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ORIGINAL MESSAGE
NAME: Simon HersomDATE: 01 August 2012
CONNECTION WITH QE: Escaped 1972
As the pupil closest to the school - our garage entrance faced the school drive - I had some unique insights into the place. Academically QE was a disaster for me. I made almost no impact on the place and left with no idea what to do and some indifferent exam results. However it turned out later that I had a good grounding in a wide range of subjects except Geograhy. I followed my brother Andrew into Leicester for whom I added no sporting gongs. Interestingly (for me) when I went to a Founders Day meet about a decade ago I was neither recognised nor remembered by anybody. My era is under-represented on this board, perhaps because large proportion are still working - and will have to work for quite a lot longer. The complications of building a career and having a family mean one inevitably lose track with even close friends. Of my class with Uncle Eric in 1c - Amos, Bowie, Boswell, Causebrook, Clark, Dean, Dixon, Dodds, Dollimore etc - I could track down about half.
.jpg "James Cowen gallery")
Then & NowDATE: 04 August 2012
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 56-63
You are right,Simon, on so many points. Whilst working on a career and managing a family, one is more concerned with the present and future and it is likely that most will only have nostalgia for the past in our later years. Some of us perhaps remember old days more clearly than recent days. That is why there is a lot on the file about our dear old Headmaster Ernie Jenkins and other old masters such as Winkie, Sam C0cks and Ken Carter. Maybe we will all have to wait for stories about the more recent Headmasters and Masters, though there have been reference to some regarded as the more unpleasant sadists in some threads.
In regard to going to the school for reunions I agree with you it is often the fact that you do not meet with anyone you were with at school or rarely do. Often you feel you would like to write to some you are not still in contact with but are stymied by people not giving information due to the Data Ptotection Act (often applied incorrectly). However, as I said in thread 95, if you attend Founders Day now, though you will possibly not see contemporaries, you will find other OEs who are very friendly and also very interesting to listen to about past experiences at school and in the wider world. I talked about experinences with British Railways and Wild Life Trusts in Sussex as well as school life prior to my days. You may also have interesting conversations with friendly Assistant HMs and other masters about school today. The fete held on Stapylton Field by the Friends of the School is also enjoyable,especially if you live locally.
Then & NowDATE: 07 August 2012
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 56-63
It is a fact that some of us do remember our first form surnames so clearly, myself after 56 years, and I suppose that it was the frequent taking of class registers by calling out the names that does it. Do similar calling out of the rsgisters occur nowadays? Pupils of course were always addressed by their surnames. I do not remember many first names except those who came from Boreham Wood and especially Summerswood School pupils apart from some and a few close friends. The surnames I recall from 1B were Allen, Amos, Bennett, Blackmore, Blake, Cheshire etc but of these the only recall is Billie Blake and Seton Bennett. Similarly for the rest of the class. I would not take offence if I met someone from the class now and they called me by saying "Hi there, Cowen". It is what I would expect. Is this trying to be the same as public schools as so much else was. I was also addressed commonly by a nickname but only by masters. I was 'Caveman' when addressed by form master Winkie Wingfield and 'Piltdown' when addressed by Bernie Pinnock. To pupils I remained as Jas.
DATE: 08 August 2012
CONNECTION WITH QE: Convict 1957 - 1963
Never met you Simon [see original message] but just love your thread. Probably most ex-pupils have a similar experience to yours - I know I have! Still here, though, so who cares !!!
Then & NowDATE: 08 August 2012
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 56-63
Simon, in regard to having a good grounding in a wide range of subjects except Geography [see original message], I am reminded of the visits to classrooms to discuss pupils' reports of our dear grand old head Ernie Jenkins. He used to say on these occasions and frequently: "A poor result in geography, I really can't understand this, boy, after all it's your own country." If it was a poor English Language comment by that teacher the comment was: "I really can't understand this, boy, after all it's your own language." We all had to stand up when Ernie came in the classroom until he said "Sit down, boys." This is before your time I know but a vivid memory to those at school before his retirement in 1961.
