But remember that no thread is ever out of date on this site!
NAME: Vic Coughtrey (site owner)
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1954-59
Please remember to refer to the features that work in conjunction with this Notice Board !
CONTRIBUTORS tells you who has contributed to the site, how many messages they have contributed and provides links to all the threads they have either started or replied in.
FORMER STAFF is a very long way from being comprehensive but it at least lists ALL the former staff who have been discussed on this site, with links to the all the threads in which each one appears.
EDITING LOG was instituted in 2009 at the request of a contributor and provides a handy summary of every addition or other change to the site as it happens.
HOT THREADS is a list of threads which have had more than 10 replies and gives a rough summary of the main trend(s) of conversation in each of those threads.
NUMBER LIST is a list of ALL threads, but unlike Hot Threads contains no summaries of their contents. Its main use is to enable you to reach any thread easily when you know which thread number you're looking for. However, it also tells you when each thread started and when it was last contributed to, so it may tempt you to revive a thread that has seen no action for a very long time. Remember that no thread is ever out of date on this site because Editlog alerts people to new messages.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW? is a list of remembered Old Boys who have not yet contributed to the site or even contacted me. You can suggest names to be added.
VIC'S NOTICES is where I tell you of developments or just comment on things.
THE SEARCH ENGINE (top of this page) enables you to find anything on this or my personal site. You can use it either to locate something you've seen on one of the two sites in the past or to see if something you haven't seen is mentioned anywhere on either of them. There are a few remarks about it on my board
WIDER WORLD is an alternative message board where OEs can discuss activities and interests not directly connected with QE.
And, of course, don't forget the MUSEUM. New stuff doesn't come in as often as I'd like, so if you have anything you think would be of interest, please let me know, using the form for private messages.
Please note: this is not a thread and it sticks to the top
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.
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Most recent reply to this thread: 27 August 2017
NAME: Martyn Day
DATE: 20 April 2017
CONNECTION WITH QE: Inmate 1956-1963
Looking through the Where are They Now? list I notice that most of the disappeared were "˜probably" in 1C. Why is that I wonder? Was there something about that particular form that caused its members to fall off the radar? Have we all been teleported away by aliens? Are we serving long sentences in foreign jails? Are we undercover spies for some secret government department - or is it that we weren't much taken with the school when we were there and our interest hasn't been revitalised since leaving? Hmmmm. A former member of 1C.
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Most recent reply to this thread: 13 July 2017
NAME: James (Jas) Cowen
DATE: 03 April 2017
CONNECTION WITH QE: pupil 56-63
Two of the OE members who have died recently were prominent members of the Association. Alan King (at QE 1947-55) was a former Membership Secretary and Bob Parker (at QE 1945-53) was the presiding host at OE 40 club lunches ably assisted in the running of them by his wife Liz. I was not able to go to Alan's funeral due top other commitments but did attend the funeral of Bob in New Southgate crematorium. This latter occasion was very well attended. A recording of England's win in the Rugby Union World Cup against Australia was played and also a video recording of Swing low, sweet chariot, that English rugby adopted spiritual. A wake was held in a hotel near Hadley Wood and this was also well attended. Bob was of course a great rugby fan and a past captain of the QE 1st XV. His 2 sons also OEs were there also along with some of the grandchildren. Alan I knew a little, having sat next to him at one of the 40 Club lunches. He was a quiet man but still interesting to talk to. They will both be missed.
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NAME: Michael Hill
DATE: 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 XV cricket team 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?
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Most recent reply to this thread: 09 May 2017
NAME: Andrew Hersom
DATE: 25 March 2017
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1960-68
I was looking up the film director Stanley Kubrick on the Internet and discovered that he had a personal assistant called Anthony Frewin, who was employed by him from about 1965 to Kubrick's death in 1999. I recall an Anthony Frewin at QE who "appeared" in my 3rd or 4th form and left after O-levels in the 5th form. He seemed older than the rest of the class, which fits in with his biography (b 1947). In 1965 Kubrick was living in a house on Barnet Lane, south of the Elstree/Borehamwood studios. IIRC the QE Frewin was famously a member of CND (Rex Wingfield joked he wanted to make the Committee of 100 the Committee of 101). If it is the same fellow (he doesn't seem to mention QE in his CV), he has had a successful career in films and novel writing. see YouTube entry. Anyone remember him or is this somebody else? I have (famously) been wrong before.
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Most recent reply to this thread: 30 March 2017
NAME: Vic Coughtrey
DATE: 14 January 2017
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1954-1959
It's about time we had another of of our little challenges, some of which have turned out to be the kick-off of some very popular threads (especially Thread 32). This one is suitable for those who were at the school in the late '50s / early '60s. Someone (who will remain anonymous until a few people have taken up the challenge) has found a small cache of QE documents, and intends to send them to me bit by bit. He wonders if anyone can work out whose end-of-term report this is and / or identify all the masters' initials on the report? The name has of course been temporarily removed from the report. When the name is restored, the report will join these others in the museum.
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Most recent reply to this thread: 01 February 2017
NAME: Vic Coughtrey
DATE: 30 December 2016
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1954-1959
Derek White has drawn my attention to this photo of the whole school in 1919 on Facebook. I've reproduced it rather than put a link to the FB account, as it takes a bit of finding there. Also, photos can disappear from FB after a while. OK, so none of you were at the school in 1919, but some of your fathers or grandfathers were. Headmaster Lattimer and Miss Sims are both included.
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Most recent reply to this thread: 13 April 2017
NAME: Hugh Hoffman
DATE: 25 August 2016
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1955-1960
I went to an old boys dinner around 2000 and was amazed that a couple of people mentioned Hoffo Pools (which I had forgotten). We bet sixpence a week to forecast the results of ten football matches. For some reason my name got attached to the facility. We stopped when another pupil who was offering fixed odds betting was severely punished when he could not make a payout!
