14 minute read
Briefings
Pauline Memories
Nicholas Parsons – you have Just a Minute on your time at St Paul’s
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Paul Ganjou (1960-65) met Nicholas Parsons CBE (1937-39) in the last year of Nicholas’ long life. They talked about his time at School.
The happiest days: ‘there is an old saying “School days are the happiest days of your life” and this was certainly true of my time at St Paul’s and Colet Court (St Paul’s Junior School). I was usually the last boy in the playground to catch the tram home, which was then in Clapham. Later we moved to Hampstead and then it was just a short walk from Olympia and the number 28 bus – much easier.’
Teachers: ‘I have a theory that those who take up teaching as a profession either do so because it appeals as a pleasant job, or they are committed to passing on knowledge and learning. I was fortunate enough to have 3 teachers with this latter gift – all classics masters so I happen to excel at Latin and Greek.’ ‘Tommy’: ‘In my final year, before I was moved away from the school early, dictated by the outbreak of war, I was taught by TL ‘Tommy’ Martin, as he was affectionately known by all. He was a slightly larger than life character of corpulent build, but had a real gift for teaching and imbuing his pupils with a desire to learn. I often think that whatever self-education I may have acquired since that the foundations were laid by this exceptional teacher and I still remember him with great affection.’
Sport: ‘I am not an academic; my great love is sport and my two schools gave me the chance to express myself in various activities, including cricket and fives and rugby. It was the latter game where I excelled and I was selected to play for the 2nd XV when I was only 15 and then for Glasgow University and reached a very high standard.’
Boxing: ‘I also boxed – as did most boys at the school – under an amazing teacher called Bo Langham. St Paul’s was then the premier boxing school in the country and the 1st Team often beat Sandhurst.’
Paul Ganjou was at School 21 years later and was also taught to box by Bo Langham. Both he and Nicholas won boxing ‘Colours’ and shared 2 other coaches – Bill Williams and ‘Buster’ Read, both ex-pro boxers.
WW Cruikshank
(Master 1947-73)
Wally Cruickshank was part of a double act. Whereas Pat Cotter was almost always clearly in view, open for business, Cruickshank was the introvert.
This did not prevent him from exercising a profound influence on my generation of classicists. He habitually looked serious and cautious. Boys approached him with care. Yet underlying his aura was a determination to help us succeed and there was a delicate humour that was very winning when it was carefully teased out.
His voice was unusual. It was guttural and his r’s were elusive, sometimes almost disappearing. Occasionally I paid so much attention to how he was speaking that I missed what he was saying. This led to embarrassment.
He was strongly influenced by his wartime experiences and his military life. He had the gift of natural control over his class, reinforced by glowering eyebrows and a luxuriant moustache, which earned him the nickname ‘Fuzzybristle’. (A few also referred to him as ‘Crookers’ but that was less common.) He realised that control in itself was not enough. It had to be combined with politeness, encouragement and an eagerness to offer new angles to inspire attention and interest.
Referring to wars in ancient history he once demanded, “What made some countries or city-states stronger than others?” Some of us suggested superior weaponry, tactics, or Spartan upbringing. He nodded politely. Those were the aspects favoured by Livy, Herodotus and other historians. But “portable protein” which could last longer than a campaign or a siege was the answer he proposed. Cheese that had a long wallet-life made all the difference. Famished troops could be swept aside. This unromantic but pragmatic opinion caught our imagination. He pointed out that ‘Kraft’ was a very appropriate brand name- thinking of what that meant in German. His humorous remarks were never flashy. His eyes twinkled, his moustache quivered, but he rarely laughed aloud. He could be very entertaining, but strictly on his own terms.
One of his preferred approaches towards somewhat smug Pauline classicists was to make seemingly impossible demands on our versatility. In those days translating English poetry into Latin verse composition was expected of all classicists regularly, every two weeks with a week for Greek verse in between. Once he proposed a poem by Robert Fuller Murray that begins:
He brought a team from Inversnaid To play our Third Fifteen...
He smiled at the combination of horror and bewilderment on our faces. A classmate whispered to me, “Did Virgil ever play rugby?”
This improbable task was one of many he conceived to correct incipient over-confidence and to make us prepared for anything when aiming at a university scholarship.
He was a devout defender of the English language. This was a losing battle, I am sure he realized. Yet he urged us to fight on. Classicists, he felt were one of the last important bastions.
Once he looked at our class as if rallying troops in time of war. We were translating some Pliny aloud, one by one. Somebody used the word “chided”. Cruickshank intervened. “Excuse me,” he said. “The correct form is ‘chid’.” The old past tense was to be used whenever appropriate. Its fate was in the balance and it needed our protection. Similarly – sped and bled. Even at the expense of sounding a tad archaic.
