Memories from our Oldest Peterite!

We are privileged to be celebrating our oldest OP John Sleight (School House 1940) in this edition of the Cross Keys as he celebrates his 100th Birthday on 25th April! Happy Birthday John!

Like many a batsman’s time at the crease, there are usually escapes on the way to compiling a century.

At the age of 9, the story could have withered under the surgeon’s knife, where a very advanced stage of peritonitis threatened his life. A considerable length of bowel had to be removed which had consequences down the line.

Attending Wakefield Grammar School, his parents made the decision for him to continue his education at St Peter’s in 1935. He was a scholar in School House attaining rugby and cricket colours and enjoyed hockey and boxing.

Leaving St Peter’s in 1939 with war clouds looming, John volunteered for the RAF hoping to enlist as a flyer. Unfortunately, he failed the medical because of his boyhood trauma, but was selected to be part of radar, which was to play an important role in the defeat of Nazi Germany.

He entered active service in 1942 during the invasion of North Africa as part of the mobile radar detection unit. A new detection system called “The Light Warning Set” recently invented by Scottish pioneer Watson-Watt was employed.

After suffering extensive burns to the neck and arms, he returned to England and served out the rest of the war on radar stations.

Post-war John began a long career in journalism and television. It all started in sleepy Falmouth in Cornwall, where he broke the story of the sinking of the “Flying Enterprise” an American freighter carrying a mysterious cargo. This quickly became an international story on both sides of the Atlantic. The nature of the cargo only came to light many years later, after the captain revealed there were components for the first American nuclear submarine carried inside the ‘Flying Enterprise’.

Returning to the North East of England in the fifties, he joined the local paper “The Evening Chronicle” which usually published eight editions every day!

The switch to television occurred in the early sixties, when he was head hunted by the relatively new “Tyne Tees Television Channel”.

For many years he was Political Editor and Senior Producer, and a member of the Parliamentary press corps. During this time, he gained an extensive insight into the workings of Parliament, rubbing shoulders with ministers and at one party conference he enjoyed dinning with Margaret Thatcher.

He was integral in creating a new programme called “Challenge” which invited politicians, celebrity stars and leading sports people to be interviewed in front of a studio audience. This proved to be very successful, and one highlight was were Jack Charlton revealing his “Black Book” of footballers with whom he intended to settle scores.

Another coup for the programme was Group Captain Peter Townsend, who had recently split up from his relationship with Princess Margaret.

Retiring in the 1980s didn’t diminish John’s work ethic, attaining a certificate in local history at Newcastle University. Five books quickly flowed from his journalistic pen; “One Way Ticket to Epsom” investigates the heroine of the Suffragette movement; Emily Davison, the most militant suffragette to give up her life to the cause. “Women on the March” features the biographies of North East women MPs from 1920 – 1970. The RAF connection with aviation is documented by the history of Newcastle Airport and “70 Years of Flying 1925 – 1995” with reference to Newcastle Aero Club which was the oldest aero club in continuous existence in England, now sadly defunct.

Well grounded in his formative years at St Peter’s, he attained a golf handicap of 11 and is a member of the “City of Newcastle Golf Club”, past captain and long-serving member of the senior team. Enjoying their centenary in 1991, he wrote the club history. He has fond memories of his time at St Peter’s and in particular his classics master F H Barnby. As fate would have it, their paths crossed again after the war. While honeymooning at St Mawes in Cornwall, the newly-weds were able to rekindle their relationship with Mr Barnby who had retired to the area. This led to a long-rewarding relationship.

Although he had to leave the family house in 2021, he still enjoys sport, days to the coast and meals out and is looking forward to his centenary birthday in April.

Only two public schools were chosen to be named on the newly built Gresley V2 locomotive. One was St Peter’s, the other Durham School. The St Peter’s nameplate reads ‘St Peter’s School, York A.D.627’. The year of commission was 1939 as war clouds gathered over Great Britain. No-one then knew how the latest Gresley locomotive was destined to play an outstanding part in the forthcoming World War.

Although not as famous as the ‘Flying Scotsman’, the St Peter’s engine was held in huge esteem by the rail industry calling it the ‘Prairie’ express: “the loco that helped to win the war”. It earned that reputation by pulling long troops trains and mixed traffic cargo at the highest speed on wartime tracks. Records show it once pulled 24 carriages with a weight of 30 tons each!

I remember the day – April 3rd 1939 when the whole school and others were jampacked into historic York station to witness the official naming of the engine by J.T. Brochbank, Head Boy.

There was a hush as the latest ‘Gresley’ shining in green livery, slowly steamed in on the platform before us. Its official title was ‘Gresley V2, 2-6-2 (Prairie) Express Mixed Traffic Steam Locomotive’.

A sad day in 1969, LNER withdrew the V2 from service. If any steam titan deserves a commemoration, it will be this one.

By John Sleight, with thanks to Chis and Robin Irving Sleight