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ORIGINAL MESSAGE
NAME: James (Jas) Cowen
DATE: 15 October 2015
CONNECTION WITH QE: pupil 56-63
In regard to interviews at QEs [see reply W21/3], did you actually have an interview with EHJ, Alan, and did he ask you about newspapers? I seem to recall in my day that not everyone did get an interview with EHJ. If some only did, which I believe was the case, I think it was rather to persuade candidates to choose QEs if of a good standard rather than for the pupils to go elsewhere. I know I was inclined towards Watford Grammar School as first choice (going west) but was persuaded to choose QEs (going east). As regards preparation for interview by Mrs Rogerson in form 4A at Summerswood, the school in Furzehill Road, I do not recall any preparation. As it was, I could not answer all of EHJ's questions at interview.
Then & NowDATE: 15 October 2015
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1954-59
I never knew that only some of us were selected for interview by EHJ himself. I believe I came top of my primary school class in the 11+ results but nevertheless assumed the game was that I was supposed to persuade EHJ that I was good enough for QE, rather than the other way round! I remember that my father was in EHJ's den with me and that he was asked one or two questions as well. The whole atmosphere of the place was alien to me and I decided on the spot I didn't want to go there. I've a very vague memory of doing my best to appear sullen (I did sullen very well at that age) and to give bolshie answers to EHJ's questions in the hope of being rejected, but I don't remember what the questions and answers were. I was puzzled and dismayed when the letter offering me a place arrived. My parents were so proud (due to the reputation of the place) that there was no getting out of it. So, in a sense, I failed that interview, with far-reaching consequencies, not the least of which is this website!
DATE: 20 October 2015
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1951-58
Living in New Barnet, when I started, 1951, the last year with 2 x 30 entrants, everyone was interviewed either by EHJ alone or by a Panel of EHJ and two or three others one at least of whom was a governor. If you were interviewed by EHJ alone then you had a place anyway. If you were interviewed by the panel you might get accepted at QE or you might be "sent to East Barnet Grammar School" or you might not get a place at either. As I recall no one interviewed at East Barnet was ever "sent to QE" instead of East Barnet. I have an odd feeling that I might have put this in another thread!
DATE: 21 October 2015
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1948-1953
Oh yes Jas, I did attend an interview. In the school library with EHJ and, I think, Mr Pearce as he then still was! Mrs Rogerson was the form 4A class teacher and she prepared those in the class for this occasion. It was a totally alien experience. Looking out over Stapylton and the Spring scene set for athletics and cricket. Questions I could not answer. The answer to that of course was to volunteer to find out by naming some sources such as the library we were actually in. I do think the newspaper question came up. A ready answer there. Unlike Vic I could not even make a decision about like or dislike. No reference at all except the pride of my mother in a 'scholarship' chance for me. Note that Primary 4A at Furzehill then was the fourth year of effective streaming as the pupils in the B class were not expected to do anything but go on to Hillside Secondary Modern. And even in the A form I shared there were brighter children than I who would not venture on the grammar school route for fear of the then unknown.
.JPG "Nick Dean gallery")
DATE: 21 October 2015
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1964-71
I didn't have an interview in 1964. My parents simply received a piece of paper (which I still have) informing them that their son or ward had qualified for admission, that his form would be 1C, his house Harrisons and his peg number 74. A little later there was a pre-admission audience with TBE, which was fairly inconsequential, though, going into it, I felt a little downcast because, if it had been up to me, I would have gone to East Barnet, a mixed school just down the road, where they played my idea of football. In fact, meeting Edwards did make me feel easier, although all I recall from the occasion was that he reminded a bit of the entertainer Donald Swann; he noted that I was in the choir at my primary school and hoped I would be in the one at QE, which I wasn't; and he explained about Saturday morning school (which I always thought was a pain). I have two vivid memories of waiting in the crush hall: a rather prim lady strutting past in a gown (turned out to be Ma Perry); and Barry Phillips, a first former who had been at my primary school, giving me a very Norman Wisdom-like thumbs up. Amazing what small detail selectively lingers in the mind.
Then & NowDATE: 21 October 2015
CONNECTION WITH QE: Inmate 1956-1963
My mother and I were both interviewed by Ernie Jenkins in 1956. I was asked to take along a favourite book which in my case was a battered, smelly and definitely 'pre-used' copy of I Travelled with Marco Polo. The interview seemed to go well enough. I didn't stutter which I was prone to and managed to answer most of his questions. Then he took my book, thumbed through it and then sniffed it. "It's very musty," he said. "Well", I replied, "It is a very old story!" I left the room while he spoke to my mother. She came out a few minutes later with her face beetroot red. I tried to ask what had happened but she just grabbed my hand and dragged me out of the building. On the bus home she finally told of her disaster. As she stood up to leave the chair in which she was sitting suddenly rolled back and she fell to the floor - giving EJH a full glimpse of Mrs Day's finest underpinnings. She thought that the flash of her flimsies and my joke had done it for my chances at Q.E, but they hadn't, apparently. For the record this Mrs Day is the same Mrs Day who received a few rather sniffy comments a year or two later when she turned up at a Founders Day NOT WEARING A HAT!!!
