on as she had read an interview with Michael Portillo in the Daily Mail! She quoted him as saying there had been no drugs at HCS..as my wife said tome, 'How would he know?' and I laughed as my 84 yr old mother said, 'There was drugs there, you had some..'
Name: Peter ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1958-63
Date: 05 Jan 2012
Time: 16:28:06
After a whole life based in professional education, in one guise or another, I watched the first of the two BBC4 progs. with interest. I'll comment more after the second when we shall have a complete picture. Meanwhile, just to pick up on Jeffrey's comments...early 60s Comps and, indeed today's Comps, are not quite as he represents. Whilst intakes were and are of mixed ability, it should not be assumed that teaching necessarily followed, or follows, that pattern. My Monday morning at Eltham Green school (ILEA SE London 1967)began with 35 minutes of 1C4. These were 11 year-old segregated boys and labelled ESN (educationally sub-normal- a perfectly ridiculous and insulting description.) In our First Year (now Year 7)there were no less than 16 groups separated by 'ability'; 1A-6, B1-6, C1-4 The following 35 minutes were spent with my 'A' Level Botany set all of whom would have come up through the segregated A classes of former years. recently, on collecting my 13 year-old first grandson from school,he proudly announced he had been moved up to the second to top set in Science out of 5.In other words, many of today's Comps continue to set by ability and performance. For that matter, when I was in Primary Education(1991 - 2000)we setted for Literacy and Numeracy. Where things went particularly wrong for some Comps was when certain Inner City schools, notably ILEA, experimented with mixed ability classes. But this did not apply always to Comprehensives, countrywide. The decisions were left to local Councils or even the schools, themselves. What the ratio was I do not know and it probably fluctuated as fashions flitted in and out. Making generalisations about either Grammar Schools or Comps is hazardous and often based on lack of actual inside knowledge or, dare I suggest, a degree of prejudice one way or the other? Poor old Education. It can't win. Perhaps the sainted Michael Gove has all the answers. Most politicians do -until proved wrong.
Name: Jeffrey Maynard
Email: jeffrey at jeffreymaynard dot com
Years_at_school: 1962-69
Date: 03 Jan 2012
Time: 20:40:39
BBC4 is broadcasting a two part programme: ‘Grammar School – A Secret History’.
Programme One will air on Thursday 5th January 2012 at 9pm on BBC4
Programme Two will air on Thursday 12th January 2012 at 9pm on BBC4
In this two part series we hear from a mix of less well known ex grammar school
pupils and a cast of some of Britain’s most well-known and well-loved house hold
names, all from humble working class or lower middle class backgrounds, many of
whom passionately believe they owe much of their success in life to their
grammar school education. They include Michael Portillo. Alex Bateman (our Old
Gaytonians Association Archivist) has helped the producers and supplied some
footage from "Makers of Men".
This is the story of Britain’s grammar schools. They have been regarded as
Britain’s most illustrious schools, amongst them many can boast a long and
successful history; their founding principle was based on providing otherwise
unattainable opportunities of a top class education to the very brightest pupils
from some of the poorest families in the Country. From the early days of grammar
schools they were seen as a vehicle for upward social mobility and continued in
this vein until their demise in the late 60s, early 70s. Programme one looks
into the history of these landmark schools and how they paved the way for many
children from less advantaged backgrounds to enter into top professions and for
some to reach the very peak of their professions.
In the early sixties the grammar schools were at the pinnacle of their success.
They were the pride and joy of the nations and regions, where schools and
education authorities vied with each other for the top spot, usually gauged by
how many pupils won university places at Oxford or Cambridge each year. However
the grammar schools were of course far from perfect. There were not enough of
them. There were far fewer places for girls. The eleven plus was an imperfect
means of selecting the best pupils. The first comprehensive schools were
introduced after the war- but nobody ever imagined that the grammar school
system, the pride of Britain and her democracy, would be killed off so quickly
and so brutally. The second programme focuses on the swift and brutal fall of
Britain’s best loved schools. By the late 1970s three quarters of the old
grammar schools were gone, despite their proven record of success as an
instrument of social mobility for working class children. They would be replaced
by the untried, one-size-fits-all, non-selective, mixed ability comprehensive
school which were pioneered in the post-war years.