Timothy Edwards, the next headmaster did not carry out the same procedure. I was lucky not to be rebuked in this way as it took me three attempts to pass English O Level, one of only four O Levels, which we all took, the others being French and Mathematics. Later in the school we had to take The Use of English exam, a new creation. I failed that also but did not have to retake. I enjoyed the Literature part of English classes, including poetry but of course we did no O Level in that but just the Eng. Lang side. I did have such problems not just with precis and paraphrase but also with creative essays. Sundays were always ruined with English homework due in the next day. I do not know how many others felt the same but do not think I was the only one to resit the exam. All a bit perplexing as for 5 terms looking at my old reports i was 2nd in class, although for Transition X Arts I was 28th with 36% in the exam. Do other people recall similar discrepancy from 2nd to 28th?
DATE: 10 August 2012
CONNECTION WITH QE: Left 1972
My brother was at QE for Jenkins' last year. The curse of living in Granville Road was that he had to wear school uniform practically all the time, a restriction instantly lifted by Tim Edwards. I recall that the section on his successor in Jenkins' book was regarded as libellous by its publishers who insisted on quite a few deletions. I don't think Edwards visited classes much. Sam stuck to the old names of newly independent countries but I suspect he was pretty jaded by the end of his career. Ken Clark, however, was a great teacher and form master.
DATE: 30 August 2012
CONNECTION WITH QE: Left 1972
Martin Gould taught me bottom set maths. He was the woodwork teacher but taking an external degree at London. We reckoned he was 2 pages ahead of us but he was a brilliant teacher. The top set had 'Jenny' Wren whose "it's self explanatory" catchphrase defined him. He had a dodgy jaguar and left to become a driving instructor. I didn't do Maths at A-level but the grounding I received allowed me to become quite a wiz at financial modelling a decade later. I understand option pricing well enough to know where it went wrong.... My dad was headmaster of an inner London school and it transpired that all LCC schools of a crertain era shared the same very simple master key. Almost all the doors at QE could be opened with it, though the labs needed a slightly different even simpler key which could be made by filing down the shoulders of the first one. Although they had put serious locks on the main external doors they forgot the back door into the Biology Lab!
DATE: 09 January 2016
CONNECTION WITH QE: Student 1956-8
Came across this site last night, read till past midnight! I was in 1B with Ken Carter [see reply 2] and second year with Winkie. I was in hospital at the end of year 2 and this combined with my lazy performance in earlier years kept me down into that nice man Derek Fry's class. After a couple of terms my father changed jobs and I went to The Royal Grammar School High Wycombe. James, I sat next to you in Mrs Rogerson's class (what a good teacher she was) and remember most of 1B etc. I have no claim to fame at Queen Elizabeth's, I did win the second year art prize from Mr Purchase and am ashamed of the way I helped disrupt his lessons despite this. I thought of looking up my old school when I noticed an obituary for Dr Seton Bennett CBE who died 14th September 2015. Was this the same nice chap who was always top of 1B? Among the highlights of my stay was the lesson with Frosty Winter when a small boy arrived trembling as he had been sent to his Housemaster for forgetting his tie. Frosty eyed him sternly and then climbed onto the dais of his desk, reached across and tore a long strip off the Rexine top, threw it to the miserable boy saying "wear that!" Seton's one contribution to this site is here. Use the search button at the top of this page to see where else he is mentioned on the site.
8th REPLY
NAME: Nick Dean
.JPG "Nick Dean gallery")
DATE: 10 January 2016
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1964-71
I hadn't seen this thread before. Good to see in particular Simon Hersom's recollections, which are contemporaneous with my own. In 125/1 I've made similar complimentary comments about Martin Gould's teaching of maths to non-specialists and his tremendously genial manner (and sometimes quite wicked sense of humour). Just a small point of detail on Simon's original message. In 1C there was another boy - Cross - who sat in front of me in Room V and who I remember also because his first name was the same as my surname and we were both in Harrisons. I think he moved to Kirkcaldy at the end of the first year.
