ORIGINAL MESSAGE
NAME: Michael HillDATE: 28 March 2017
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1962-67
I was a bit anti-establishment during my time at QE, particularly in my final year, where I excelled in 'adverse' aspects of being at school. By this I mean going for the house record for issued lines and A-reports and generally being a non team player. Three instances, once being issued an A-report from Hew Purchas for using his plastic coffee lids, which he kept for mixing media, as frisbees some of which went out of the open window. Another was for burping from Underne house room window when a visiting cricket XI was led by Mr Thomas up the main drive and the third for being quietly disruptive (so I thought) with a fellow pupil whilst taught by the gentle Mr Evans. In fairness I have always been 60% deaf and the system to help those like myself in the 60's was not in place, so maybe that is why I let rip. I didn't have much clue what was going on in class and in later years much was relied on taking down notes from dictation, so it is a wonder I got 6 O-levels and into QE in the first place! My point is that reading other sides to my teachers here has made these cold authoritarians into 'real people' and I am now feeling contrition for my actions. Any other old rebels there?.
RESTRICTED THREAD: please make rebelliousness at QE, or in any other situation the main subject of your reply.
Then & NowDATE: 28 March 2017
CONNECTION WITH QE: pupil 1954-59
Michael, there are plenty of confessions (or boasts) of rebellion scattered throughout this site, notably from those who were at the school in the '50s and early '60's. However, it was a good idea to start this thread specifically on the theme of rebellion. I've made it a resticted thread so it can form a focal point for the topic. I was certainly a rebel and an outsider at QE [see my personal website, chapters 8-11]. Very interesting that you should mention that you feel contrition for your actions after reading some of the things on this website. Running the site for 13 years has certainly sped up the process (which was already well under way by 2004) of seeing things in a somewhat different light and actually daring to regret a lot of my own behaviour and attitudes, both at school and later. The question remains as to what extent a person's life after schooldays can be affected by their school experiences.
DATE: 30 March 2017
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1962-1967
Vic, I read the history of your time at QE with interest. I remember wallowing in the shallow end of the pool with those abominably itchy red trunks, but eventually graduating to black speedos (60's style I hasten to add) but not before Mr Fry saved me from drowning whilst attempting my 33 (and a third) yards. I did redeem myself from the classroom, however, on the pitch making a swift transition from D game to A game rugby, thus conforming to the strong sports tradition at QE. But being half the size of Messrs Lisney & Rogers eventually took its toll, so I went back to the being a rebel in my final year. I do remember Stephen Lisney looking at the A game teams sheet on the board one day and saying 'Who's Hill?!?' as I was the opposing centre promoted from D game. Hah! I was noticed at last!
.jpg "James Cowen gallery")
Then & NowDATE: 03 April 2017
CONNECTION WITH QE: pupil 56-63
As a cross-reference was made to the sports rugby photos I had a look at them again. In the rugby photo of the 1960s (exact date unknown) supplied by Stephen Giles, the person on the middle row on the extreme left is Colin Smith rather than Chris Smith. I believe, though I may be wrong, that he lived in Lullington Garth in Borehamwood near where Stephen Giles lived. I knew Colin outside school, as we were both at one time cubs and scouts. We used to collect money for the Scouts Association in bob a job week. Colin did several jobs for my Auntie Ella, who lived in Theobald Street. He may even have been one of my cousin Caroline's boy friends. She had quite a few before she married her husband John.
DATE: 05 April 2017
CONNECTION WITH QE: inmate 1957-64
You are correct James, in fact Colin Smith lived next door to me in Lullington Garth, and we were both entitled to free bus passes whereas Dick Newton and Tony Norman who lived no more than 100 yards nearer the bus stop, I remember were not! Please note that as this is a restricted thread, any further replies re the rugby photo will be redirected to a more appropriate thread, with links to & from here.
Then & NowDATE: 20 April 2017
CONNECTION WITH QE: pupil 56-63
In regard to being a rebel at school I was not much of a one. I did get an 'A' report from Mr Cosford for reading something other than French in his class, which I have mentioned elsewhere. I also sometimes lingered before assembly, using most of the 2½ minutes grace from 9.15 to 9.17.5 allowed every day, incurring the ire of some sub prefects or prefects on duty at the school hall door. However mostly I wanted to excel in as many form subjects I was able to and come as high in the form positions as I could. I was only once top in the whole class, for which I received my only school prize, but was top in several subjects otherwise. However I do also remember one Hobbies Exhibition, when I and another boy from my class were responsible for derailing trains in the railway exhibition. Those who were running the trains seemed so smug and I often had crashes on my Hornby train layouts at home. On the next day EHJ in morning assembly told us all to sit down and looked serious. I feared our exploits would be commented on and there would be trouble. Thankfully it concerned something else entirely. I do recall the name of my fellow culprit but leave it to him to confess, if willing.