He warned us against neologisms of any kind. He accepted that as scientific knowledge increased, suitable new identifications were inevitable. But as classicists our task was to play defence.
When I played for the 3rd XV Cruickshank was its coach. He somehow guided our not very talented crew towards winning some matches. This he achieved mainly by applauding things we managed to do right. He could also be sly. One Friday we were roped into a futile mini-match against the 1st XV. I was playing hooker and he tapped me on the shoulder before a scrum. “Tell the others, this time hold it in front and wheel left,” he ordered. “You might surprise them.” We did. It worked and we scored a try, which was instantly disallowed so as not to demoralise the 1st XV. Cruickshank smiled quietly. He never crowed. He remained in his private space. Over time we appreciated and learnt from that.
Pauline Music Pauline Books
Fearful Symmetry
Jeremy Shotts (1968-1972) shortly after his 64th birthday, along with his supremely musically talented cousin Suzi James and collectively known as 'Fearful Symmetry' released his first album. It is in the progressive rock style of the late 60s/early 70s but with more recent influences too – inspired by and dedicated to the Life and Works of William Blake. It is called 'Louder than Words'. To the band’s surprise and delight the album has been universally well received in the world of 'progrock' enthusiasts.
Summer Serenades
OP violinist, director and conductor Adrian Butterfield (1978-83) has a series of summer concerts lined up for the Tilford Bach Festival of which he is Musical Director. The Festival will be held at All Saints’ Church, in the pretty wooded village of Tilford, near Farnham in SW Surrey, and will run from 5-7 June. Highlights will include virtuoso concertos by Bach, Vivaldi and Leclair, played by the London Handel Players; Baroque violin students from the Royal College of Music performing a selection of movements from Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin; J S Bach Mass in B minor BWV 232 with the Pegasus Choir; and Bach’s comic operas, again with the London Handel Players.
On Saturday 13 June, Adrian will be performing concertos by Bach, Telemann, Handel and Vivaldi, including Brandenburgs 4 and 5 and the Bach Double with the London Handel Players at Wendover Music, Buckinghamshire.
See adrianbutterfield.com/diary for more details given current uncertainties.
Bruce Howitt The End of Terror
Bruce Howitt’s (1952-56) first novel was published in November 2019. After school, Bruce emigrated to Canada attending McGill University. Following a successful business career, he semi-retired in 2015 to focus on his writing and family.
The End of Terror is the account of how a small group of skilful and determined men and women counter a terrorist threat.
Josh Morris’ (1987-92) journey to being a novelist has been a winding one. Days from starting law school in 1997 he quit in what he later described as a moment of clarity. He then spent the next 6 years working in youth homelessness and international development – most notably working with young offenders in The Gambia. After that he returned to Exeter University and has since spent 14 years teaching Geography in Thailand, Vietnam, India and Chorleywood. Josh is currently on sabbatical and his second novel has recently been published under his pen name, Zach J Brodsky. The Mysterious Case of the Missing Tuk-Tuk has been described as quirky, humorous, odd and definitely an easy read. Josh currently divides his time between South Devon and South East Asia and is writing and pondering a return to full-time employment.
Wynn Wheldon The Fighting Jew
Wynn Wheldon (1971-76) has recently had The Fighting Jew: The Life and Times of Daniel Mendoza published.
This follows the publication of Private Places in 2015, Kicking the Bar: A Filial Biography of Huw Wheldon in 2016, the foreword to Dear Mona: Letters from a Conscientious Objector by Jonah Jones in 2018 and Daniel Mendoza for the volume Jewish Lives: Sport for the Jewish Museum.
Alex Edmans Grow the Pie – Purpose and Profit
Alex Edmans (1993-98) is Professor of Finance at The London Business School. He wrote Grow the Pie out of concern for the increasing polarisation between business and society. Some businesses see exploiting society as the best route to profits – cutting worker wages, hiking prices for customers, or polluting the environment. Equally, some reformers see businesses as the enemy of society and attempt to straitjacket them through regulation.
This polarisation is an example of the pie-splitting mentality. The value generated by capitalism is a fixed pie – any slice given to stakeholders reduces profits; any profits represent extractions from society. This book is about the pie-growing mentality. The pie is not fixed. In the face of the conflict between business and society, this is a fundamentally optimistic book. Yet this optimism is not based on blind hope, but on rigorous evidence that this approach works for both investors and stakeholders.
