I joined the School in September 1953 and was put into Morley House, Set A. The House Master was Mr. Benyon who was also the Morley A Tutor although the latter task was soon transferred to "Dai" Evans. Our set room was Room M. The Head Master was H. Raymond-King who remained Head Master all the time I was at Wandsworth School. I was very impressed to see the masters walking around in boards and gowns. It seemed to me that any master not so dressed was not a proper master. In later years as the School expanded and many new masters were taken on I realised just how true this was.

"Killer" Coate-Bond took us for Maths, PE and Games and Reg Levi took us for English. "Kipper" Keyte took us for Geography and Music while Mr. Hoare took us for Art as he did all the time Art appeared on my timetable. Mr. Culverwell took us for Nature Study and Geography and these lessons had a habit of turning into a Yorks. v. Lancs. session. I don't think we learned much but we certainly looked forward to the his lessons. Sadly Mr. Culverwell was killed in a road accident but he was long remembered by the Culverwell Chess Cup which I was very pleased to win in my last year in the School. We also did Woodwork with Mr. Hall. I enjoyed the woodwork lessons and remember making the obligatory dibber, a teapot stand and a pencil box. I still have the pencil box and it even has pencils in it!

"Ernie" Bacchus took us for French and Scripture and always played the clown. I recall him wrapping his gown across his face asking "Who's going to the well?." One of his favourite comments was, "Say something even if it's only Goodbye." This was usually accompanied by the associated Foreign Legion tale.

We played rugby and cricket on the School playing fields in front of the School and the part of the field by the road was always very muddy. We changed in the pavilion which was later converted into a tuck shop.

For no good reason that I can recall I developed an interest in learning to play chess and I joined the chess club. Luckily Richard Hoare took me under his wing and showed me the basics of the game. The Club met in Room N during lunch times and on Tuesday and Friday evenings. We had a few old chess sets left from earlier years and they only way to tell the pieces apart was by their height. Luckily there were a few newer sets too. One advantage of joining the Chess Club was that there was somewhere to hide during wet lunch times.

The School had its fair share of bullies who thought it great fun to give the smaller First Formers an "initiation". I kept well out of their way. I recall spending a few lunch times down by the front gate and on one occasion Martin "Pop" Lincé walked up the drive and I stepped on the grass to get out of his way. He stopped by me and bent down near my feet saying, "I can hear it from here. That daisy you are treading on is gasping for air. Don't tread on the grass again, it is cruel to daisies." I got off the grass very quickly and avoided stepping in it afterwards (unless playing rugby or cricket when it was every daisy for itself.)

The highlight of the year for me was "Killer" Coate-Bond bursting in to Kipper Keyte's music lesson carrying our end of years Maths exam papers saying "Joiner's got 94% in the exam - miracles do happen!"

Second Year Autumn 1954 to Summer 1955 Form 2A

During the year Mr. Benyon left the School and was replaced by "Ernie" Bacchus as House Master.

The year also saw the loss of the School's playing fields and we had to travel to Beverley Meads by coach to play rugby. However I avoided this by taking up fencing instead. I spent a whole 2 terms parrying carte, sixte, lunge, reposte, doublet etc but never once was it anything other than shadow fencing. At no time did I cross blades with anyone. By the end of those two terms I had had enough of fencing boredom and was glad to be playing cricket again.

This year we had R.W. Walters take us for English and George (Chewy) Elms for Maths. Chewy was far too easy going and did not explain things in terms that made sense to me. He took me for Maths for a total of 3 years and every year my Maths results dropped. We had "Dai" Evans for history and "Kipper" Keyte for geography again. Neither subject caught my interest and I guess it showed and my reports rarely said anything kinder than "satisfactory".

Half way through the year we lost our Chemistry/Physics master in mysterious circumstances - there was talk of things going on which should not have been going on but I have no idea of what really happened. I have forgotten the master's name and I cannot decipher his signature on my report. After that we had a series of short term Chemistry/Physics masters and learned very little. This unsatisfactory state continued until Jim Garwood and R W Mercer took over these subjects years later.