.JPG "Nick Dean gallery")
DATE: 22 April 2017
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1964-71
Regarding reply 5 above, I seem to recall there were A, B and D reports; but what about C? In any event, the system struck me as rather pathetic because it amounted to an admission by the reporter that he was not up to dealing with the matter himself. I suppose the implication was that the offence was so serious that it might require a sanction reserved to housemasters. Even so, what was the purpose of the "grading" system? Presumably similar to what cricket umpires on the field now refer to as a "soft signal" when the third umpire becomes involved. However, I'm sure I've read some examples on this site of housemasters' pretty much shrugging their shoulders when reports had been given; and, for heaven's sake, why a referral for reading something else in class - or was it something that shockingly might have tended to deprave and corrupt?
DATE: 24 April 2017
CONNECTION WITH QE: inmate 1957-64
I can remember one occasion when the Reverend Upton awarded 25 lines for some petty act, and because the recipient - possibly Bob Merridale continued to wind him up, it quickly increased to a B report for rudeness, much to the amusement of the rest of the class!!
DATE: 03 May 2017
CONNECTION WITH QE: inmate 1957-64
I remember that one or two boys "acquired" a stash of lines paper, and would sell a sheet with forged housemaster writing at the top for a few pence. I have no recollection who they were, but they did get caught eventually, and were possibly expelled!
Then & NowDATE: 04 May 2017 (extended 06 May 2017)
CONNECTION WITH QE: pupil 56-63
You are right, Nick [reply 6], about the oddness of there being no C reports but of course QE was so unique in being odd such as all in our time with EHJ as HM only generally doing the standard four O levels and then on to the four A Levels. In regard to no C reports all of us who go to the Chute village square dances enjoy the caller saying the ones near the record player are 1s, the ones opposite 2s, the ones back to the toilets 3s and the others are the 5s. What he has against 4s I do not know but really like the quirkiness. There is also much other quirky banter enjoyed by all. In regard to my reading other than a French text book in Ron Cosford's class and started before he came in, it was definitely nothing that would deprave or corrupt anyone. The school prize I received (Pepys of Seething Lane) was more likely to be a bit more depraved and corrupting, given the conduct of Mr Pepys with some ladies. Your reference to Rev Up, Stephen, reminds me of the time we D game at rugby rebelled by switching the game skilfully to soccer, under the supervision of Rev Up. There was the usual explosive reaction from him [see reply 91/6]. I still find it difficult to believe that he did actually smack the pupils' heads, despite the more liberal allowances of those days, but I think I remember this correctly. Elsewhere Derek Scudder mentions a pupil being hit in class and banging his head on a desk. However maybe a smack on the head was better than getting an A report and a caning from the housemaster, mentioned by Stephen Giles in 135/19. Rev Up did have a temper despite being a man of the cloth but he generally had a beaming smile and reverted to this almost immediately after exploding in fury over some outrage or suspected outrage. Henry Drummond, the notable religious essayist, comments about this flaw in some, damaging an otherwise fine man. None of us progressed from D to A game status.
10th REPLY
NAME: Nigel Wood (see reply 4 below).jpg "Nigel Wood")
DATE: 07 May 2017
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1957-64
I wasn't a rebel at school, but some of my nutty antics were probably interpreted as anti-establishment. Mention by Jas of the Rev'd Upton supervising a rugby game reminds me of an embarrassing example. During one dismal, futile Wednesday afternoon on a muddy field (Gun Field? Third Field?) behind the school I was moved - probably by boredom - to dash around the field (well out of the way of the ball, of course) screeching "No popery" supposedly in the manner of a demented raven. (I'd been reading Barnaby Rudge.) It occurred to me only after I'd been doing it for some time that Rev Up might think that the injunction was directed at him. It wasn't. I don't think he said anything.