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NAME: Martyn Day
DATE: 05 August 2016
CONNECTION WITH QE: Inmate 1956-1963
ALUMNI ! At first I thought that it was a website dedicated to aluminium but just as I started to warm to the idea of lively articles on aluminium based products like wall siding, deodorant spray and garden furniture I realised that it was about Q.E Alumni who are leaders in their field. A quick thumb through the runners and riders didn't reveal any of the usual old lags who frequent these pages and the document was the poorer for it although I was pleased to note that Hugh Small (1954-61) did manage to keep his deposit when he stood for the Green Party in the last General Election! The headsheet indicated that it was the 16th issue and for that it should be congratulated but oh it did lack bizzazz. It was rather like reading overblown job applications for an unspecified job, which proves just how valuable, how entertaining Stapylton Field is.
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Most recent reply to this thread: 12 December 2016
NAME: Michael Hill
DATE: 19 June 2016
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1962-1967
In the 1968/69 Rugby team picture the person at 4th right is Graham Smith and not Andrew Witchalls. I remember Graham was in my form 1B in 1962 and he was in Broughton House.
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Most recent reply to this thread: 30 March 2017
NAME: Tommy Wells
DATE: 19 June 2016
CONNECTION WITH QE: Knew former pupils
Does anyone remember Brian Cooper, who was at QE 1945-53? His older brother was Kenneth.
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NAME: Simon Kalman
DATE: 18 February 2016
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1970-74
As some of you might already know, Huw Purchas, who taught art for over 30 years at QE, died on 16th February. I remember him as someone who taught me a lot about printing (on that very old 'Catherine Wheel' press) after he realised I has hopeless at art (painting or drawing!)
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Most recent reply to this thread: 20 May 2017
NAME: Andrew Hersom
DATE: 10 February 2016
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1960-68
What a surprise! (I assume it's the same man.)
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Most recent reply to this thread: 19 March 2016
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.
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Most recent reply to this thread: 28 December 2016
NAME: Sara Miller
DATE: 02 September 2015
CONNECTION WITH QE: none
I wonder if anyone can help me with tracing my father? I am adopted so have very little info, all I have is a name and school name on a social services letter that says he was born in 1941, called John Butler and went to Barnet Grammar school. I am not sure what school that would be though. He was not at East Barnet grammar school as the nice man there let me know today. I have found two John Butlers born in Barnet in 1941 but I don't know which he is or even if that is correct, as I don't have his middle initial. I am trying to find some records for the schools in Barnet he may have been at so I can figure out his middle name and so do some tracing. Any help working out what school it might be and how to get records would be great.
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Most recent reply to this thread: 09 September 2015
NAME: Nick Dean
DATE: 12 April 2015
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1964-71
The new issue of The Elizabethan contains an intriguing article by Roger Birchall who quotes extensively from one written half a century ago by K L Woodland on the occasion of his retirement. I was only in the first year at the time and don't recall the article, but I have a vague recollection of KLW's leaving presentation, his being on the stage with, I think, Ambidge and Colin Carter. I had never had any direct contact with him, but he looked as I imagined a Dickensian vicar; in fact, in my first few days, when I was trying to put names to faces, I thought he might be the Rev Kay. Anyway, his 1965 article, penned even before the Swinging Sixties had properly taken hold, appears to be a bizarre tirade against malign influences on impressionable schoolboys. Evidently boys in those days (we, actually) were - shock-horror - drawn inescapably to pop music ("This mind conditioning process ... diverts the enthusiasm of the Shavian fan from Bernard to Sandie") and - would you believe it? - were sometimes influenced by girls ("the meek submissiveness to his girl friend of the spoon-struck sixth-former" ; "... excessively concerned with sex, so that the mating urge - a basically feminine phenomenon - becomes the dominant influence in the life of every boy except those ... in the school chess teams [his domain]").
Other facets of the time to attract his attention included Yogi Bear, Daleks and elastic-sided shoes with pointed toes. And, as Birchall says, he did draw attention, rightly, to the exploitative propensities of big business. However, Roger seems to take Woodland at face value and, as presumably he knew him, I'm in no real position to query this. However, even allowing for the gap of 50 years, I did wonder if some of it at least was tongue-in-cheek. I'd be interested in the views of those who have seen Roger's (four page) article and who also knew KLW. Incidentally, the appendix to EHJ's book indicates that Woodland, who was appointed in 1931 when he was 25, was a student in London during the mid '20s. He might not have been a bright young thing, but did he go round with his eyes closed?
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Most recent reply to this thread: 27 April 2015
NAME: James (Jas) Cowen
DATE: 27 January 2015
CONNECTION WITH QE: pupil 56-63
Following on from the recent obituary threads I would like to record the death of my brother John Cowen (at QEs 1958 to 1962) on 22nd January 2015. He died at home and it was sudden in the sense he had not been known to be ill at all. The date of a funeral has yet to be arranged. He came to the last two Founders Day events at the school after my invitation for him to do so. I am letting the OE membership secretary Alan King know. He had 5 children, who are saddened in grief as is the rest of the family. After leaving school after O Levels John's career was in farming and building construction and he had recently started to ride a motorbike once more. He kept fit by cycling and running with one of his daughters.
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Most recent reply to this thread: 11 March 2015
NAME: Andrew Hersom
DATE: 28 December 2014
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1960-68
I recall JC Swann, who might have been deputy school captain about 1961 and later went into the army. Last time I saw the name he was a major. Unfortunately he may have been the same as a Lt Colonel Jonathan C Swann killed by the Americans in the infamous 1994 Black Hawk shoot down incident. His age and the location of his mother make this plausible. Does anyone have any idea if he is the same person? I don't keep up with OE official news but someone (perhaps James) may remember.
NOTE FROM VIC: This thread has prompted me to start a new feature: 'Where are they now?'
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Most recent reply to this thread: 22 February 2015
NAME: Mike Cottrell
.jpg "Richard Dilley & Mike Cottrell")
DATE: 17 December 2014
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1957-64
I have received an email from Martin Craggs to say that his father Peter, who was a fellow pupil of the 1b class of 1957, passed away on 11/12/14. Peter has postings on this site, in Threads 32 [replies 55, 75, 117] and 36 [reply 4].