Name: Clare Greenall
Email: clare.greenall57 at gmail.com
Years_at_school: none
Date: 02 Jan 2012
Time: 14:09:07
Very interested to visit your pages again after quite a long break and also interested to see discussions and reminiscences of Mr. Birch. Mr. Birch was my late uncle's form tutor for two or three years in succession and my uncle and father went on a trip with him to Paris (just the 3 of them!) before the outbreak of war. My Uncle remained friends with him after Birch left the school. It seems unlikely that he ended up in the Scrubs as one person on your site suggests as my uncle went to stay with him after the outbreak of war and they wrote to each other until my uncle was killed in 1944. The final letter I have from Birch was written from a Seminary though he was anxious he had begun his training too late and might be called up into the National Fire Service. The letters chiefly discuss matters of philosophy and religion and do touch on Birch's interest in National Socialism.
Name: Jeff Maynard
Email: jeffrey at jeffreymaynard dot com
Years_at_school: 1962-69
Date: 01 Jan 2012
Time: 13:48:49
Carl Jackson (HCS 1970-77) received an MVO in the New Years Honours List (Congratulations Carl!) ... has anyone spotted any other names in the list?
Name: Dave Buckley
Email:
Years_at_school: 1953-61
Date: 01 Jan 2012
Time: 05:11:50
There is another series of Great British Railway Journeys with Michael Portillo running from Monday 2nd to Friday 6th January on BBC2 at 6.30pm........then on Thursday 5th January on BBC4 at 9pm - The Grammar School: A Secret History with Michael, Sir Richard Attenborough and Edwina Currie. This appears to be the first of two programmes. If you have access to the Daily Mail's Weekend supplement for 31st December, there's a short article on page 13. After the usual repeats and rubbish on the TV from Christmas to the New Year, these programmes are a breath of fresh air. I would be interested to know if a future series of the Great Railway Journeys will cover the line from Gretna Green to Glasgow via Dumfries. If so, there are a couple of Old Boys in Dumfries who would be very pleased to meet up with Micheal while he is in the area! Dave B.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmail.com
Years_at_school: 1940-7
Date: 31 Dec 2011
Time: 07:15:43
You raise some good points Paul. I believe the decrease in the sense of bonding by more recent students and that which us older types feel is due to racial and cultural differences. In my time at school, we were all 'wasps' dressed in the same uniforms, and very strictly controlled - for good or bad, that is how it was. We were naturallymore disposed to bond that later generations. There were abuses but generally I have pleasant memories of the staff. Not only was English our first language, it was our only one. I don't recall hearing people speak another language until I was about nine and did not see a black person until I was ten. Times have changed. Just look at the old photographs! Since those days, the whole world has become multi-racial. Attitudes have changed as we came to realise that people who dont look alike share many values and opinions. All this does not dissuade us 'Old Gaytes' from take adantage of this site to revel in remeniscences and nostalgia for the 'good old days' much as old folks have done since time immemorable. Whatever our origins, the school was generally an improving influence and I salute all passed and present students in hoping the year 2012 will be kind to them.