Then & NowDATE: 07 May 2017
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1954-59
'Rebellion' is one of those fuzzy concepts that needs a bit of unpacking. For example, 'rebellious youth' (a term that seems to have fallen out of use with the disappearance of the phenomenon itself) implied a strong conformist instinct on the part of the majority of young people who slavishly wished to follow a tiny minority of trend-setters, often at a distance of many years. It was never quite that simple, of course, but the point is that the trend-setters were the real rebels, rather than the massed ranks of the 'youf'. Such thoughts first occurred to me at QE. I wasn't interested in joining in the general desire to 'play up' the masters. The seemingly 'anti-establishment' things that I did, such as avoiding games as much as possible and rarely completing homework were due not to rebelliousness but personal problems (being useless at sport and having too many distractions at home, such a television, of which I was an early addict). That doesn't mean I didn't want to be a rebel. In fact, I wanted very much to be a genuine rebel - against 'rebellious youth', above all. I therefore delighted in expressing a horror of rock 'n' roll, a love of the most progressive and inaccessible forms of jazz and contemporary 'classical' music (while not, at first, understanding a note of it myself) and a penchant for the latest expreriments in art and poetry. For good messure I declared a total lack of interest in sport on any level and made sure everyone was aware of my Marxist/anarchist/nihilist beliefs (the beliefs varied from month to month - it was the shock value that counted). This, of course made me a rank outsider (apart from when with my small and very select group of friends). I didn't actually want to be an outsider, yet had an overriding need to be seen as a genuine rebel - although of course I had to make do with a number of less flattering descriptions.
Then & NowDATE: 09 May 2017
CONNECTION WITH QE: pupil 56-63
I was never much of a rebel at school and I am surprised now how acquiescent a lot of us were in the face of some of the absurdities. A good example was that of the non-swimmers classes held every week. Certainly wearing red trunks* to indicate that we were non-swimmers did not convert to learning to swim through the intended shame of it. None other than the initial mass did learn to swim. The provision of properly trained swimming teachers and methods would have been more useful. My father, who was in the navy and did know how to swim, whilst incidentally some sailors did not, had no concern or time to encourage me to do so. I suppose we just took part in the absurd system as an opportunity to talk to other members of our club. It makes me a bit angry when others since have said "Why can't you swim. It is as easy as falling off a log. You just float and the water holds you up and then you just swim." My later efforts still have not succeeded in my getting the hang of it, unlike my wife and children, who all leant whilst at school. Another absurdity, which should have been rebelled against, was the allocation of pupils to different level of games groups and then not teaching those in the D (D for dunce) group, in which I found myself, to get better at the only two games played at school besides chess, i.e. cricket and rugby. I do not recall if there were B or C groups. Maybe, like C reports [see reply 6] these never existed. Perhaps others can recall the facts about this. Despite little ability apart from being able to run with a ball, I was in the Harrisons House side against other houses in rugger. There were no games like table tennis, tennis, badminton, golf, snooker and darts at school but I learned to play these games with some degree of competence outside school with the Borehamwood Baptist Church YPF or at Brian Pettit's parents club in Palmers Green. Playing in the Barnet Table tennis League has helped me still in later life, as at our local over 50 Peter Pan Club I can play table tennis reasonably proficiently, though my badminton is not as good. My wife Ayleen comes with me usually and also plays. We have also continued to play tennis and recreational golf as well as enjoying lots of skiing trips with our family. *There are many references to the infamous 'red slips' on this site. See, for example reply 65/4
Then & NowDATE: 09 May 2017
CONNECTION WITH QE: pupil 56-63
I suppose the formation of the Records Society (Records relating to historical records rather than gramophone records) in my middle school years under the Presidency of JW (Bop) seemed a bit of a rebellion from the orthodoxy of playing cricket. On Wednesday afternoons it will be recalled a group of us used to cycle off to churches, country houses, Roman remains etc. and leave the cricket games behind. This cycling by me was in addition to the cycling off at other times to railway sheds or other region stations such as Southall. I never did shine at cricket in school despite in my early days acquiring a willow cricket bat, which I covered with linseed oil myself and attending Test Matches at both Lords and the Oval with my dad and brother. I think my dad would have liked both of us to have played well at the game, as he played the game competitively when in the Navy. I believe my brother became better at scoring than me and in fairly recent years I played cricket with both him and his son, my nephew Phillip. Some of the cricketing gene must have rubbed off a little. I have also played many games of soccer since playing rugby, football and hockey at my old Cambridge college.