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Most recent reply to this thread: 08 January 2015
NAME: Adam Lines
DATE: 26 November 2014
CONNECTION WITH QE: Inmate 1957-64
Some of you may have known my cousin Anthony Colin Smith (Tony) who died suddenly last week aged 77. I believe he was a pupil at QE from 1948–54
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Most recent reply to this thread: 08 December 2014
NAME: Nick Dean
DATE: 24 November 2014
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1964-71
Just to record for those who may have known him, that Ed Clarke, who left the school c1966, died on 20 November at the age of 66. I didn't know Ed during the couple of years that we overlapped at QE, but, through a mutual friend in the early 1980s, he joined a group of us who have met regularly for a drink on Friday evenings for the past 33 years. We shall miss him.
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Most recent reply to this thread: 06 May 2015
NAME: Max Dyson
DATE: 23 October 2014
CONNECTION WITH QE: pupil 1965-72
I was trying to remember the names of all the bands that played in the hall from about 1969 through to 1975 possibly. The school was surprisingly enlightened at the time to let these activities go on. Noir? Kevin Ayres? Quintessence? Sam Apple Pie? Hatfield and the North?
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Most recent reply to this thread: 21 May 2017
NAME: Vic Coughtrey
DATE: 19 August 2014
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1954-59
On the 31st August 2014 it will be (or was, depending on when you're reading this) ten years to the day since John Bibby slapped the newborn website into life with the very first thread. Neither he nor I could have suspected that it would grow and grow into something of a sprawling giant! To mark the first decade - or to start us off on the next - I've initiated this special anniversary thread with a sort of summary of how we came to be and how we have developed over the ten years. It's a little (well, a lot) too long for this main board but you can read the full message (and perhaps reply) on the thread's own page.
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Most recent reply to this thread: 11 September 2014
NAME: Nick Dean
DATE: 20 July 2014
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1964-71
A rather convoluted explanation by Susie Dent on Countdown (Channel 4) about the origin, probably in the 1940s, of the term, 'shaggy dog story', reminded me that probably the first two stories that I would have recognised as such were, I think, told to the whole school by masters departing to go overseas. Taffy Wright, a classicist who has contributed to this site and went off to Australia, told one about an animal called a rari (not sure if it had a spelling) who complained about being pushed off a cliff because it's a long way to tip a rari. Kaye Townsend, off to Africa, recounted one whose details escape me, though the punchline was "people in grasshouses shouldn't stow thrones". Both brought the house down. Have I correctly attributed these departing flourishes; and are there other stories that were shared in this communal way?
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Most recent reply to this thread: 01 August 2014
NAME: Nick Dean
DATE: 11 June 2014
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1964-71
Great to see this picture from The Tempest. This was the last play produced at the school by Colin Carter, who left at the end of the summer term, 1965. I played one of the sprites lined up in the front row: not sure which one, but hopefully not the one shying away from the camera! I still have the programme [see cover & cast list], which confirms that there were indeed eight sprites and that Mick Marks played Ariel. Miranda was played by A H Bullett (possibly a brother of J R Bullett, who used to own my signed copy of John Wakelin's Roots of an Diplomacy - the subject of an earlier enquiry on this site). I used to have a photo of just the eight sprites but it disappeared after I went away to university. Willy Biggs, about whom some of us have written previously, evidently provided original settings for Ariel's songs.
Many thanks for the confirmation or correction of most of those school play dates, Nick.
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Most recent reply to this thread: 30 June 2015
NAME: Martyn Day
DATE: 04 June 2014
CONNECTION WITH QE: Inmate 1956-1963
Two men once came to Q.E. The first was Miles Tripp. He lived at Ganwick Corner near Potters Bar and was a pupil during the 1930s. After the war he wrote The Eighth Passenger - a personal account of his experiences as a bomber aimer in Lancaster 'A-Able' in the night skies over Germany. In the book he details his attempt to locate his fellow crew members after the war and find out in retrospect what they thought about what they done. Although sometimes appalled by the destruction they had brought about the crew's general feeling was that at the time the bombing campaign was the only way of striking back at the enemy and it had to be done even though 55,000 young men died doing it.
The other man who visited Q.E came only once. He was neo-Nazi, anti-Semitic and Holocaust denier David Irving, who visited the school in the early '60s to promote his dubious book The Destruction of Dresden and to harangue the 6th form about the morality of the bombing of the city, an event that he described as "indefensible and criminal".
It is easy in hindsight to look back in judgement on the morality of war. Certainly after the bombing of London, Coventry, Manchester and a dozen other cities the British were happy to see Germany getting a dose of the same medicine,! even though after it was all over and they saw just how badly Germany had been bombed they turned their backs on Bomber Command. All I know is that the young men who flew those planes were brave and determined to destroy Hitler and everything he stood for. Miles Tripp was one of those men and he went to our school and I wish that he could have been in the school hall the day that the fascist Irving visited!
This story of a bomber crew flying through darkness and flak over Hamburg, Essen, Cologne, Dresden and Berlin, and always accompanied by an eighth passenger - fear - makes compulsive reading.
(From a review of The Eighth Passenger}
This photograph shows Miles Tripp and his crew on completion of operations, 11th March 1945.
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Most recent reply to this thread: 15 January 2017
NAME: Vic Coughtrey
DATE: 12 April 2014
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1954-59
Many of you will have seen the recent article on QE in The Independent. It would be interesting to have your comments. ("Your" meaning anyone at all visiting this site.)
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Most recent reply to this thread: 29 June 2016
NAME: Nick Dean
DATE: 06 April 2014
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1964-71
Curious piece in The Times by Giles Coren (5 April) about things the Queen has never done. These include (and I quote) "She has never said: 'No, honestly, I wasn't at East Barnet Grammar School in the Thirties. I truly don't think we know each other'". It turns out that, although Coren and his sister Victoria both went to independent schools, their late father Alan Coren was at East Barnet. In fact, I seem to recall the latter mentioning in an article how, when living in Potters Bar, he used to drive to Barnet every Saturday just to buy a seedy plait loaf from Victoria Bakery (something still I do myself, though less frequently and from further north).
This all reminded me that what the Queen did do was visit QE Girls in the 1950s, and I distinctly remember Grahame Morris telling us (in the late '60s) that this was assumed to have been for the purpose of deciding whether it would be a suitable place to educate Princess Anne. (Evidently not, as she went to Benenden.) This may also have been the occasion on which Boris expressed surprise that a school of such antiquity as our own had produced so few people of real distinction (by which I suppose he meant truly national figures). In the '60s I would have been aware of two VCs and an Archbishop of Tuam (Broughton), but the latter is maybe stretching a point and I didn't know where Tuam was (Co Galway, actually). Am I missing anyone (apart from the mixed bag on Wikipedia, that is)?