Name: Paul Phillips
Email: paulatbrianpauldotcodotuk
Years_at_school: 1971 to 1976
Date: 29 Dec 2011
Time: 08:47:32
Happy new year to all. Andy's comments made me respond! I wonder whether the lack of contributions from us younger ones has something to do with the throw away society we now live in and the sense of belonging and respect in general. A school now seems to be somewhere you pass through whereas reading contributors from earlier years who would have suffered the deprivations of the war and after know how to feel part of a society. That feeling of comaraderie would be strengthened on the realisation that HCS pupils had to stand together to fight what would appear to be an oppressive minority band called the teaching staff. PAUL
Name: ye min
Email: yeyeye63athotmail.com
Years_at_school: 1963-70
Date: 29 Dec 2011
Time: 02:02:44
first of all many thanks to jeff for maintaining this site. it has helped me put into some perspective the years i spent at HCS, not a success in the same light as those high flyers who shone, but I agree with Michael Schwartz, we need to hear more from the school underclass, the rebels, the marginalised. I certainly see myself in that group. I felt that my academic potential was wasted and misundertsood at HCS. It was not a system I could fit into nor understand. But in its own way it shaped me. I made sure my own children were supported through their education. I became a special needs teacher and now work in the NHS with children and families and yes, the kind who would have been overlooked and bypassed by the system at HCS, but that was then and this is now..cheers
Name: Laurence Lando
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1957 -
Date: 27 Dec 2011
Time: 11:10:33
Energy restored following the Xmas break! May I wish all OGs etc a Healthy, Happy and Peaceful New Year. Be careful what you wish for!! Any anecdotes that we might all enjoy. I seem to remember putting the skeleton from the Biology lab into Square's car, but have forgotten who my fellow hobbledehoys might have been, time to own up? Laurence.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: The Later Simpsonian Period
Date: 22 Dec 2011
Time: 03:31:21
Dr Simpson, Bigham, Thorn, Swanny Amos - RIP? Fat chance! There's life in the old theme yet. Are some people missing the funny side?
Name: Andy Colhoun
Email: colhoun.whiteriveratgmail.com
Years_at_school: 1950-57
Date: 21 Dec 2011
Time: 23:04:34
I have been reading the letters over the years, the debates about all the people whose names do not need to be mentioned yet again. I am coming to the conclusion that the contributors are like the attendees at Rememberance Day services, fewer, older, only of a certain era and soon to be no more.The school still exists but in a form few of our time would recognize. How many contributors do we get from Gayton High School pupils or later.The only interest comes from HCS former pupils. Let it rest guys.
Name: Peter Fowler
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 56/63
Date: 21 Dec 2011
Time: 04:36:20
Michael, as someone who's had ding-dongs with you over the years, I would never presume even to think of a 'finality'. I think what I was saying - and it was in response, remember, to someone who had noticed the diminishing number of entries on this forum - was that the central arguments that have involved a group of us have gone as far as they can. I mean, how many times can you call me a commie rat? And how many times can I scream UKIP abuse at you? How many times can Laurence raise his grumpy head and get pilloried by others? And how many times will he have the energy to respond? Our positions on issues like the role of the Grammar School, the regime of Simpson and the iniquities of The Colonel are rather set in the stone of the school entrance - and it's hardly conducive to the development of this forum when one of us, seeing an entry by a latecomer, blurts out that this point was rather well covered by Gerry Freed or Mike Smith in 2002. We begin to sound like one of those jumped-up prefects we always hated in the third year, all pomp and no panache. I worry sometimes that I start to sound like George Yelland, right eyebrow raised, withering eyes and wuthering gown, chucking the exercise book from his desk to the culprit's, pontificating, in that magisterial BBC baritone voice, 'Not bad, Newcomer Two: but it is rather evident that you have not read Richard Buckley's splendid polemic on Simpson from 2004....I suggest you do a little more reading next time!....' (I can still moan, though, that all these years on, I am not able right now to begin a new paragraph). No, Michael, this is not a finality (or even an ending!), it is simply an evolution; and the corollary of those like us not arguing incessantly, is two-fold: first, as the someone noticed, there are less entries on these pages; but, second, that a space is created in this strange cloud we inhabit for other voices to emerge. As they will continue to do so, since this site is here for ever. (PARA) Have a good Christmas, and ditto on the good wishes to Ken Waller.