DATE: 22 October 2015
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1964-71
A headmaster with a lighter touch might well have included the episode with Mrs Day in his memoirs, but sadly not EHJ. However, Martyn's reply reminds me that TBE [reply 4] did ask what book I was currently reading and I told him it was a Jennings book (which may well have been the first thing that came into my head). Quite what he, or my parents, made of this not very cultivated response I don't recall. Incidentally, TBE was often referred to as "the Old Man" by a number of his colleagues (many of whom were older than he) - Eric S in particular. How did EHJ's colleagues refer to him among themselves? Polite answers, please.
Then & NowDATE: 22 October 2015
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1954-59
'Winkie' Wingfield usually referred to him as Senex but I imagine that in my day no-one else (not even ES) would have been prepared to refer to him as anything other than 'The Headmaster' in front of pupils.
DATE: 23 October 2015
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1948-1953
In my day 'Winkie' Wingfield referred to EHJ as the Führer and how apt that was.
DATE: 24 October 2015
CONNECTION WITH QE: pupil 1957-63
I too remember that interview, attending with my father. I cannot remember if I was asked what book I might be reading at the time, possibly something by Arthur Ransome but more likely to be one of my father's westerns which I enjoyed. I do remember being asked to measure a distance on a map as The Crow Flies. Not knowing how a crow flew, those that I had seen always seemed to be going round in circles (or are those Rooks?), I had to admit my shortcoming. I can still remember the sniff of disbelief from EHJ but at least I got the answer right when told it was the shortest distance.
DATE: 25 October 2015
CONNECTION WITH QE: inmate 1957-64
I'm pretty sure that my Dad came with me to the interview with EJH - so I was already in!!! I remember that noticing that I lived in Lullington Garth (Borehamwood), EJH asked me if I knew what a garth was - which I did not. I could have told him who was the drummer in Buddy Holly & the Crickets had he asked!!
11th REPLY
NAME: James (Jas) Cowen .jpg "James Cowen gallery")
Then & NowDATE: 21 December 2015
CONNECTION WITH QE: pupil 56-63
In regard to interviews with EHJ before getting a place at QEs I brought up the subject amongst others with OEs of my generation at the last OE Annual Dinner. Peter Volkes said that some were interviewed by EHJ upstairs. perhaps in the library, and some downstairs in the HM's office. He seemed to think this of some significance, which I rather doubt. though I was surprised to hear not all interviews took place in his office. In regard to Nick's 4th reply concerning Ma Perry strolling past in a gown, I recall at my interview whilst waiting in the hall a very tall figure striding through the main doors. He had come from the cricket match outside and was very erect with a very commanding air about him. This turned out to be Eric S, my future teacher of maths but not alas of sport.
12th REPLY
NAME: Nigel Wood.jpg "Nigel Wood")
DATE: 24 December 2015
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1957-64
If I'd been in Jenkins's position I'd have resolved to give Martyn a place purely on the strength of his Marco Polo joke [reply 5]. Glad my father and I were seen by EHJ alone (in his office/study), and not with Mr Pearce in attendance [reply 3], as he'd probably have scared me witless. All I can remember about the interview was identifying Mr Eisenhower as 'the prime minister of America' and not being able to come up with another word for 'sticky' to describe the reluctance to flow of golden syrup. Going home on the bus afterwards, my father rather gloomily explained that 'viscous' was the word that failed to flow. His body language made it plain that he thought I'd scuppered my chances.
DATE: 27 December 2015
CONNECTION WITH QE: pupil 1957-63
In my interview he did the how far as the crow flies thing which I got right, only to mis-pronounce the destination, which was Leighton Buzzard. I pronounced it LEEton Buzzard. My mother explained my Grandad lived at Leigh-on-Sea - quite understandable really. He also asked me what the word "buffet" meant in the sense buffeting against the wind - I hadn't a clue. This really should have warned him of my true calibre so perhaps he wasn't so great after all!!!
DATE: 28 December 2015
CONNECTION WITH QE: inmate 1957-64
I wonder how EHJ would have got on with a computer - cue suitable caricature.......come back Piggy Purchas, all is forgiven!! Merry Christmas, everyone!