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Most recent reply to this thread: 22 August 2017
NAME: Martin Reeves
DATE: 13 March 2014
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1960-1965
I can offer some information on the third and fourth photos in the Biology School Trips early 60's section of the museum. Both photos were taken in April/May 1964 by Eric Crofts. The fourth photo from the left was taken on the promenade at Borth, a few miles up the coast from Aberystwyth. We were staying at the Borth Youth Hostel and I remember it very well because the pub along the road from the Hostel is where I had my first ever pub pint. I can name all my fellow pupils in Lower 6th Biology (L6B) but not all those in Upper 6th Biology & 7th Biology (U6B/7B).
NOTE FROM VIC: Many thanks for all the names you originally listed in your message, Martin. I've left them out because they have now all been added to the relevant photo captions.
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Most recent reply to this thread: 29 May 2014
NAME: Ken Pegden
DATE: 06 Febuary 2014
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 55-58
I came to QE from Letchworth Grammar which was a bit like moving from Hartlepool Utd to Manchester Utd (due respect to Hartlepool). The two and a bit years there were a struggle for me, I was in Stapylton with Mr Covington as House Master who saw fit to cane me twice, deserved I hasten to add. Two teachers I remember for different reasons were Eric Shearly who gave me a love of rugby and Mr Strickland gave added nothing to my young life. I remember Founders days and playing cricket and rugby for my year. In 58 at the end of the Summer term I walked out probably to the delight of most of my teachers. I entered the RAF as a Trenchard Brat and became an airframe fitter. Now at 73 I realise I did not make the most of my time at QE but in my defence I did start a long way behind, Kind regards to all OE's and present pupils.
NOTE FROM VIC: You can look up 'Cov' and Strickland and very many other former staff members in the list. You can also try the newly reinstated internal search engine (very top of page).
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Most recent reply to this thread: 12 April 2014
NAME: James (Jas) Cowen
DATE: 04 Febuary 2014
CONNECTION WITH QE: pupil 56-63
Interesting idea is this 'Then and Now' theme. I wonder if it will take off? But come on all - prove me wrong! Of course from my local neighbouring town, Andover, came the Frith postcards and books of England then and now throughout the realm. I have got a main book and address book at home based on this.
This theme of 'Then and Now' does appear a lot in local and indeed national papers. I would only find it interesting as regards other places such as Andover if I had lived there for as many years as most Andoverians. A book I have of Ludgershall past scenes I still do find interesting as of more relevance to me. There used to be a village pond outside where we live by the Crown pub. Scenes of the railway in Ludgershall and the country beyond I always find interesting and have a few photos on those lines in various books.
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Most recent reply to this thread: 19 February 2014
NAME: Vic Coughtrey
DATE: 02 February 2014
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1954-59
Did anyone else see The Grammar School: a Secret History on BBC4? Unfortunately, I missed the first episode and it's no longer on I-Player. Episode 2 will be on I-player for a few more days. Plenty of material for discussion, dissent, agreement and nostalgia there! Not sure what's so secret about it all, though.
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Most recent reply to this thread: 09 February 2014
NAME: James (Jas) Cowen
DATE: 21 January 2014
CONNECTION WITH QE: pupil 56-63
I note that Barrie Martin, the chairman of the school governors and an honorary member of the OE Association, has been awarded an MBE for services to education in the latest New Year Honours list. Over the years he has put in a lot of effort in this and other positions and I enjoyed talking with him at the last two Annual Dinners. I recall he was mentioned elsewhere on the site.
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Most recent reply to this thread: 16 September 2014
NAME: Martyn Day
DATE: 13 December 2013
CONNECTION WITH QE: Inmate 1956-1963
Following my modest contribution to this year's Careers Convention the headmaster has just sent me a Christmas card featuring this rather fine photograph of the school taken in winter. I wonder what my old housemaster Frosty would have thought of it?
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Most recent reply to this thread: 03 January 2014
NAME: David Jeavons
DATE: 23 November 2013
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1959 to 1966
Reference the Underne House photo, it says 1960 or 61 but I feel it may be a bit later, say 62? Anyway, some more identification. That's myself sat directly in front of Poker with Johnny Wintle to my right with FA Cup ears. 3rd from the left Back Row is Ross Kent and 15th and 16th in the same row are Steve Matthews and Johnny Bass. 4th from left 2nd row down Larry Girling? I agree with Gordon Hassell that 11th from the right, Back Row, is Tony Herbert (now deceased) with his twin brother 6th from the right, front row. 3rd from the right, back row, Larry Girling? One of them is him! 8th from the right, 2nd row down, Peter Vokes. 10th and 11th from the right, same row, my brother Bill Jeavons (sadly deceased) and Eddie Owens. 7th from the right bottom row is Andy Deacon.
Regarding the Stapylton photo 1960: 2nd row from front, seated L to R, 9th, 10th & 11th are Rick Bayman, Brian Freshwater & Chris Opperman. Front Row, seated R to L, 9th is Roger Edrupt.
NOTE FROM VIC: Many thanks, David. As you will see, I've now updated the captions accordingly.
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Most recent reply to this thread: 08 January 2014
NAME: Mike Coleman
DATE: 03 November 2013
CONNECTION WITH QE: Stapylton 1956 - 1963
This may be of interest ...
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Most recent reply to this thread: 14 December 2013
NAME: Adam Lines
DATE: 26 October 2013
CONNECTION WITH QE: Inmate 1957-64
May I be the first to congratulate Jas Cowen as he moves into the lead with the number of threads started (22) and for the number of responses to others (47) in this most worthy organ. He has with consummate ease exceeded the numerous nuggets of delight offered over the last 10 years by such as Messrs Wood, Giles, Dean and indeed our esteemed Webmaster and all in a little over a year. Would that I had such recall and the time to contribute.