Name: Michael Schwartz
Email: Oh Gawd, it's him again
Years_at_school: 1965-1972
Date: 18 Dec 2011
Time: 13:08:39
First, may I add my good wishes to those extended to Kenneth Waller. Get well, soon - and that's imperative (second person singular present active, to be precise). I understand that Ken's neighbours include the actress Emma Thompson. if I lived near her, I would never leave that part of London. There was an air of finality to Peter Fowler's comments. I know it is said that history is written by the victors; in the case of the school the history has predominantly been written since 2000 by the successes. The history of Harrow County can only be classed as "fully written" when those who did not enjoy Harrow County tell their story, but then there is little chance of that happening. People are embarrassed, traumatised, humiliated. Very few of the latter have come forward. Does this mean the end? I don't know - but I haven't half enjoyed it! Thank you, Jeff. Best wishes to all Gayts for 2012. Michael.
Name: Laurence Lando
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1957 -
Date: 18 Dec 2011
Time: 09:38:05
Henry, thanks for the information about Ken Waller, please be kind enough to pass my good wishes to him for a return to good health. Peter mentions the possibility of running out of fresh ideas, and this is more than possible. It seems that recent students of the new school have little or nothing to say. I must say how impressed I was with their new Headmaster, and to learn from him, that he is seeking a place for his offspring in the private sector! I must also add my thanks and congratulations to Keith Baker for all his hard work in the Centenary Celebrations. Laurence
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash70panatyahhodotcom
Years_at_school: 1962-9
Date: 17 Dec 2011
Time: 08:33:17
I have just been speaking to Ken Waller who tells me that he has spent some time in hospital and is still in some pain. I did not know of this in advance and therefore did not visit him. I will try and ensure that this does not happen again. Ken tells me that his experience in hospital was not entirely positive. As I am sure you know, the workload on hospital staff, particularly those caring for the elderly is such that some patients can be overlooked. In order to overcome this, it is necessary to convey to such carers that a particular patient is highly regarded and has a good quality of life which needs to be conserved. I am sure that there are plenty of Old Boys capable of conveying such sentiments cogently, if needed. I will let you know if it happens again.
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colindotdickinsatblueyonderdotcoukuk
Years_at_school: 1947-1953
Date: 14 Dec 2011
Time: 07:20:43
A perceptive and well-writen piece, Peter. Not just "old chums" but new ones too - as you and I have become through the ether without ever having met. Others include Jack Walters, the son of an American USAAF oficer who believed in exposing his son to English education rather than the inward-looking American schools. Jack was only with us for a year (slightly ahead of me) and I remember him throwing himself into many activities, excelling in athletics and at rugby. He browsed the website and made contact - and adopted the e-mail address "virtusnonstemma". It says a lot for the impact that the HCS environment had on thousands of us. There have, of course, been many old friends and contemporaries I have rediscovered through this site. It is all that you say of it, and will one day become a very serious historical document. It's on its way there now. Well done, Jeff.
Name: Peter Fowler
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 56/63
Date: 12 Dec 2011
Time: 03:30:04
I would suggest the lack of input is because the story's very largely played out. True, new voices have appeared over the years and these have added great value, but, at heart, they have added a slightly different melody to the same underlying themes, replaying the old tunes from other angles. The Simpson Debate was, as an example, comprehensively explored nearly ten years ago and was, perhaps, more forceful at that time because some of the key players (like Jim Golland) were very much alive and kicking. Nevertheless, what we have here is a marvellous resource which is endlessly fascinating, and hangs in the ICloud for eternity. And a resource to which people will still add, stories and photographs, in the endless build-up of a quite superb historical document.If we then add the important factor that it keeps a community of old chums together, a perfect way of keeping in touch, that, surely, is more than we could ever have dreamed of when Jeff started this in 2001.