Then & NowDATE: 13 January 2016
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 56-63
It is good to hear from you, Ray [reply 7] and I do remember you from Summerswood days and forms 1b and 2b. My best wishes to you. Apart from Dr Seton Bennett you are the first from our 1b year, unlike the following year's 1b, to reply on this site. Of course Seton was the guy who always came top in our 1b/2b/3b stream and I notice from the NPL obituary that he looks in his photo almost alike from his schooldays. He clearly kept his career in line with his science studies at school and at Oxford University. I only managed to come top of the form when Seton went into 4A and I remained in 4B, when they rearranged the forms' composition. I still have the book I obtained as a school prize (Pepys of Seething Lane). There has not appeared an obituary of Seton in The Elizabethan yet, so the NPL one is an advance notice of that.
Then & NowDATE: 20 January 2016
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 56-63
In connection with your reply 7, Ray, I hope you may feel able to make more than one reply on the site unlike others of our year, excluding Martyn Day of course. You say you remember many in 1b etc. I had a crack at it in 2012 [see 32/143 & 144]. Looking at my list again there would appear to be some omissions. Cheshire and Poupard come to mind. I maybe am a bit shaky in regard to those at the other end of the room i.e nearer W. I am not sure about Rowe. It may have been Rowland. Funny how surnames predominated. I wonder how many have died. I have been told Bill Jeavons and Poupard have passed on but know of no others who have preceded Seton Bennett. I wonder who of his family still live and give my condolences to them. My own brother John died earlier this year and there is much sadness in relation to that.
DATE: 23 January 2016
CONNECTION WITH QE: Student 1956-8
Hi James. I think your 1B list betters my memory (probably explains why you went to Cambridge and I didn't!) but Rowe was Rowley and Surety (not sure of spelling) was also with us. I remember being friends with Disdale but can't remember if he was in our form? I still have a beautiful pair of antique opera glasses which I swapped with Rowley for a silly plastic skeleton which jumped out of a box. I have an interesting memory of my second day at the school. I misjudged the bus from Borehamwood and was late. After assembly I was dragged before Jenkins who waved me away with a distainful "one side boy". Of course next morning I was hauled out of class with an 'A' report. As a naive newcomer I had assumed 'one side' had meant "go away you ghastly little sprog". I remember my housemaster Pinnock discussing with a colleague whether to cane me, the colleague whose name I can't remember saved me and I only got 'four sides'. An unhappy start to my QE career. I was in fact later caned by Pinnock (a man who was always extremely unpleasant to me) because I once left my homework in Manchester where I had visited for the weekend with my parents.
DATE: 27 January 2016
CONNECTION WITH QE: 1957-64
Ray, I last saw Eric Disdale when I visited him and his wife in Canterbury around 1988-89, then lost contact. I believe he moved to the Plymouth area. As a fellow like-minded guitar player, he was a buddy of mine, and was bass player in my band for a couple of years.
Then & NowDATE: 11 February 2016
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 56-63
It is good to hear from you further, Ray, in your reply 11. I am a little reluctant to press you further in case you feel like Dougal, played by Ardal O' Hanlon, in Father Ted, when he came up with an idea and was pressed by Ted to enlarge on it. ("That's brilliant, Dougal. Now how exactly does that work?" or words to that effect). Dougal's reply was "Now hang on, Ted I want out. I didn't know, if I had an idea, you wanted more." (or words to that effect). This is especially so, as others appear once on the site and then disappear. However I will, nonetheless, ask how your life has gone since leaving QEs, and maybe you may find the time to say more. I expect there is much of interest to others. You are of course right about Rowley and Surety. I did not have much to do with either except I went round one of the Hobbies Exhibitions with Surety and we diverted a few trains on the Model Train layouts. Eric Disdale, a Borehamwood boy in Broughton House, who lived in Furzehill Road, was not in our year but the year after, not in 1b but either in 1a or 1c. I used to talk with him a lot and he gave me some Ian Fleming 'James Bond' books, which were all the rage at that time and which I enjoyed immensely. Since then I have watched many 'James Bond' films more than once and have enjoyed the chases and much else on them. In regard to being late boys from Borehamwood rarely got lines given to them, as George Jones, the sub prefect, was usually there to explain why the bus was late, to EHJ's satisfaction. I usually see George at OE Forty Club lunches. He has been involved in the drinks trade for years.