15th REPLY
NAME: James (Jas) Cowen Then & NowDATE: 02 January 2016
CONNECTION WITH QE: pupil 56-63
I find it of some interest how many of the correspondents who have replied on the subject of the EHJ interviews got questions wrong or did not even know what he was asking about. Indeed are there any who understood all his questions and got the correct answers for all? It was maybe a novel experience being interviewed at such a young age but perhaps this was countered by the presence of a parent going along as well. I suppose the percentage of those giving wrong answers or not understanding the question was echoed in those days in Sam C0cks geography lessons when he would ask a question and proceed from boy to boy with his utterance of "Next" until he maybe got a correct answer. The question and answers often went a long way round the class. Did EHJ get the enjoyment Sam had in posing those questions? I assume that there are no interviews currently with parents for boys applying to the school but please someone correct this if wrong.
16th REPLY
NAME: Hugh HoffmanDATE: 27 August 2016
CONNECTION WITH QE: pupil 1955-60
I was interviewed by Mr Jenkins in 1955. I disappointed my mother (who accompanied me to the interview) in two ways. Firstly, I had left my smart Church Hill Primary School blazer at school and had to attend QE in a scruffier old jacket. Secondly Mr J knew that I was a keen train spotter so he asked me to describe 'gravity grid'. Sadly I had never heard the term which he then described to me at length (it is when a goods train is made up by shunting loose wagons down a slope and using a series of points to direct each wagon into a separate siding so that different trains can be made up according to the destinations and contents etc.). As we walked away from the school after the interview my mother said to me that she thought I would have known about 'gravity grid' to which I replied "That's not gravity grid, that is 'hump shunting!" Despite these two faux pas I still got in to the school. When I returned that afternoon to my primary school I described the interview process at great length to a couple of school friends who were due to go up for interviews over the next couple of days - they both got places despite not being high fliers academically.
DATE: 07 September 2016
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1953-1960
I was a Welsh kid at a primary schooled in Fulham where the teachers expected you to debate life with them at full tilt. I resented it when the LCC moved us to yokellish Borehamwood for our betterment. I didn't want to go to any school in leafy Herts. I wanted back to the smoke. Chippy!! At interview, EHJ asked several questions in an arch manner, and looked surprised when I got them right. Then he said to my mother, "Now Mrs Griffiths, you'll appreciate that I have a difficult job; I have to meld the sons of the professional classes from Finchley and Southgate with the sons of the farmers from the Mymms and the sons of the working class from Borehamwood." I didn't know 'meld', but it sounded unpleasantly chemical. Ma interrupted (hear the welsh): "Well then, Mr Jenkins, you'll appreciate how lucky you'll be to have Henry at your school." Standing up: "Thank you for your time." And she led me out. Outside the door, she said "Well, he's got his chance. Let's see if he's the sense to take it." (And Ma always said to me "I don't know where you get your attitude from."). For some reason EHJ took his chance. Years later, watching TV, whenever Capt Mainwaring met a woman, I relived the interview.
18th REPLY
NAME: Nigel WoodDATE: 09 September 2016
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1957-64
Jenkins and Captain Mainwaring: that link once made (reply 17) is never going to be broken! I wonder what point Jenkins was leading up to, before Mrs Griffiths terminated the interview with such style. I'm not aware of any step that Jenkins, despite his rather grandiose claim, took to meld us. To the extent that melding happened (and I think it did), it was surely by proximity: sons of farmers sitting next to sons of tax farmers and so on. Come to think of it (and reply 17 has certainly provoked thought), I didn't know what anyone else's father (bar two or three) did for a living. Probably too busy being nerdish.
DATE: 11 September 2016
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1953-1960
Nigel, looking back, I've got some sort of rationale for EHJ and the Borehamwood thing. Mine was the first year group of kids to enter education under the 44 Ed Act. In 1953 we were about to hit secondary education en masse. EHJ would have known of B'wood's population explosion from 1950,largely through mass deportation from "filthy, smoggy, bomb-damaged, street-violent" London. Now, through 11+, we were entitled to demand admission to his school, which he had striven for 20 years to engineer to his personal vision. The huns were coming over the hill. Existential threat. Problem not opportunity. Man the barricades. (I don't mean this disparagingly. I can empathise. I'd hate the prospect of having my life's work vandalised.) So I think in the interview EHJ was on the offensive, from a defensive crouch. I think he intended to say that I might get a place at his school, but I'd do well to appreciate the privilege; I'd better mind my manners; and above all I'd better learn to fit in! (Penetrating analysis, Nigel, or cockeyed nonsense?) Anyway, astonishingly in the circumstances, EHJ offered me the place. And I enjoyed seven years at his school, fruitful and frustrating in equal measure.
20th REPLY
NAME: Nigel WoodDATE: 13 September 2016
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1957-64
I think Henry's analysis (reply 19) is very plausible. EHJ may well have been fearful of a new type of boy arriving from Borehamwood. Cockney accents polluting the purity of Barnet vowels? Perhaps not a worry. But a type of boy who might not give authority unconditional respect? That could have been a real fear.