Pauline Appointments
OPs at the Guild of Mercers’ Scholars
Richard Thompson (1973-77) OBE was installed as Guild Master in 2019. Tim Cunis (1955-60) has handed over the role of School Court Assistant for St Paul's School to Simon Rooms (197378). Tim had been in the post for more than a decade. Few OPs were involved at the Guild when he started but there are now 65 OP Guildmen as well as 12 Indentured Apprentices.
OPs in the Commons
Robin Walker (1991-96) was appointed Minister of State at the Northern Ireland Office on 13 February 2020, having previously been Under Secretary of State at the Scotland and Northern Ireland Office.
He was Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Exiting the European Union from July 2016 to July 2019. He was first elected as the Conservative MP for Worcester in May 2010. In 2015 Tom Tugendhat MBE (1986-91) was first elected as Member of Parliament for Tonbridge, Edenbridge and Malling and was re-elected in December 2019.
In Parliament, he has sat on the speakers’ Advisory Committee on Works of Art of the House of Commons and in July 2017 was elected chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, which he continues to chair in the current Parliament.
Andrew Lowenthal (1966-71) has been elected Chairman of The Queen’s Club. Andrew first visited Queen’s while at School in West Kensington; St Paul’s did not have tennis or squash courts on site and played both games at Queen’s before moving to Barnes with its own courts. He was captain of tennis and squash at School.
In the picture Andrew (second from the left) admitted that it was the only time he was ever likely to share a tennis court with Andy Murray, with whom he shares a birthday.
OP Chairman of The Queen’s Club
Paulines on Tour Pauline Boarders
OPs at the 2019 Rugby World Cup
Stuart Hardy (1963-66) and his brother Chris (1969-73) (resplendent in their OPFC blazers) are seen here with Richard Freeman (1977-82), a former captain of the rugby club, at the final in Yokohama. Richard who lives and works in Japan as a rugby journalist contributed an article to the final programme.
q High House on Brook Green
Boarders at St Paul’s
Tim Cunis (1955-60), Archivist to the Old Pauline Club, has shared his research on boarders and the Club system at St Paul’s.
Dean John Colet founded St Paul’s for dayboys in 1509 next to St Paul’s Cathedral. In 1884 it moved into its fourth building in West Kensington.
By the 1890s it had two off-site boarding houses for 30 to 40 boys each. These were 'High House' on Brook Green and 'Colet House' near to Barons Court station. When the Talgarth/Cromwell Road was widened in 1956, 'Colet House' was demolished and its boarders were moved on-site into 'School House', a building that was originally the High Master's residence and is now the independently owned St Paul's Hotel. When the school moved in 1968 to its fifth site in Barnes, the 'High House' and ‘School House' names were retained for its two on-site boarding houses. Those two buildings have since been demolished to make way for a concert hall and theatre and there are now only 20/30 boarders in a single boarding house.
All boys were originally allocated to one of six Clubs in West Kensington, A, B, C, D, E, & H or 'Houses', which was for the boys in the two boarding houses. F & G were added later in order to simplify arrangements for knockout competitions between eight Clubs.
q H. Cedric Cunis pictured outside Colet House, c. 1918/19.
Pauline Polymaths
Korn, Miller, Sacks: from The Independent’s obituary of Eric Korn in 2014
“When Stephen J Gould wrote that "...every classroom has one Sacks, one Korn, or one Miller, usually a lonely child with a passionate curiosity about nature and a zeal that overcomes pressures for conformity," he was warning of the danger of overlooking individual merit while purging elitism. He was also making a private joke; for one remarkable classroom did once hold Oliver Sacks (1946-51) (neurologist and author of The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat) Jonathan Miller (1947-53) (Beyond the Fringe, The Body in Question, and celebrated director) and Eric Korn (1946-52) (doyen of The Round Britain Quiz and antiquarian bookseller).
Korn, Miller and Sacks attended St Paul's School in London, where they became the heart of a group of Jewish intellectuals on a quest for a secular gnosis. Under their inspirational master Sid Pask they shared a love of biology and a passion for Darwin. They formed a literary group that was banned for sedition by the school authorities, and a lifelong friendship. All three pursued a study of science, but were all perhaps more romantic than practical scientists, finding the search for truth in the world of the mind more than in the microscope lens”.
Editor: Michael Simmonds remembers Jonathan Miller and Oliver Sacks being drawn to fight in the Green Cup (a boxing tournament involving every boy at the school).”The two of them camped it up horribly, turning it into some kind of contest between prehistoric monsters with loud grunts and groans. Not a punch was landed. Bo Langham and Bill Williams were not amused”. Perhaps Eric Korn was the timekeeper.
