Strange old man dressed in WW1 army gear / dog named lobster

Share your memories and stories from your days at school, and find out the truth behind the rumours....Remember the teachers and pupils, tell us who you remember and why...

Moderator: Moderators

Post Reply
User avatar
J.R.
Forum Moderator
Posts: 15835
Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2005 4:53 pm
Real Name: John Rutley
Location: Dorking, Surrey

Re: Strange old man dressed in WW1 army gear / dog named lob

Post by J.R. »

eucsgmrc wrote:
sejintenej wrote:
michael scuffil wrote: ... the RSM would hand out three sheets and say: 'One up, one down, and one to polish!' ...
I don't recall that at our CCF camps but I had heard it was standing orders during WWI.
Standing orders? That would not have made it any easier.

Still, that kind of experience continues to come in useful in modern life. For example ...

In Scotland (and, for all I know, in England too) people in a certain age range get sent, every three years, a kit of poo-sticks to sample our own faeces and post them off to a lab for analysis. It's an awkward and disagreeable procedure, or it would be, if Housey and CCF camp and heavily glazed Bronco paper hadn't inured me to worse. I have even coped with the loo in a Chinese train (although not yet with one of their public toilets in the street).

A standing joke in our household.....

"I'm just popping upstairs for a quick game of poo-sticks !!"

I daren't even start to relate some of the mishaps !!!
John Rutley. Prep B & Coleridge B. 1958-1963.
eucsgmrc
GE (Great Erasmus)
Posts: 184
Joined: Thu Mar 10, 2011 12:38 pm
Real Name: John Wexler
Location: Edinburgh

Re: Strange old man dressed in WW1 army gear / dog named lob

Post by eucsgmrc »

... and, to return to the original topic: we used to believe that Kirby was taken very seriously by the Army as a consultant on the performance of their communications kit. His lab often had rather fancy military radio sets, big and small, and we understood that he was an expert in getting the best out of them, getting them to work at extreme range, and so on. We had an idea that the Royal Signals would sometimes send him the latest model to test.

That was in the last days of valve radios. I have no idea how, or whether, he adapted to transistorised and miniaturised communications.
John Wexler
Col A 1954-62
DavidRawlins
Button Grecian
Posts: 1034
Joined: Sat Feb 27, 2010 5:50 pm
Real Name: David Charles Rawlins
Location: Somerset

Re: Strange old man dressed in WW1 army gear / dog named lob

Post by DavidRawlins »

During my time in the signals we took part in an experiment to determine the efficacy of the then current phonetic alphabet. One pair transmitted a list of letters and the recipients, on a poorly tuned set had to write them down. There were 6 or more pairs in this exercise; and the phonetic alphabet was subsequently changed. I do not know the current one, and fall back on to remnants of the old one, trying to avoid the one starting A for 'orses, and B for mutton.
Col A 1946-1953
PeteC
2nd Former
Posts: 16
Joined: Mon Jan 06, 2014 3:46 pm
Real Name: Peter Cockshott

Re: Strange old man dressed in WW1 army gear / dog named lob

Post by PeteC »

Yes during my time in the signals it changed from "Able Baker Charlie Dog" to "Alpha Bravo Charlie Delta". I still think naturally in Able Baker, in fact I had to look up Delta!
Peter Cockshott. Prep A/Peele A 1948-1956
rockfreak
Grecian
Posts: 972
Joined: Sun Apr 06, 2014 8:31 pm
Real Name: David Redshaw
Location: Saltdean, East Sussex

Re: Strange old man dressed in WW1 army gear / dog named lob

Post by rockfreak »

He had a love of the Latin double i plurals. "Go and pick some radii and some lettii," he would command pupils helping in his patch of garden. To this day I find myself angrily inveighing against bankers' bonii.
sejintenej
Button Grecian
Posts: 4092
Joined: Tue Feb 08, 2005 12:19 pm
Real Name: David Brown ColA '52-'61
Location: Essex

Re: Strange old man dressed in WW1 army gear / dog named lob

Post by sejintenej »

My phone book many years ago had the French phonetic code which, unfortunately I failed to learn before throwing out an out-of-date telephone directory.

