York Empire and there he witnessed a conjuror demonstrating the way in which a glass of water can be swung round and round without the water being spilled on to the stage. On the next day Mr. Shadwell went to the Big Hall, and with a jar of ink, which he found on the stage, he tried to show his friends what the conjuror had done. He failed miserably, and instead of the ink remaining in the jar, it splashed on to the walls, which had been newly painted for Speech Day. On reporting the accident to Canon Owen he received 2,000 lines of " Virgil " to write out and his parents had to make good the damage ! On the outbreak of war in 1914 he worked for a time in the recruiting office at Fulford Barracks, York, and in April, 1915, he was commissioned to the 14th West Yorkshire Regiment, in which he eventually gained command of a company at Ripon. Whilst serving in this capacity he one day ordered his new messing officer to report to him, and much to his astonishment, Brian Storey, another Old Peterite, who is now manager of the Princes Theatre, Manchester, turned out to be this new officer. Whilst at Ripon, in 1917, Colonel Sapt put him in charge of entertainment, and with the aid of C.S.M. Filtness, another Peterite, he formed a concert party, to which he gave the name " The Very Neats." There is no information available to record the success of this venture, but judging by Mr. Shadwell's present day standards it ought to have been highly successful. After seeing service at Ypres he was invalided out of the service in 1918, when with the aid of the Officers' Association he once again took up the study of music. After conducting touring companies in many parts of the country he became musical director of Portsmouth Hippodrome. From there he went to Coventry Hippodrome and from here he broadcast for more than 250 times before becoming conductor of the B.B.C. Variety Orchestra in May, 1936. From here the story of his life is only too well known, and so let us close this account by wishing Mr. Shadwell " The Spice of Life." G. D. Jefferson, Form VI.
THE SCHOOL IN WAR, 1914-18. In the January issue of " The Peterite " there appeared an article on the School in War-time, comparing 1939 with 1914 from a study of " The Peterites " of 1914-18. Perhaps some disjointed reminiscences of someone who spent his time at School during those years may be of some interest 20