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash70panatyahoodotcom
Years_at_school: 1962-9
Date: 04 Dec 2011
Time: 06:55:38
I have just listened to a very good programme on Radio 4 by Michael Portillo on the English Armada of 1589. After the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, Drake was sent on a mission to fully destroy the Spanish fleet in Santander and San Sebastian. Unfortunately, Drake being the freebooting entrepreneur that he was, decided instead to raid the port of Corunna in pursuit of loot and booty. Things went badly wrong and he had to return home having lost half the English fleet.PARA. In the programme Michael mentioned that the historical reality of Drake's doings was a tad more nuanced than that which he was taught at school. I am sure, though, that Harry and Geoff D'Arcy would have have approved of this revisionism.
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmail.com
Years_at_school: 1940-1947
Date: 02 Dec 2011
Time: 05:38:15
You are not alone Bill in noting how things (like schools and people) change with time. Remember the old place as it was and be done with it. I went back once and found the corridor floors carpeted no less! That plus the presence of girls. Changes in the use and configuration of rooms has changed so much that the first comment old mates make is "I managed to find our old form room (which in our time was lit by gas)". Apart from all these changes, just about every bit of open space that I recall has been built on. This is presumably what you noted when you 'zoomed in'. All this is in keeping with the times. There is hardly a building left that I remember along my walk between station and school.
Name: Bill Peter
Email: bncpeteratgmaildotcom
Years_at_school: 1960-1967
Date: 01 Dec 2011
Time: 18:03:08
I left London in 1979 to "travel the world", and have not been back to HCS since leaving 1967. Imagine my suprise, whilst doing some randon Internet "pottering", to come across this map; http://www.londonspovertyprofile.org.uk/indicators/boroughs/harrow/. On zooming in I found a VERY different school to the one I left. Well, I'm a very different person to the one I was in 1967. BTW, why aren't links allowed in posts? (editors note - slashes are not automatically allowed in posts because we kept getting spammed by people posting links selling things plus a few pornographic ones. However, if you put a link in using "slash" I will fix it!)
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: The Simpson Years
Date: 01 Dec 2011
Time: 10:08:42
Well done, Brian Hester. You are showing the way. Just one point on Simpson as a 'good manager'...in my years of Secondary and Primary teaching I wouldn't have got away with promoting only the elite and rubbishing the less academic. Picking up on your biblical quotation...Good Shepherd? Certainly not. I write as one of the sheep. BAA!
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmail.com
Years_at_school: 1940-47
Date: 01 Dec 2011
Time: 09:07:33
As the eldest old lag who contributes here occasionally I am delighted to see that there are still contributors to this page who have not been overcome by the impairing evils of various geriatric conditions that would prevent further participation. I am prepared to forgive, but not condone, errors of spelling and syntax. As the son of the Jewish carpenter of yore is credited with saying 'let him amongst you who has not sinned cast the first stone' For my part, I continue to find comments on this page an absorbing read. Here we are now in advanced years, with opinions on our beginnings modified by an incredible range of experiences since we left school. For the large majority of us, the background was the same - Protestant - Semi-detached, NW Middlesex, primary school - capped by the HCS experience. The distant observer would expect us to all fit a single mold but this did not happen. In retrospect we see our schooling differently to the extent it is coloured by experiences of later life. Both Williams and Simpson developed the school through times of social change. Controlling a group of adolescent boys as well as a sometimes-unsupportive staff, is a task that each undertook in their own way with greater or less success. Most of the products emerged to achieve fair success in life. Williams and Simpson may not have been always 'nice people' but they were appointed to produce results, which they supplied in good measure. After many years in, under, and of management in various sections of industry, I see them both as 'good managers', sometimes with touches of inspiration but at others, especially in the case of Simpson, displaying a lack of understanding of social attributes.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1958-63
Date: 30 Nov 2011
Time: 17:21:41
Colin Dickins is right. Having started a few hares running on the site, for fun, I've been deeply disappointed by the general lack of inspiration, or response. Many contributions are minimal, uninformative and hardly a good read. A surprising number are poorly punctuated. (Roll over Jims Yelland and Golland.) Surely, ex-HCS characters can do better? I forgive their successors as there was not probably as much to write about - at least in controversial terms. So come on, Old Lags of Simpson. Make us sit up and (preferably, although not necessarily) laugh. Or RIP ( not forgivable for those still alive.)