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Most recent reply to this thread: 19 December 2013
NAME: James (Jas) Cowen
DATE: 20 October 2013
CONNECTION WITH QE: pupil 56-63
I am glad that the Founders Day service there is still a reading of 1 Corinthians 13 on Love. It is in my opinion good that with all the differing ethnic background of pupils and other religous views there are still Christian readings and especially 1 Corinthians 13 on Love. Henry Drummond's sermon on The Greatest Thing In the World as I have remarked before is well worth reading and indeed re-reading. My wife put up on the fridge a modern version. It reads: 'Love never gives up/Love cares more for others than for self/Love doesn't want what it doesn't have/Love doesn't strut/Doesn't have a swelled head/Doesn't force itself on others/Isn't always "me first"/Doesn't fly off the handle/Always looks for the best/Never looks back/Love keeps going to the end'. I do like to read it and try to put it all in to actual practice and would recommend it to others.
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NAME: Gerry Hunt
DATE: 13 October 2013
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1954-1961
OEs who knew him will be sad to hear that Chris Martin (school captain 1961-2) passed away on 7th October. Chris and I knew each other from when we were two years old and went through QE together, with a short period in the highly sought after role of joint secretaries of the stamp club and latterly suffering double classics lessons with Tiger, before going our separate ways. We reunited, now with families of our own, in the early 1970s in the west of England, and often reminisced about the old place, him with more positive memories than me!
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Most recent reply to this thread: 16 October 2013
NAME: James (Jas) Cowen
DATE: 18 September 2013
CONNECTION WITH QE: pupil 56-63
I recently received notification from the OE Association that the OE cricket team was in the final of the Herts cup this year playing Shenley at Radlett cricket club and all were encouraged to go and support the team. I was not going to go as it was the same day as Rex Wingfield's memorial service at Bury St Edmunds, which in the end I was also unable to get to. I expect to hear shortly how they got on but thought maybe a new thread could be started to celebrate the OE's cricket teams and maybe OE's other cricket experience elsewhere since leaving school,and possibly also thoughts on cricket generally. I have myself played the game many times since finishing at uni. Recently in a game for family and others organized by my nephew Philip I was amazed that I could still bowl the full length of the pitch, which today seems enormous, and actually bowl someone out. I also scored some runs, a feat I found difficult to do when at school.
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Most recent reply to this thread: 17 March 2014
NAME: James (Jas) Cowen
DATE: 16 September 2013
CONNECTION WITH QE: pupil 56-63
I was interested in Bruce Garvey's aside remark in Thread 133 concerning the whereabouts of their history guru Hugh Dent and whether he ended as an Oxford professor. As you wish to keep Thread 133, Vic, for entries relating to Winkie specifically, I'm stating this new thread to enquire about the careerr of various OEs to date. I note on the internet that a certain Hugh Dent MBE appeared at the Oxford University alumni weekend of 2011 along with various others to discuss the issue of equality and diversity within the University. I suspect that he is a don or an ex‑don. Of course Hugh Dent is one of the people on the OU honours board in the school hall that won an Open Exhibition in Modern History in 1964. Four others are there for 1964 as winning exhibitions or scholarships. Perhaps they could all come to an OE Annual Dinner and relish again seeing their names on the honours board as well as talking about their lives to date since leaving.
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Most recent reply to this thread: 18 September 2013
NAME: Andrew Hersom
DATE: 09 September 2013
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1960 - 1968
There were [in the 1960s] some first-rate, highly talented teachers who deserve more than an honourable mention; I would highlight DW Fairbairn (physics), NF Gerrard (chemistry), K Townsend (maths), JA Curry (languages), NA Kobish (classics) and Mr Patterson (geography). Neil Gerrard only stayed three years, leaving to teach in a college in London, then becoming a councillor and ultimately a Labour MP. One excellent English teacher (c1963) whose name escapes me came from, I think, Rhodesia. Rumour had it that he went back after about a year because he couldn't get/afford servants in the UK!
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Most recent reply to this thread: 18 August 2017
NAME: Charles Baker
DATE: 19 August 2013
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1960-67
The recent email from the old boys' association about Rex Wingfield led me to Google him (sorry about that awful term) and this led me to this website. I attended QE2 from about 1960-1967 and the "about" is a clue to the fact that, unlike most of your contributors, I seem to have a very poor memory of those days. So it has been a great pleasure to read the various posts and other content. I'm hoping that gradually more things will come back to me and maybe I can contribute something to your excellent archive of reminiscences. Just for starters I now remember giving up rugby and cricket when I got to the Sixth Form and taking up Eton Fives which I played enthusiastically for several years, usually with my friend John Bradley. I still have the yellow leather gloves today! I was in Broughton House under the fearful Tiger Timson and ended up (I think?) as house captain and a subprefect, neither of which honours I enjoyed. Probably the main influence on my later career was due to K.W. (Ken) Carter, an excellent linguist. For some reason he got me interested in learning Russian and, by staying one lesson ahead of me in his own study of the language, got me through O Level Russian in one year! I later read German and Russian at Uni. My biggest regret is not keeping contact with Ken and worse still, not returning to him a book about Kruschev he had lent me and asked for back on several occasions. But by then I was an uncaring undergrad and QE was just history.
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Most recent reply to this thread: 09 October 2016
NAME: Vic Coughtrey
DATE: 17 August 2013
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1954-59
Many of you who were at the school in the 1950s and early '60s will already have heard of the death, on 28th July, of Rex 'Winkie' Wingfield, who taught Latin and Ancient Greek there from 1949-62. I've already expressed my fond memories of Winkie both in the caption to the photo of him in the 'museum' and on my personal site. He has also been the subject of a fair bit of the reminiscing about former masters to be found on this site and I hope that news of his passing will prompt more of your recollections. I'm glad he made it to the age of 88 and I hope his 51 years of life after leaving QE were happy and fulfilling ones.
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Most recent reply to this thread: 07 September 2016
NAME: Max Dyson
DATE: 16 August 2013
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 65-72
I am looking for a photo I think was in The Daily Telegraph in about 1975 showing the OEs extra 15 with the oldest front row in England still playing - Bodger, Jack and John Fuller maybe - any ideas?
