ORIGINAL MESSAGE

NAME: Patrick Lane

DATE: 21 August 2017

CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1958 - 1965

Just stumbled across this delightful site by accident and am immediately amazed and ashamed by how much other people remember. To me it is all a distant haze. The photographs help, especially the school plays. I was Anne of Bohemia in Richard of Bordeaux, 1961 (before my voice broke). I was a rustic in She Stoops to Conquer, 1962 (back row third from left), Peter the archbishop in St Joan, 1963 (front row third from left - next to Dick Newton (?) captain of rugby), Prospero in The Tempest, 1965 (middle row, sixth from left) and my brother George is somewhere in the front row as a spirit. I was sad to read about the death of Kay Townsend my maths teacher, who also accompanied a bunch of us in a Bedford van, first to Cold War Moscow and then all over Morocco. After QE, Hedley Morgan and I hitch-hiked all over the USA and Mexico. He went onto Essex and I went to Sussex University. After many adventures, as described in my book Recollections of a Racketeer, I ended up living in Miami where I have just released The Booklovers' Guide to Wine. Thanks for this site. I look forward to studying it and savoring the memories. I only discovered it today and have already alerted my brother. Many thanks for this info Patrick. I've amended the captions of the photos accordingly.

1st REPLY

NAME: Nick Dean   

DATE: 27 August 2017

CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1964-71

How interesting to read this post from Patrick Lane, whom some of us recall as PKA Lane. Like his brother, I was a sprite in The Tempest (1965). I recall that Colin Carter referred to Lane jr not by his surname, but as "Georgy". This is perhaps the place to say that, in September's Oldie (in the 'Old Un's Notes'), there is a picture [see below] of Wilfred De'Ath (108 passim) dressed as a girl in a QE school play. This is said by his contemporary Bob Thorogood to have been taken in 1949, although he has "no idea what the play was". According to my Tempest programme, the production in 1949 was of Coriolanus. I should have thought The Rivals in 1950 (ie 1949-50) was more likely. While extending his regards, Thorogood objects to De'Ath's "subsequent denigration of the school", a view he says is shared by others with whom he remains in touch. Fair enough, but I'd be surprised if De'Ath's was a lone voice. Although before my time, my sense is that Jenkins' post-war stewardship of the school tended to divide opinion. (I have incidentally written to the Oldie with the conclusions of my research about the identity of the play!)

click to enlarge