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colindotdickinsatblueyonderdotcodotuk
Years_at_school: 1947-1953
Date: 30 Nov 2011
Time: 04:53:04
Well, Brian, the old axiom is "if you've nothing to say, say it." The exchanges do tend to fly thick and fast when there's a new event or someone starts a hare runnning - often contentiously.
I have to say, while writing, that the School Centenary celebrations have been a triumph and I've enjoyed all the lectures and the Dinner. Keith Baker and his team, with enthusiastic participation of the School, have done a brilliant job and I'm sure Keith is looking forward to a well-earned break - except that next year is the OGA Centenary and he's got a few events lined up for that. No rest for the . . . . Oh, never mind!
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmail.com
Years_at_school: 1940-1947
Date: 29 Nov 2011
Time: 14:14:00
This usually active site has become vey quiet of late. Has everyone become exhausted after the centennial exercises?
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmail.com
Years_at_school: 1940-1947
Date: 29 Nov 2011
Time: 07:43:38
The site has been remarkably quiet for over two weeks. Is everyone suffering from post-centenary exhaustion, or what?
Name: Roger Busby
Email: rogerjnbusbyatblueyonder.co.uk
Years_at_school: 1949 -1956
Date: 14 Nov 2011
Time: 09:25:00
Ashamed to say that this is my first visit. Will send some CCF photos and must spend a bit more time having an in depth look at what seems a most interesting website.
Name: Edward (Ted) Mansfield
Email: edmansfield43atbtinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1954 to 1959
Date: 09 Nov 2011
Time: 04:21:59
Just another hello to all who might remember me, fondly or otherwise (take that how you like). I've had to change my e-mail address to that as above, due to certain problems with the old one. Be good to hear from any old friends who remember those far off days. I recall in our first year being somewhat amazed at the antics of "Twink" Bradley, our English teacher, good at his job, but very eccentric. Ray(?) Boardman was another good (maths) teacher that year. Later, I was to encounter Mr. Saunders, responsible over several years for my futher maths education, and the unpredictable Colonel (?) Bigham, with his almost pathological dislike of those of us who had the temerity, in his view, of joining the School Scout Group. There was one lesson, I think when I was in the 4th Form, where he sprang a spot round the class random question session (he had all the questions and answers on the desk in front of him, of course). Those who answered incorrectly were lined up, and in the ensuing caning of each, he split several canes brought to the class for the purpose! Teachers I recall with thanks, and respect are Messrs Skillen, Golland, Tyrwhitt, Wilkie, Mees, Busfield, Beer, Turnbull, Pritchet, Crinson, Charlesworth, Venn, Fishlock. There are others, but I have forgotten their names, but can remember faces; getting old I suppose. Keep going everyone, it's a great life if you don't weaken!!
Name: Ian Gawn
Email: ian.gawnatorange.fr
Years_at_school: 1955-62
Date: 02 Nov 2011
Time: 01:28:13
Just a quick post to say how pleased I am to see that one of the Centenary lectures will record the then Flt Lt John Boothman's achievement in winning the Schneider Trophy outright for Great Britain in 1931.
Name: Ian Gawn
Email: ian.gawnatorange.fr
Years_at_school: 1955-62
Date: 01 Nov 2011
Time: 06:00:13
I regret that I cannot be at the scuool on Friday 11.11.11. In France even the smallest commune has a ceremony at the village war memorial (usually 3 sides covered with names from WW1, a few from WW2, then the odd one or two from Indo-China and N Africa), usually at 1000, followed by a service in a local church for a dozen or so communes at 1100. The chuch is always full to overflowing. Each year we have recived an invitaion from M le Maire, but this year, because we have to be in Bordeaux on 10th for a medical appointment for Jane we shall be in Saintes on 11.11.11 at the invitation of the French Air Force, with others, laying the RAFA wreath. I have no doubt but that it will be a most moving occasion. However, I will also think of the School Memorial, tha names on it, and other friends lost, particularly during my RAF service. They Shall not Grow Old. Ian
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ashseventypanatyahoodotcom
Years_at_school: 1962-9
Date: 24 Oct 2011
Time: 01:00:18
Paul Nurse has received many honours during a distinguished career (Nobel prize, knighthood, presidency of Royal Society etc) but at last comes the big one. 56 across in Saturday's Times' Jumbo crossword!