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NAME: James (Jas) Cowen
DATE: 28 July 2013
CONNECTION WITH QE: pupil 56-63
Having recently received again a newsletter from both my Cambridge college (The Sidney Sussex Phaeon) and the University (The Cam Newsletter) free of charge I wonder if the school should have adopted a similar name and address database and encouraged old scholars to let them know any changes of address. Most people seem to let my old college know and this clearly is also passed on to the University. I know this costs some money but there are always separate fundraising efforts both directly and indirectly by charging for reunion events. One can always join the OES but maybe many were put off from doing this like me for thinking it was just for sportsmen who wished to carry on playing rugger and/or cricket and at one time also athletics for the OEs. Once they also had a tennis section and now have a golf section. If there was such a database it would be possible to target classes of OEs such as the 1962 joiners or 1963 leavers to come to dinners.
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Most recent reply to this thread: 14 January 2014
NAME: Vic Coughtrey
DATE: 06 June 2013
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1954-59
I've received news of the death of Mary Alford on 24th May in Southampton, at the age of 84.
As many of you will know, she was school secretary of QE for 17 years until her retirement in 1982. Her late husband, Sid 'Alfie' (or 'Olie') Alford taught English, maths, Latin and history at QE from 1947 to 1982.
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Most recent reply to this thread: 12 June 2013
NAME: Roger Nolan
DATE: 01 June 2013
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1960 to 1967
They say that everyone can remember where they were when Kennedy was assassinated. Well I and my parents were at the school's annual hobbies exhibition when the father of two fellow pupils, Laurence and Paul Newman came over to my father (they were friends and colleagues) and told him Kennedy had been shot. I wonder if anyone else was at that hobbies exhibition on 22nd November 1963.
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Most recent reply to this thread: 19 June 2013
NAME: Vic Coughtrey
DATE: 29 May 2013
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1954-59
This thread is exclusively about RM 'Sam' C0cks, who taught Geography, history and Scripture at QE from 1940-70 (except for 1942-47). Such was the impression he made on boys of that era, he is probably the former member of staff most discussed on this site. He died not long after his retirement, and therefore couldn't possibly have imagined himself as the subject of discussion on the screen in front of you. Given that the memories of most of our contributors from that era (including my own) are not altogether kind to the man, it may be wondered if the setting up of this special thread was the right thing to do. I think it was. Teachers of children should understand the life-long impressions they are making on their charges and should be prepared for the memories, fond or otherwise, to linger long after them.
On the first page of this thread is a selection of comments from contributors to this site over the past five years or so. Most are just extracts from the original messages. You are welcome to treat this like any other thread by adding replies but please don't deviate from the subject of Sam C0cks. If you do, I'll simply edit out the bits that are not about him. Of course, you can still submit replies about or partially about RMC in any other relevant thread and extracts from them could turn up here.
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Most recent reply to this thread: 31 January 2017
NAME: Richard Clarke
DATE: 23 May 2013
CONNECTION WITH QE: inmate 57-63
What a brilliant site - just come across it, feel I have to say something but not sure what so I'm adding this as a new thread. First my grouse: selective education and the grammar school system are absolutely and appallingly indefensible. My brother Pete is twenty times brighter than me but 'failed' the 11+, so had to take buses to East Barnet (I could walk just around the corner to QE). Ditto single-sex education: my own kids went to mixed inner-London comprehensives, and have turned out much better adjusted citizens. QE though did a great job of turning out disaffected rebels.
Having got that off my chest, I do have some fond memories of QE and of quite a few of the contributors to the site. Great to see so many of us are still around. And although some of the staff were pretty grim (S C0cks, Poker Pearce - though I may have tested his Christian charity by declaring myself an atheist) I felt most weren't too bad, just a bit remote.
Biggest influence? Has to be Eric Crofts, a brilliant, inspirational teacher who turned me on to biology, and is largely responsible for what I've been doing over the past fifty years (if anyone's interested, see summary here. It was because of Eric that I went to Aberystwyth, (as did Ray Johnstone fourth from Left in the chequered cap in the 1963 Biology field trip photo [see under 'biology trips' in 'School Trips'], though we didn't meet much - he was into beer, me into more esoteric substances). The link was one of Eric's colleagues, Prof of Zoology (but I can't remember his name). He's the gentleman right-centre in the middle photograph of Chris Mungovan's photos, 2nd from right front row of the right-hand photo and 3rd from left front row of the photo next to it (I'm the one in the hat standing behind him).
Eric came to see me in Aber just before he left QE for the National Trust with a view to my applying for his job ! I'd already done a year's teaching and was living with my girlfriend in a remote farmhouse with a (North) Vietnam flag on the gatepost. He stayed overnight with us and we chatted but I heard no more about the job, a stroke of luck I think, 'cos I'd have made a lousy teacher and certainly wouldn't have wanted to return to work in my old school. I also owe Eric for the early am weekly chamber music rehearsals in the biology lab - he played oboe or bassoon and I was one of a couple of clarinets. Can't remember who the others or their instruments were. Eric came to our house in London some time before his death in 2008. Here's an anecdote: on one of those early '60s trips to Wales he stopped our minibus to pick up two young women hitch-hikers who travelled and stayed with us at least one night in the Bangor YHA. I guess we thought it was a bit daring then but looking back I think it was just another mark of what a cool geezer he was. Anyhow I owe him a lot.
Re music, we had a (mainstream?) jazz group for a while, 'Al Pine and the Horns'. I played very bad tenor sax (still have it). Al Pine was our pianist but I can't remember his real name. As I recollect we only played a couple of public gigs and the real musicians had their own groups elsewhere. I always wanted a baritone like Bruce Garvey so I could play Gerry Mulligan. Ned Calverd played string bass - I met him playing bass in a pub in the mid-'70s and we saw a fair bit of each other but then lost touch.
Tim Edwards came to QE in my last year I think. I met him a few times subsequently in an entirely different context altogether and he said he had an awful job trying to pull the school into the C20th in the face of opposition from the old guard. I'm sad if the school has reverted to some of its old ways.
Weird how memories come back, must be age. Again, great to see how many of you/us are still around. Keep posting till you pass on!
