Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

does anyone remember the french tutor Mr Richard Hailey? i think that was his name. I cant remember which house he was associated with but during my entrance exam we got snowed in and i had to spend an extra day at CH with Mr Hailey and his wife who were both lovely!

Is this the same Mr Hailey who joined the school as a very nervous young man in 1961 or 62 to teach Modern Languages and (I think) PE? As MLGs we had him for "German Essay", a course invented by Jack Massen to give him something to do, I think, but in such isolation it was totally useless.

michael scuffil wrote:Is this the same Mr Hailey who joined the school as a very nervous young man in 1961 or 62 to teach Modern Languages and (I think) PE? As MLGs we had him for "German Essay", a course invented by Jack Massen to give him something to do, I think, but in such isolation it was totally useless.

Michael,

I am 99% sure that you are thinking of Bob Hailey.

He took an interest in sport and developed a very good basketball team, Jonathan "Big Cat Diary" Scott being a particularly good player.

Bob was also instrumental in transforming association football from an unofficial, even taboo, sport to a mainstream core sport.

Mid A 15 wrote:Bob was also instrumental in transforming association football from an unofficial, even taboo, sport to a mainstream core sport.

Yes, but in spite of that he was a really nice bloke!

Ajarn Philip wrote:

Mid A 15 wrote:Bob was also instrumental in transforming association football from an unofficial, even taboo, sport to a mainstream core sport.

Yes, but in spite of that he was a really nice bloke!

Housemaster of Col B in the 80s....if my memory serves me well

Mid A 15 wrote:

michael scuffil wrote: Michael,

I am 99% sure that you are thinking of Bob Hailey.

Yes, of course I was.

This was the first post I read today and refers to Bob Hailey who, of course, could have any alias here:

Ajarn Philip wrote: Yes, but in spite of that he was a really nice bloke!

immediately followed by

michael scuffil wrote:Yes, of course I was.

OK so its only my eyes and an "unfortunate" combination of posts

JamesF35 wrote:Wasn't Louis Bardou reported to have once said . . .
"That really put the cat amongst the biscuit crumbs." ?

Indeed it was... another was "You can't pull the sheep over my eyes."

Now for me Le French Teacher Formidable was Slater. Can't remember his first name, but I recall he had 3 initials, possibly JMV Slater.
He was give the job of Head of Careers in about 1980 and did an absolutely fantastic job in bringing it up to date in the opinion of many.

However, while a French teacher he was very well known for his "19 out of 20" tests... ie: anything less lead to a detention, and one of only 2 I collected in 7 whole years (not, I hasten to add because I was exceptionally good or clever, but I WAS very good at being low-key!)

LeChat

Twas PJMS - can't for the life of me remember what his 1st name was. Used to be in charge of "Careers" too.

It was Peter I think and he had a son called Julian
He was known as Puny slater or Ankles too

ALWAYS known as Jo

PJMS taught me. Did anyone else have to endure his holiday slides?

Referring to Bob Hailey a few posts above. I recently attended a U3A presentation given by him on the history of Christ's Hospital. Interesting to hear it from a Teachers perpective rather than mine as a pupil. He certainly kept the audience amused!