14th REPLY
NAME: Nigel Wood.jpg "Nigel Wood")
DATE: 13 February 2016
CONNECTION WITH QE: pupil 1957-64
Yes, Disdale was in the 1C of 1957-8. I believe he came top of the class. He had, I seem to recall, a rather fine quiff, possibly aided by Brylcreme. It would be hypocrisy for me to call him 'Eric' since I don't think I ever knew his first name. (Not like me to be daunted by the fear of hypocrisy.) Another guy mentioned by Ray and James in replies 11 and 13 spelt his name 'Shurety', I think. Shurely shome mishtake?
Then & NowDATE: 19 February 2016
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 56-63
No. I stick by Surety. I say No in a humble manner. In the words of Dale Carnegie in How to win friends and influence people: "I may be wrong. I frequently am." I am in no way like Doctor No of James Bond films fame. Nevertheless I think I can say fairly authoritatively "Mishtake? I don't think sho." Of course if Surety (or Shurety) is still about and actually reads this, perhaps he would let us know or someone who sat near him in 1b such as Saunders, who was the pupil who encouraged me to go and watch Barnet FC at Underhill.
DATE: 20 February 2016
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1957-64
I too am sure it is Surety, first name Chris. I think we were both in the 7th form in 1963-64.
17th REPLY
NAME: Nigel WoodDATE: 22 February 2016
CONNECTION WITH QE: pupil 1957-64
I'm clearly confusing the Surety referred to in this thread with someone else, and I apologise for spreading unnecessary confusion. (Did you spot the oxymoron?) Next I'll be suggesting that the poetry of Homer wasn't written by him at all, but by someone else of the same name.
18th REPLY
NAME: Hugh HoffmanDATE: 27 August 2016
CONNECTION WITH QE: pupil 1955-60
The power of rote learning! The class register was read out twice a day for 200 days or so over the year. Class 1B, 1955, form master Ken Carter: Amos, Askew, Bastick, Beeny, Carss, Cheeseman, Curry, Dixon, Fawcett, Hardy, Hoffman, Honeybone, Hoy, Iller, Legge, Norman, Mahoney, Paternoster, Plumb, Poupard, Quin, Selway-Hoskins, Shirley, Smith, Tarry, Tumelty, Walton, Wiggs, Wormald and Yerrell. That comes to 30 names - if I have omitted anyone I apologise but it was 61 years ago!
Then & NowDATE: 27 August 2016
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1954-59
That's very impressive, Hugh! What's not so impressive is that only two of the thirty - yourself and Mr Selway-Hoskins - have ever contributed to this site (although several others feature in photos in the 'Museum' of course). I heard some time ago from my OE contemporary and friend Nigel Palmer that Beeny had died. Wasn't Yerrell the boy with St Vitus' dance (Sydenham's chorea)? Does anyone else remember when, processing back up the aisle after taking assembly, EHJ suddenly stopped, turned to Yerrell (or to whomever the poor lad was who had the condition) and said something like "How dare you jig around like that during assembly?" After Jenkins had made his exit from Hall, people expressed their disgust. Presumably he had forgotten about the boy's affliction, but that in itself seemed pretty disgraceful, displaying as it did his god-like remoteness from his charges.
20th REPLY
NAME: Hugh HoffmanDATE: 30 August 2016
CONNECTION WITH QE: pupil 1955-60
Here is another example of EHJ's remoteness from his pupils. As others may recall, each class had a visit from the headmaster once a year when he praised those who had performed well and criticised those who had not. His comments were based on feedback from the form master who used two contrasting symbols to identify the 'good' pupils from the 'poor'. I think the system involved asterisks and daggers or something similar. During my 4th or 5th year at school we had a new form master (I cannot recall exactly who). Mr J came along as usual and praised the dunces and criticised the high flyers. Obviously the form master had used the symbols the wrong way round. As I say, this happened after we had been at QE for four or five years so Mr J might have been expected to know which pupils were brighter (i.e. winning prizes every year) and which less so - but he clearly had not the faintest idea who was who - we were just a list of names to him. As he went through his inappropriate comments everyone (including the poor embarrassed form master) realised that something serious was amiss, and after the headmaster had left the room the form master hurried after him and returned to tell us to ignore the head's comments! But that told me a lot about how little we all meant to him as individuals.