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Most recent reply to this thread: 27 January 2014
NAME: James (Jas) Cowen
DATE: 15 May 2013
CONNECTION WITH QE: pupil 56-63
I was sitting next to an OE (DE Jenkins) at the most recent 40 Club Dinner who commented in regard to athletics that pupils at the school were only running the same times and reaching the same height and distance standards he understands, as many years ago. Can this be true? Does anyone know authoritatively? It would seem surprising given the vast improvement in times and standards in international athletics. There again, EHJ's book An Elizabethan Headmaster 1930- 1961 records athletic records at the time of writing and JF Lockwood (1937/38) still held the records for 100 yards, 220 yards and quarter mile as well as the long jump and Eric Shearley (1939) for the half mile. The most recent record was WS Brown for the high jump in 1960.
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NAME: Steve Lucas
DATE: 13 May 2013
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1964-71 (Leicester)
Happened to chance upon this website! On the matter of teachers... There was also: A Miss Apple who taught Maths in the 60s - always absolutely covered in chalk dust. A Miss Wimpress (mid 60s), who taught Geometry to 1st and 2nd years, Scripture to 2nd years and Poetry to any 3rd years who would listen (none actually). A Mr Fox (Neil?) who taught Maths (very well) in the late 60s/early 70s and who also managed the building of sets for the school play during that period. A Mr Fairclough who taught woodwork when Mr Gould moved on to greater things. Fairclough was a bit of a brute and whacked people with half inch dowelling if they had transgressed what was a very low tolerance level. A Mr Boot who took over Eric Crofts' post (Biology/Zoology/Botany) when Eric left to go and work for the National Trust. Boot lasted about a year and could not control classes at all. Eric Shearly had to intervene once when Boot's class made so much noise that ES heard it all the way over the other side of the back playground. (I confess to being part of those decibels).
Of teachers already discussed on this site: Mr Gould also taught Psychology (yes, really) for a short experimental period when I was in the Upper 6. Jordan taught English. Kobish taught me Maths and also Ancient History - a strange mix perhaps but he was a good teacher. He was N. A. Kobish if memory serves. Wright was known as 'Taffy' (being Welsh; little imagination from the Boys!). In my year Mr Fry was known as 'Frizz' (combination of name and occasionally unruly hair). Sam C0cks taught History and Scripture as well as Geography - he was my form master for 2 years in Room U. A pupil called Richard Traub bought a pair of Sam's trousers at a jumble sale and they measured 56 inches around the waist (presumably he had outgrown them!). Sam once wrote for one boy on his end of term report for Geography, "He does well to find his way home". Sid Clark was, I believe, a reserve for the GB team for the Rome Olympics (shot putt obviously!). Lowe (I think it was David Lowe) taught a bit of Physics as well as Chemistry. My fondest memory of Tiger Timpson was at a Past v Present Rugby match where he arrived bout 20 minutes late and asked a group of us what the score was. Someone said "Nil-nil, Sir", to which he replied "Already?" We stopped wearing School caps in either '67 or '68, can't remember which but it did coincide with Saturday school ending.
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Most recent reply to this thread: 20 June 2016
NAME: James (Jas) Cowen
DATE: 25 April 2013
CONNECTION WITH QE: pupil 56-63
In the latest copy of The Elizabethan, the newsletter of the OEs (Barnet) Association, which I received at home, it states that Philippa Flint at the School has unearthed a copy of the School Song in the archives. She asks if any OES have any knowledge of the song and in particular what the chorus and tune it was sung to and why it went out of favour. I pass this on to this site in case there are readers not members of the Association who may know more.
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Most recent reply to this thread: 03 July 2013
NAME: James (Jas) Cowen
DATE: 20 April 2013
CONNECTION WITH QE: pupil 56-63
I was interested to see the new photo addition to the site, of the football players of 1961 including at least 3 ex-Harrisons guys (Messrs Tarry, Woodford and Newton). I too remember 1 unofficial soccer game in which I played, possibly it was an inter form battle. Perhaps others may recall the occasion. I remember Brian Pettit urging me as left back to hit or head the ball out of touch whenever being attacked. I have enjoyed many soccer games since leaving school and had advanced to the degree of keeping the ball on the pitch and passing the ball. I remember Russell Harty, the TV presenter, saying that he was always last to be picked in the side allocations and the picker saying "Do we have to have Harty? We had him last week." I fear I was usually almost in that role myself in the early days. But I did improve.
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NAME: Nick Dean
DATE: 09 April 2013
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1964-71
I see that the news of Margaret Thatcher's passing was announced by T Bell (OE).
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Most recent reply to this thread: 29 October 2014
NAME: Martyn Day
DATE: 28 March 2013
CONNECTION WITH QE: Inmate 1956-1963
These are the Trekkas and I'm in the middle. The year is 1966 and I had been out of QE for 3 years. Jenkins didn't think that I was cut out for Oxford or Cambridge so I was then working as an Assistant Film Editor above a strip club cum knocking-shop in Soho. Now that was an education you don't get at university! The band had just released its first single Please Go which had managed to climb to 35 in the Radio London Fab 40 and I thought that I was the dog's doings!
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Most recent reply to this thread: 06 June 2013
NAME: Vic Coughtrey
DATE: 15 March 2013
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1954-59
Someone has already pointed out on this site that the unimportant is at least as important as the important (only he, as a man evidently lucky enough to lack a philosophy degree, was able to step nimbly over the mantrap of paradox and into the realm of intelligibility). Well, in order to further the cause of essential triviality, I would like to set a little challenge. I can't recall anything having been said so far on this site about those daft adolescent catch-phrases , employed by QE boys ad nauseam (in the 1950s, anyway). They can be strongly evocative. Until recently, I could remember several but the only publishable one that comes to mind at the moment is "Oh, is the most !" (or just "Oh, is !"). It was initially intended to express contempt for some assertion you thought silly or to imply that someone was lying, but at the height of its popularity (can't remember exactly when that was) it had become the obligatory response to any statement whatsoever by a fellow-pupil. If I remember rightly, only one catch-phrase would be current at any one time, each lasting no longer than a term. No doubt the source of some was The Goon Show. How many can you remember? (Naturally, I'll only publish those suitable for such an august organ - you're welcome to send me others privately). Subject to the same constraint, current students are welcome to inform us of the present-day favourite.