Name: nigel morley
Email: nigel_vinathotmail.com
Years_at_school: 1960-1967
Date: 21 Oct 2011
Time: 08:06:55
Wonderful dinner and evening .well done everybody on saturday, what would have square thought of 51 first languages! Exhibition on sunday brilliant.keith neal well preserved.remember being taken by him on a Moral Re Armament meeting with other six formers,not politically correct today.also a field trip to see badgers with his dad and paul saw boys from 44 years ago on the sunday.trev,rob,john etc please get in touch. george the gown cowan still unnerved me esp as he still pokes his finger at you. couldnt get out of the habit of calling the masters mr or sir loved the moment during the film where we all booed or hissed sang along with be honest tell a lie to all old boys across the decades and miles well done!!!!!!!
Name: Brian Hester
Email: brianwhesteratgmail.com
Years_at_school: 1940-7
Date: 19 Oct 2011
Time: 13:17:50
As one of the 'far flung' old boys I was unable to participate in the centenary activities so appreciate the comments and reports that are now beginning to appear on this page. Richard Buckley's comments about the showing of photographs of past headmasters surprised me in that Crowle-Ellis was not included. Where Randall Wiliams knew the names of many of the boys, Simpson referred to everyone as 'boy'. I dont recall either ever smiling. Crowle-Ellis not only knew boys' names but actually conversed and joked with senior boys, of which I was one. It was while walking around the playing field with him that he disclosed to us his surprise at being replaced. I don't suppose we'll ever learn the circumstances of his replacement by Simpson.
Name: Richard Buckley
Email: richard at spaceplanner.co.uk
Years_at_school: 1959-65
Date: 17 Oct 2011
Time: 23:25:44
Many thanks and congratulations to all those who helped organise the event at school last Sunday. I hadn't been back since I left nearly 50 years ago. Whilst not overly nostalgic for the place I cannot deny its influence. I was shocked to learn that 70% of current pupils do not have English as their first language but very impressed at all the new developments and facilities. Although I am a fan of the digital age I was delighted that the school still has a library. There is something about the serendipity of browsing through books that the electronic media cannot match. Something very interesting happened when we were watching the short film made for the Centenary. Up came a photograph of Ernest Young which was received with affectionate oohs and aahs. Later a photograph of Randall Williams which was similarly received. I realised what would be coming next - a photograph of Dr. Simpson. What would be an appropriate response I asked myself. I decided on a hiss. I was thrilled that when it came I and a few others hissed and everyone else booed. And later there was a clip of 'Colonel' Bigham who was also booed. All very satisfying on a pleasant autumn Sunday morning fifty years on. Well done and many thanks to everyone concerned.
Name: Michael Schwartz
Email: michaelwritesforyouatyahoo.ca
Years_at_school:
Date: 16 Oct 2011
Time: 07:20:28
Laurence Lando? Eating humble pie? What is the world coming to? Michael.
Name: Laurence Lando
Email: Write word 'at' in full to avoid spam,eg 'Square at abc.co.uk'
Years_at_school: 1957 -
Date: 16 Oct 2011
Time: 02:43:44
Centenary Dinner - May I add my congratulations to Keith Baker and his team, for a truly wonderful evening. Haven't you all got so old; whilst I have remained as young as ever!!! One highlight was to meet Mr Neil, again, he also has maintained his youthful looks. David Barnett, Brian Bilgorri and Keith Simon, local lads still, reminded me who was who. I also met the current Headmaster, who was most impressive, so pleased to see that despite 51 languages being spoken at the school, a stream of young people are entering higher education and University from the school. Obviously my concern of years gone by are no longer pertinent, delighted to say. I do hope that photographs will be downloaded on to this website. Laurence
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter,ward16at btinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1958-63 (The Nurse Years!)
