Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

I disliked all sport, being fairly weedy and poorly coordinated. However, it had to be done, so I learned to tolerate it and to accept - even to exploit - my reputation for uselessness. "They" learned to put me in teams which didn't matter, or to send me on runs (when I could keep going, s...

According to Montesquieu's "Spirit Of The Laws" the separation of power between an elected House of Commons (representing the will and interests of the people) and an un-elected House of Lords (representing the will and interests of the monarchy) ... Did the House of Lords ever represent ...

Angela Woodford wrote:Why this passage?

Probably because every other verse in the Song of Solomon is even more, er, explicit. Apart, perhaps, from "awake, awake, O Northern wind, blow on my garden fair". Think yourself lucky you don't have to read ch5v2-5.

sejintenej wrote:Yet we refer to Christ's Hospital

Indeed we do. It's only in place names that I can tolerate missing apostrophes, and "Christ's Hospital" is more than a place name.

Although I'm very fussy about apostrophes in general usage, I have different standards when it comes to place names. I'm quite content for the city and the university to call themselves "St Andrews". It would look silly and affected to use an apostrophe there, as it would in "Princes ...

The Guardian says "hated", but it also says "West Sussex". Either the Guardian is confused, or she would have been confused by an education in an all-boys boarding school, as it obviously was in her time.

I wonder who commissioned the photo. And who took it. You were right. Christmas 1956. That clue let me establish that the photo appeared in The Times that year, and it was taken by one of their staff photographers. Probably on a press or technical camera of the period, which would use plates or cut...

... a long pole was pushed up against the bolster of adjoining beds to ensure that they were in line. ... It was still used in Col A in 1946/7. I'm confident that it was not used in Col A when I arrived in 1954. I remember who my nursemaid was, and I remember him teaching me how to make a bed to th...

And have you noticed the carefully photo-shopped pics which add to the rosy glow? In particular though, have a look at the aerial shot which shows that Col A has mysteriously grown an extra entrance porch tower! Thank goodness somebody else has noticed this bizarre photograph. I was beginning to wo...

Indeed. Given CH's advantages, to be "one of the top" in a not-very-large county is no great boast. Actually to be top would be worth writing about. I did misread that line in "Housey", and when I saw your posting I was disappointed. Not by CH's academic standards, which are exce...

... I have the School Rules of 1961 in front of me again, and Chapter C is entitled 'Bounds'. Needless to say, it bears all the marks of Seaman's pedantry. Such as: "If in use, the playing fields beyond the 1st XV Pitch are in bounds." I've got that version of the Rules somewhere. When th...

Was the Doctor's Lake also one? I recall Doctor's Lake so well that I feel I must have visited it often. I was a bit risk-averse, so it probably wasn't out of bounds in my day. But I don't actually remember any "out of bounds" notices, which suggests either (a) there weren't any, or (b) t...

sejintenej wrote:"Old boy" was used almost as a form of insult ...

True enough, and what made it worse that the speaker could say it to somebody else, with almost the same tone, to express real friendship. Perhaps that's why it has fallen into disuse.

In the early 60s, a self-appointed committee of students spent an inordinate amount of our Junior Common Room's funds - probably more than £100! - on a large and hideous canvas by some unknown dauber. I was numbered among the noisy objectors. It was, of course, a Hockney, and I was, of course, a bu...

I realise Old Blues are both, but which is the correct or more acceptable terminology? When I left CH, the generally accepted phrase was "old boys" (or "old girls") if you didn't want to use the specific phrase for whatever school (e.g., "old Harrovian"). It wasn't unt...