Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

... One of his methods (unique at CH for lower forms) was to make the whole class start each lesson by reciting in unison the full range of French phonetic sounds and he paid attention to every pupil. One of my French teachers - and I think it was AR - told us that we were horrid ill-mannered boys ...

We were simply given paper and powder but never shown how to paint nor paintings by the masters to try to emulate. I suppose the Oil wasn't that way inclined. I just hope the present teachers are better. I hadn't really thought about it that way. I thought Nell Todd was quite nice, and Art periods ...

Photos of Corks Near the end of the series of photos there are (ironically) a few images of a performance of “The Pirates of Penzance” from the early 1960s. It’s ironic because Corks, when Director of Music, never allowed a school production of any Gilbert and Sullivan opera. So either this was a h...

... A story someone told me after Corks left was that Seaman told him in effect that the choral stuff was all very well but there was a lack of everything else... CMES was right, but until I read this I had never realised that he was aware of music. There were in Corks' time two peaks of high music...

Photos of Corks ... if one views other images of this long series of photos (after and to the right of the laboratory photos) there are several Col A house photos from the mid 1950s. Each shows the senior housemaster (EC Aitken) and on his left Corks, without a clerical collar, which was how he was...

I only ever saw Corks the worse for drink once, and that was after he left CH. It was in his 'local', the Rising Sun pub next to St Paul's. Corks was a considerable drinker, and I seem to remember that Kit could match him. That said, they could hold it, and they could stop, so, by the standards of ...

The 'tickling stick'? Surely it was 'Tickle-toby'? Indeed it was! Until you mentioned the name Toby, the whole "tickling stick" thread meant nothing to me - just another feature of Housey life that I had forgotten, or never been aware of. But yes, I certainly recall Tickle Toby as somethi...

I may have mentioned this before, but ... if anybody feels nostalgic about Kirby's lab, there are a few photos from the 1954-62 era at https://www.flickr.com/photos/jandsw/5509958754/in/set-72157626099253537/ There will be a ">" symbol at the right-hand side of the screen. Click that to mo...

1954-1962: we wore uniform for the journey to and from school, and often when we were away from school during term time. I could travel on public transport in London without undue attention. I think there was still some folk memory of CH, so that people had a vague notion of why I was wearing those ...

My memory, such as it is, matches sejintenej's. I left in 1962, and I believe Col A's place in chapel was the same then as when I arrived in 1954. I can remember many of the murals, but what I can't recall is which individual one was facing me through all those daily chapel services. St Paul's shipw...

A couple of photos from about 1959 showing the state of Christ Church back then: https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7410/10016975105_cd5e1edaff.jpg https://www.flickr.com/photos/jandsw/10016975105 https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3833/10017078663_877981a605.jpg https://www.flickr.com/photos/jandsw/1001707...

I've been adding a few more photos - mostly of Speech Day ceremonial - and I'd like an opinion about this one from 1961[?]: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jandsw/14862429372/in/set-72157626099253537 Hidden behind the mace and sword bearers are, I imagine, the Lord Mayor and Mrs Mayor, but beside them...

... CH’s slow gentrification and gradual trend towards greater exclusion of the poor, whom it has served faithfully for so long ... "Slow" is a good word for this process. Discussions and laments about the changing ethos have been going on for at least two hundred years. Coleridge and Lam...

When did gold boxes start? ... Certainly prior to 1963 when I left. I left in summer 1962, and I still have the maroon boxes for bible and prayer book. That makes a rare triumph for this forum: we have established a definite fact! Gold boxes must have started in the school year 1962-63. I didn't ge...

In 1962, there was a performance of Aristophanes' 'Frogs' on the forecourt (and roof) of the Music School. And here it is! https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2937/14064603567_e3f9543ceb_b.jpg https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5514/14250834114_7f51e117a9_b.jpg https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5552/1422802360...