"Joe" Ascher took us for French and he was the only master I really disliked. He appeared to be nothing but a short, fat bully living on past achievements. His favourite game was to make boys stand up and read or translate from the book he had co-written. If they made any mistake he would shout, jump up and down and finally smash the book out of their hands onto the desk. He mainly picked on the smaller boys and he left me alone. I began to dread our French lessons in Room D and spent a good part of the time looking at my watch and wondering why the hands always moved more slowly during French lesson than at any other time. We had one boy (whose name I have conveniently forgotten) who was a bit of a hard case although not very tall. One day he was picked on and eventually Joe smashed the book out of his hands. The boy starting trembling and we all waited for him to smash Joe back. In the end he burst into tears instead. Joe was very lucky that day.

A the beginning of that year I had a big decision to make - did I take German or Latin. I was warned that if I did not take Latin I would not be allowed to go to University later. I had no plans to go to University and I did not know anyone who spoke Latin as their everyday language so I chose German. Little did I realise that that decision would haunt me later as regards my "O" level options. Martin "Pop" Lincé took us for German all the way until we took the "O" Level exam. Pop was aptly nicknamed and I sometimes saw him pushing his bike over Wandsworth Common with a gaggle of children in tow. It was impossible not to like Pop but perhaps he was a bit too soft to be a really effective master.

I was very glad when that year was over. The subjects I enjoyed were poorly taught and those that I did not enjoyed failed to generate any interest.

Third Year Autumn 1955 to Summer 1956 Form 3B

While the building of the new school continued I saw a very welcome (or so it proved) change in one master. Gone was Joe Ascher for French to be replaced by Joe Austin. My first encounter with Joe was in the dinner queue. As a new master he had been given the duty of ticking us off the list as we came into dinner. The first time I told him my form and name. The second time I did the same only to be told, "I saw you yesterday so I know who your are. If I didn't know I would have asked." Never again did I tell him who I was and he never asked. The first French homework he set for us was to learn the irregular verbs, aller, etre and avoir. I went into the next lesson ready to recite any tense. What an unfair test! He told us to translate into French "I should not have gone", "They will never have", "You should not be here" and such. By the time I had worked out what tense to use he had asked 3 more questions! We had to pass over our books to someone else for marking and then he came round to look at the results. Oh no, 3 out of 33 for me! We must all have done badly because he set the same homework for that week too and we had the test again. Joe taught us for the 3 years prior to the "O" level exam and each week we had verbs to learn and were tested in the same way. By the time we took the exam we knew our verbs without the need to think let alone work out which tense. In the exam everyone in his set passed. Well done Joe!

Pop continued to take us for German and we all made slower progress in German than we made in French. If memory serves me correctly, in the "O" level just 3 out of about 30 passed, David Wingfield, Brian Jailor and myself.

For maths we had Chewy again and yet again my results dropped. For the first time we did Biology as a seperate subject under Mr. D. Gouldstone who was also assigned as Assistant Set Master for Morley A under Dai Evans. I found biology to be interesting and well remember Mr. D. Gouldstone pointing to a discoloured front tooth he had and telling us that is was discoloured because it had had the nerve removed.

Russell Burgess took us for Music and his lessons were always enjoyable. I had no real interest in music but just to watch Russell enjoying himself was enough for me. It was not long before he started the School Choir and no one escaped from that. Similarly he pushed for a  School organ  and there were many fund raising schemes for it. It was an enormous affair which huge pipes. I wonder what happened to it?