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Most recent reply to this thread: 23 March 2014
NAME: Austin
DATE: 05 March 2013
CONNECTION WITH QE: 2013 parent
I don't understand the idleness being displayed on this site by overgrown babies who left the school 50 years ago. Nobody has forced anyone to send their boys to this school. My son was offered places at top independent schools, I have enough cash to pay his 7 years upfront but I chose QE because whilst it probably not as good as some of the schools we turned down, the gap is nowhere near £15K per year. I would urge some of you idlers to get a life.
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Most recent reply to this thread: 16 March 2013
NAME: Nick Dean
DATE: 28 February 2013
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1964-71
I was sorry to see from an OE round robin that Adrian Milne (1962-69) had passed away. I believe he was active in OE sport and so others may have memories to share. For myself, I remember him for one specific reason. He was captain of Harrisons cricket the first time I played for the house team - in about the 4th or 5th form - and at one point (many years, of course, before helmets) he invited me to field at Extremely Slly Mid On. I clearly looked a bit sceptical because he resorted to geometric semaphore to explain very earnestly how it was impossible to be hit standing in that precise position. (Did this mean it was difficult also to stop or catch a ball?) I was not hit and I've never forgotten that conversation, but I fear I didn't quite believe the thesis presented to me!
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Most recent reply to this thread: 16 April 2014
NAME: James (Jas) Cowen
DATE: 22 February 2013
CONNECTION WITH QE: pupil 56-63
On recently perusing the Harrisons House section (p.14) of the Dec 1960 Elizabethan on the site I was intrigued to see one entry, which said "RC Vice continues to garden." I cannot now recall who RC Vice was, if I ever knew in the first place but am interested to know what sort of gardening this was and why it was noteworthy of special mention. Perhaps some others or Master Vice himself can say if still alive. I do not recall much of gardens at school except for a few rose beds, which I remember being in a party weeding after A Levels had finished. I remember feeling dizzy after all the bending down. After leaving school I had a series of garden jobs pre-university working in gardens down Barham Avenue in Borehamwood as well as some in Potters Bar. I worked first in one and was recommended to others. Nowadays at home I am merely the under gardener to my wife and mainly just cut the grass.
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Most recent reply to this thread: 05 March 2013
NAME: 区宇煌 (Yǔhuáng Oü)
DATE: 15 February 2013
CONNECTION WITH QE: Form 9S Student
Hello, I'm from China and I am currently a student at QE. I have recently discovered a sheet of work dating back to 1966 in an Art lesson where we were allowed to cut apart old books which had dated back to 1950/1960 and a piece of paper had fallen from a book; at first I believed that it was only written a few years ago (I read the back first which had talked about the Green Belt) until I turned the piece of paper around to find the date to be 8/7/66, the sheet had also yellowed. I was wondering if anyone knows who A.J. Britten was and what 4A meant?
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Most recent reply to this thread: 20 June 2016
NAME: James (Jas) Cowen
DATE: 13 February 2013
CONNECTION WITH QE: pupil 56-63
Watching the rugby 6 nations matches over the last 2 weekends and particularly the rain swept match in Ireland between Ireland and England I am reminded of all those rugger matches we played down Galley Lane, especially those in the pouring rain. I remember I had to take such muddy clothes home to wash but my Dad was used to it I suppose as weekend visits to railway sheds and clambering on and around those steam engines got me pretty filthy. Were we mad to fling ourseves at others in tackles risking life and limb just like soldiers in to battle? As I now play indoors badminton and table tennis I think to myself how crazy that other outside world seems today. The world of cricket with a hard red ball hurled at one whilst batting seems even more barmy.
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Most recent reply to this thread: 29 May 2013
NAME: Martyn Day
DATE: 05 February 2013
CONNECTION WITH QE: Inmate 1956-1963
Does anyone remember the dead cat in the tree? At the back of Mr Mayes lodge on the drive into Q.E was a row of tall poplar trees. Caught up in the branches at the very top of one of these trees was a grim looking bundle of fur and bone that was apparently a dead cat. The story was the fire brigade couldn't or wouldn't come to rescue it so it was either left to die or shot! The corpse was there when I joined the school in 1956 and it was still there, gently rotting, when I left in 1963. When I went back to the school last year the puss and the poplar tree had both gone.
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Most recent reply to this thread: 16 July 2015
NAME: Anon
DATE: 25 January 2013
CONNECTION WITH QE: inmate 1957-64
Further to the recent commendable trend whereby ex QE inmates expose the full extent of their facial atrophy to former colleagues, herewith a pic of yours truly. I've asked for this message to be published as 'Anon' as I have a small wager with my wife that none of my class mates will be able to put a name to the pic!
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Most recent reply to this thread: 01 February 2013
NAME: Stephen Giles
DATE: 18 January 2013
CONNECTION WITH QE: inmate 1957-64
I have never seen so much fuss made over snowfall in the UK as in the media this week. I remember the bad winter of 1963 (was it?) when we walked to school from Borehamwood, and QE never closed - but of course we never had all this Health and Safety nonsense then !!!
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Most recent reply to this thread: 15 May 2014
NAME: Martyn Day
DATE: 05 January 2013
CONNECTION WITH QE: Inmate 1956-1963
THE MYSTERY OF THE GREY FLANNEL SUIT.
In 1960, when I was 15 years old, my mother gave me a second hand grey flannel suit and told me to wear it to school. I was shocked! What? Me wear something that wasn't proper school uniform? Never! I checked the school brochure and to my dismay discovered that there was nothing in the rules that said I couldn't wear a grey flannel suit. In fact there was nothing in the rules that said I couldn't wear a silk cocktail dress and slingbacks. So for the following few terms I dragged myself shamefacedly to school in a second hand grey flannel suit imagining myself to be the only boy on the block to be so attired. A sartorial leper! But not so. Looking at the house photographs I now discover that G.F.S wearers formed between a quarter and a third of the total school population which is a revelation! Some of them are not even wearing proper school ties! Am I the only one to have felt so embarrassed and ashamed ? or is there something else in my psyche that needs checking out?
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Most recent reply to this thread: 05 December 2013
You can still reply to them. No thread is ever out of date on this website.