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Pauline Relatives
p Francis and Patrick with their Father
THE ELDER NEATES
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Out first ball – Francis Neate (1953-58)
Istarted at Colet Court aged 11 as a Foundation Scholar in the Upper Remove. It was something of a shock initially after 4 years at a small boarding school.
At St Paul’s there were boys who were cleverer than I was. I was also initially bullied, verbally not physically. Fortunately, I was good at games, so the bullying stopped quite quickly. I respected without liking or disliking the masters in the early years. I remember Bo Langham (Master 1916-60) fondly, despite his being in charge of boxing. Bill Williams was the boxing coach but he had other jobs to keep him active. One was to coach the Under 14 Rugby team, so I had to deal with him in my first term in the senior school. My main problem was that I could not, or rather did not want to, tackle. I regarded this chore as one for those who could not catch, pass and kick a rugby ball. Bill Williams had other ideas and in the course of my first term, I learned to tackle. I suppose I was taught a method, but the main problem was courage. Bill seemed to know about that, so we had a relationship of sorts.
I think I started to grow up at the start of my third year in the senior school, when I encountered Buster Reed OP (Master 1947-72). I never felt quite comfortable with Buster, although many others liked him. What was undeniable was that the Colts Rugby team (and Buster) was where it all mattered, and I was captain. In time I made my way to the 1st XV where Phil McGuinness (Master 1951-87) and John Allport (1937-42 and Master 1953-87) were jointly in charge. I liked and respected both enormously.
That was my first year of three in the Upper 8th, mainly learning Latin and Greek. That was the system then and it did not fail me, although I tend nowadays to believe that there are better ways to acquire an education. I learned to respect Wol Cruickshank (Master 1947-73) greatly, while disrespecting Pat Cotter (1917-23 and Master 1928-65) who was too full of himself. But the two of them got me to Oxford, so I can hardly complain. I took up Fives at the senior school in order to get out of boxing, but I was too much of a chicken to refuse to box in the Green Cup when told that otherwise my prospects of Club colours would be in doubt. My first year as a Fives player gave me one of my greatest humiliations. As a natural ball player, I was good at Fives, or at least I thought so until the first match against St Dunstan’s. Eric Marsh was their number one, who subsequently became England champion for some »
years. He won 15-0 in less than 20 minutes. He thrashed me each year for five years. I was a little better by the end – in the last year I only lost 8-15 in a match that lasted almost an hour. I had never been so exhausted.
Geoffrey Phillips (Master 1954-60) started his career as a schoolmaster at St Paul’s in 1954. I believe that he was lined up to succeed Douglas Young (Master 1921-56) as master in charge of cricket, so in his first year he was in charge of the Colts when I was captain. Consequently, I lived and breathed cricket with Geoffrey for 4 years. It was like I suddenly had an older brother who loved playing cricket with me. In each of my last two years at School my batting average was over 50 and in my last year I was selected as captain of the Southern Schools to play against The Rest at Lord’s; the pinnacle of the schools’ cricket world at that time.
I was helped on the way to my first match at Lord’s by events when St Paul’s played Felsted in 1958. Geoffrey Phillips told me that the master in charge of cricket at Felsted was John Cockett, an international hockey player and a distinguished Minor Counties cricketer (against whom I subsequently played for Berkshire against Buckinghamshire). Geoffrey told me that Cockett had the ear of the selectors at Lord’s of the team for the Southern Schools, so a few runs would be more than usually welcome.
This is when Bill Williams reappears as the umpire of the first cricket XI. I do not know what, if any, training he had for this onerous role, but he was on parade when we played Felsted. We had a very small number of runs to score to win, so the best I could do to impress John Cockett would be to compile an elegant 20/30 not out. I was getting on with this job when the bowler let loose a slow long-hop outside my leg stump. There are two ways to deal with this delivery. The first is to smite it out of the ground, which is what I aimed to do. The second, which can happen occasionally, is to snick it to the wicketkeeper, which I did. The whole of Felsted appealed. I knew I was out. Bill knew I was out. I knew that Bill knew that I was out. The whole of Felsted knew I was out. Bill did his duty. I stayed, not out, we won and in due course I was appointed captain of The Southern Schools against The Rest. The cricket gods had their revenge; I was out first ball in the great match.
Monty’s kicks off and other memories – Patrick Neate (1960-65)
Ifollowed my brother to Colet Court and then St Paul’s. They were eight happy years. Sport was at least as important as work in my young days. I chose the History route at St Paul’s and so was taught by the newly arrived Peter Thomson (Master 1961-84), an excellent schoolmaster in my opinion. There were several boys cleverer than me, but I did OK without much effort.
In the 1960s, Field Marshal Montgomery liked to visit his old school. The High Master, Tom Howarth, had been one of his staff officers in the war and could hardly refuse. He turned up when we were playing Wellington at rugby and decided that he would like to kick off, so he walked across the grass in his shiny brown brogue shoes. We rushed up the 10 yards, but he had not kicked the ball far enough. The same thing happened the second time. When you are starting a rugby match, you want to rush up the 10 yards and smash into the opposition. So, we were frustrated. I was the captain, so I asked the referee if we could get on with the game. Monty walked off the pitch and left soon after. We won the match.
He came another time and went round the prefects, asking us what our career plans were. There were rather vague answers – business, law, teaching etc. He expressed his disappointment that nobody wanted to join the military. He asked one boy – fortunately not me – why not? The boy said that he did not want to kill people. There was a long silence and Monty walked off. It must have made an impact as I still remember it clearly 55 years later!
In my last year at the school, I noticed a younger boy carrying a large Bible and surrounded by other boys. So I confiscated the Bible and took it back to the Prefects’ Room. The middle of the Bible had been cut out to hide of a cache of pornographic photographs, which the boy had been selling. We convinced ourselves that the responsible thing to do was to pin up the photos in the Prefects’ Room. Unfortunately the High Master was showing some prospective parents around the School a few days later and chose to show them the Prefects’ Room. I was summoned by the High Master, and decided that attack was the best form of defence. Before he could get going, I told him that he should not enter the Prefects’ Room without being invited. This put him on the back foot, but it was a tricky moment. Perhaps, with hindsight, we should not have displayed the photos, but it seemed a good idea at the time.
A couple of years earlier, the Colts cricket XI was due to play away at the Leys School in Cambridge. The colts cricket master was Chris Train (Master 1957-67), another good schoolmaster. I remember that one of our number, Paul Cartledge (1960-64), now a distinguished professor, was promoted to the First XI. We travelled on the coach with the First XI, the idea being that we should watch their match in the morning before playing our match in the afternoon. We did not think much of that plan, so slipped away into Cambridge. We hired a couple of punts and enjoyed ourselves on the river before having a couple of pints at a pub with a relaxed approach to under-age drinking. On our return for the match, Chris Train looked at us and suggested that we should field first if we won the toss. This was good advice as boys regularly left the field to have a pee. We also sobered up in the fresh air and won the match quite easily. Nothing was ever said.