Forth Year Autumn 1956 to Summer 1957 Form 4PI

At last an escape from Chewy as maths master and Mr. Gibson instead. I recall being very annoyed by my report at the end of the first term in which he described me as "rather weak". No way! I knew I was good at maths but I had had a problem with Chewy for the last 2 years. I succeeded in proving my point by coming top in the end of year exam. The sciences continued to be poorly taught with the exception of biology. It was at the end of this year that my decision to choose German as opposed to Latin came back to haunt me. Although I came 3rd. in the end of year biology exam I was not allowed to continue with it into the fifth year. The reason given was that the only people who needed to take the 3 sciences (physics, chemistry and biology) at "O" level were those going on the be doctors. Since I was not taking Latin I could not be a doctor so I had to give up one of the sciences and take either history or geography. I would almost certainly have passed "O" level biology but no way would I pass history or geography. Having been given no useful choice I selected history and sure enough I failed.

Similarly I was forced to give up metalwork. This was the first year I had done metalwork as opposed to woodwork and I really enjoyed doing it. I liked working with my hands and I still have the brass letter opener I made. I was told that there was no point in doing metal work in the fifth year as I was too academic and would not need it later. It would have been far more use to me than history! Years later I returned to metal work as a hobby by restoring old cars.

Fifth Year Autumn 1957 to Summer 1958

This was the make or break "O" level year and it started with a disaster - Chewy for maths again! I was determined to pass so I largely ignored his lessons and studied on my own instead. The science Masters were a great improvement with Jim Garwood for chemistry and Mr. Mercer for physics. Jim Garwood had a particularly hard time as he started from an almost zero knowledge base. We still had Joe Austin for French and Martin "Pop" Lincé for German. Neither were subjects which really interested me but clearly Joe was not going to let anyone fail while Pop remained Pop. For English language and literature we had Wally Thom. Our set books were Macbeth and Great Expectations. I found Macbeth very enjoyable ("It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and furry signifying nothing" - how true of life) but Dickens left me stone cold and just reading the book was a chore. Dia Evens drew the short straw and took me for history. I don't remember doing a single homework and I generally did homework for other subjects during the lessons. Since I knew I was going to fail why waste time on it?

Sadly just before the mock exams my father died so I missed all the mocks. Despite this I was allowed to take the exams and I still have the postcard sent to me by Horace Aubrey telling me that I had passed 6 out of 8. The ones failed were history and chemistry (no surprises there). Although I had done no work at all for history and all I could remember from the lessons was something about Corn Laws I had got 43% in the exam (pass mark was 47% and no one ever got 46%). In the exam I had answered questions on the American War of Independence and the French Revolution based on general knowledge since I don't think either of these subjects were covered by Dia. Chemistry was another near miss but I corrected this the following Christmas.

I was very pleased to see that I had got 72% (distinction ws 70%) in maths. Perhaps Chewy had done me a favour by making me learn how to study on my own.

Six Form Autumn 1958 to Summer 1960

The loss of my father at the start of the year had been a major blow not least as far as the family finances were concerned and I was not expecting to be able to stay on for the 6th Form years but my family rallied round and I was able to stay. A new maths master joined the School, Mr. J.F.T. Pearcy. He was a breath of fresh air. The first thing he did was to introduce us to a previously unheard of subject called Applied Maths. It was not hard to work out that this was a cross between physics and pure maths so several of us signed up for it only to realise that we had one year to do the "O" level and one year to do the "A" level. In addition I took pure maths, chemistry and physics. The first term was spent making sure I passed the "O" level chemistry and fortunately I was successful. However trying to catch up on years of missing chemistry looked like it might take time away from the subjects I really wanted (maths and physics) so towards the end of the first year I decided to give up chemistry. Jim Garwood was disappointed since he clearly thought that I would pass the "A" level but I was not prepared to risk the other subjects.

The first year ended with internal exams and the "O" level exam in applied maths. Mr. J.F.T. Pearcy had been right, we were quite capable of getting the "O" level in one year and I still have Horace Aubrey's post card with the result on it - 88%!