Date: 11 Oct 2011
Time: 03:28:33
If people missed the BBC Radio 4 programme, this morning (09.00 - 0930, 11 October, British time) I suggest iplayering it from the BBC web site. 30 minutes devoted to the life and work of Sir Paul Nurse. Unmissable. I,too,'studied' Zoo, Bot and Chem at HCS but didn't get quite as far as Sir Paul. Possibly because I thought yeast was stuff that went into Marmite. We should be proud to be, however distantly, associated with him.
Name: Jeff Maynard
Email: jeffrey at jeffreymaynard dot com
Years_at_school: 1962-69
Date: 05 Oct 2011
Time: 20:21:29
Chris Finill, who is running from California to New York, just emailed to say that he has reached Iowa! He should be in New York in November.
Name: Henry Wyatt
Email: ash70panatyahoodotcom
Years_at_school: 1962-9
Date: 28 Sep 2011
Time: 08:21:13
I did A level French with Hugh Skillen Don Kincaid and Don Wilkey. My abiding memory of Hugh Skillen was the utterly outrageous manner in which he conducted the dictation part of our A level examination. It was done so slowly and so distinctly that I am sure we all passed with flying colours.He has my grateful thanks and affectionate memories as indeed does Don Wilkey who attended last week's lecture. Mr. Wilkey made a valiant attempt to interest me in Proust's En recherche du temps perdu, but sadly to no avail. Still, I acquired a passion for Flaubert which has never really left me. The best French scholar of my era was a chap by the name of Stephen Kon. He was absolutely fluently bilingual. Anyone know what happened to him?
Name: Colin Dickins
Email: colin.dickinsatblueyonderdotcodotuk
Years_at_school: 1947-1953
Date: 27 Sep 2011
Time: 15:52:54
Hugh Skillen, whose first foreign language was German, incidentally, although he never taught it at HCS, spent most of his war in the Y (wireless intercept) Service. The Y Service was the source of much of the German coded signal material which supplied Bletchley Park. He wrote the (now) official history of the Y Service and several more books on it. He also founded and ran the Enigma Reunions at Bletchley Park. He was a prodigious writer, particularly in this field, but also on educational exchange visits and film - an early passion. Some of his films form part of the School archive. The exchange trips were orginally with France, then with Germany. Later he extended them to Spain and became fluent in a third European language. His energy and leadership in this work were instrumental in the national and international development of student exchanges. He also found time to study law and form the School's "law society", which was summarily and inexplicably terminated by Simpson (he ws incensed by this). He wrote many pieces for me in my time as editor of "The Old Gaytonian" in the eighties and nineties. When a heart attack and several strokes interfered with his output he moved into "writing" using computer voice recogniyion - with, of course, the help of a grandson. He was still writing in his eighties.
Name: Peter Ward
Email: peter.ward16at btinternet.com
Years_at_school: 1958-63
Date: 27 Sep 2011
Time: 13:25:38
Bletchley Park is one of the greatest stories of the Second World War. Or is it the greatest? (Not that the Soviets didn't do a good job pushing back the Nazi hordes.) That said, the Soviets benefitted directly from Bletchley Park Intelligence. So well done Major Skillen and Co. Did he appear in BBC 'Allo, Allo'? I think not but he would have made a wonderful character as a French teacher of English if the German occupiers had allowed such things. Maybe they should re-write this excellent comedy. Col. Bigham as a Double Agent in full SS garb but bravely filtering stuff back to SOE in Blighty. 'The Spirogyra has hatched with spiral chloroplasts, a single nucleus