The second year of the 6th. form continued with Mr. Mercer for physics, Mr. J.F.T. Pearcy for pure maths and a new applied maths master whose name I am ashamed to admit I have forgotten but his initials are C.J.W. Of course there was other lessons we had to attend to broaden our education and we treated these as a way of relaxing since there were no exams involved. That year passed all too quickly and the "A" level exams were upon us. I took pure maths, applied maths and physics with London and pure and applied maths combined with Oxford. The latter was taken in case I dipped out on one of the London exams. However this proved unnecessary and I left with all the exams I had wanted safely passed.

Other Activities

The only outdoor activity I really enjoyed was cricket and I have very fond memories of Saturday matches at Beverley Meads and cycling home quickly to watch Maverick at tea time. Many a summer's lunch time was spent practicing on the slip cradle and cursing the bruised and bent fingers which resulted. If you threw the ball at just the right angle it would run across the cradle and come off very fast.

Having taken up chess in the first year it continued to be a major activity. I was soon (too soon!) playing for the junior School team and in common with most others in the team I was slaughter in almost every match. As time went by I graduated to the senior team and over the years our team results gradually improved. The first big match I remember playing was against Latymer Upper. We lost 6 - 0. This was played in the Library of the Old School and it was the first time I had been in the Library. What an impressive place for a young schoolboy! I was even more impressed to find tea and biscuits laid out for us. Our team results slowly improved over the years and in my final year I was Captain and we drew with Latymer Upper 3 - 3 that year. That might not sound impressive but it was our best result in living memory.

In the Chess Club we were helped by regulars Doc. Soloman and Mr. Mercer and later by Mr. Timothy and Mr. Brown. I had many good games within the Club particularly with S.J.J. Tyson, Douel, Vic Wiseman, Alan Curtis, R.P. Jackson and Reid. I was very pleased in my last year to win the School's Knockout Championship and with it the Culverwell Cup. Also in that final year I played for the Surrey Junior Team.

Life in the 6th. form was very enjoyable. We were largely left to work on our own and were given authority and responsibility as prefects. This also brought a couple of privileges including use of the prefects' room (no masers allowed in there!) and use of the small wooden staircase in the Old Building which by then was known as the Junior School since it housed First and Second Formers only. One of the responsibilities I got along with Vic Ruff was to read out and process defaulters from Prefects' Detention in the Junior School. Vic and I took it in turns and the one not reading them out would hover near the back of the Hall checking to see where the defaulters were. There was one boy who would always refuse the come to the front of the Hall after Assembly when his name was read out. One day I spotted him in the Hall and saw him walk out with everyone else. We followed him to his lesson, knocked on the door, entered and were physically thrown out by the master. We went immediately to see Jim Garwood who was head of the Junior School and told him what had happened. He told us to go back to Mr. *****, to present his compliments and to ask him to come to see Mr. Garwood immediately. We delivered the message, got out quickly and returned to Jim Garwood to report mission complete. Jim told us to wait outside his office and a few moments later Mr. ***** arrived and saw us siting there. He walked straight past us and into Jim's office. A few minutes later he emerged and again ignored us but the look on his face told its own story. Jim then called us in and basically apologised for the manners of Mr. ***** implying that it was not the first complaint he had had. We were told that the problem would not arise again. Mr. ***** did not stay long at the School.

The majority of morning assemblies were taken by H. Raymond King (somehow I never thought of him as Mr. H. Raymond King) with Ben Clode deputising when he could not. He was a very imposing figure and did not confuse us too often as he generally stuck to a small range of Bible Readings. By the time we left we could recite them all. The parable of the Talents was one of his favourites - I wonder why?

On my last day at School I was asked to return my Prefects badge but since I had paid a deposit (12/6?) on it I felt that it was mine so I kept it and still have it along with my Prefect's tie. I also had to return the hymn book I was given when I joined the School. Somehow it had survived 7 years in my pocket but you can guess the state it was in. Why ever did they want it back?

Overall my 7 years at Wandsworth School represent time well spent and much enjoyed. My thanks to all the masters and my fellow pupils for there excellent company.