Ergo I now have problems all too frequently so I use country names (the names as used in France) and French city names (such as P for Paris goes down better than P for Papua Guinea Nouvelle). My biggest problem is the letter F - France just doesn't work because in France it starts with an L !!!! as in LA France
What happens if a politician drowns in a river? That is pollution.
What happens if all of them drown? That is solution!!!
paulv
2nd Former
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Jan 24, 2015 2:30 pm
Real Name: Paul Vincent

Re: Strange old man dressed in WW1 army gear / dog named lobster

Post by paulv »

Bill Kirby, known to the 50's generation as Uncle, had two dogs, Chlorine and Iodine, He taught science, took us on long walks to study trees, and insects, kept bees, one hive of which was built into the window of his lab so you could watch them working. He would smack you firmly but not unkindly with a short plank called the Tickling Stick.He nicknamed me Berkshire, since he once scrubbed my neck which he declared dirty thus, he leaving a dirty body and a clean neck, resembling a Berkshire pig. We were allowed to keep pet animals, grass snakes, mice etc in his lab. He made Mead and was a real mentor to a lot of boys who had lost their fathers during the war.
sejintenej
Button Grecian
Posts: 4092
Joined: Tue Feb 08, 2005 12:19 pm
Real Name: David Brown ColA '52-'61
Location: Essex

Re: Strange old man dressed in WW1 army gear / dog named lobster

Post by sejintenej »

He had a slightly warped sense of humour (if you can call it that).
There was, in Col A, a boy whom I won't identify except that he was somewhat less than a month who had a rather forgetful habit. He was supposedly a year ahead of me but in the same class. Uncle decided that I should be this boy's minder, despite his being much bigger than me, and if he forgot anything, was late, stupid or otherwise for him normal, then it was my responsibilty and I would get the tickling stick.

I did have to sit out a lesson perched on a log thin enough as to be painful but Kirby was so human that I couldn't hold even that against him
PeteC
2nd Former
Posts: 16
Joined: Mon Jan 06, 2014 3:46 pm
Real Name: Peter Cockshott

Re: Strange old man dressed in WW1 army gear / dog named lobster

Post by PeteC »

I like paulv's comments about "Uncle" - he was indeed a father figure to some of us (mid-1950's) at the time I was there. A profound influence in our formative years. I've probably mentioned his name for me, Henscold, a sort of convolute of my surname. Not sure about the identities of the dogs, incidentally: At the time I knew him there were indeed two dogs, Hibin (not sure how that was spelled, never saw it written down) and Hibin's offspring Chlorine. We understood that Chlorine originally had three siblings, named after the other halogens Fluorine, Bromine and Iodine, but I don't know what happened to them.
Peter Cockshott. Prep A/Peele A 1948-1956
eucsgmrc
GE (Great Erasmus)
Posts: 184
Joined: Thu Mar 10, 2011 12:38 pm
Real Name: John Wexler
Location: Edinburgh

Re: Strange old man dressed in WW1 army gear / dog named lobster

Post by eucsgmrc »

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/55 ... 099253537/

There will be a ">" symbol at the right-hand side of the screen. Click that to move from one photo to the next.
John Wexler
Col A 1954-62
PeteC
2nd Former
Posts: 16
Joined: Mon Jan 06, 2014 3:46 pm
Real Name: Peter Cockshott

Re: Strange old man dressed in WW1 army gear / dog named lobster

Post by PeteC »

Great photos of Kirby's Lab. The glorious squalor of it! Did I spot in one of them the pressure cooker in which rabbits were stewed?
Peter Cockshott. Prep A/Peele A 1948-1956
michael scuffil
Button Grecian
Posts: 1612
Joined: Tue Oct 30, 2007 12:53 pm
Real Name: michael scuffil
Location: germany

Re: Strange old man dressed in WW1 army gear / dog named lobster

Post by michael scuffil »

The 'tickling stick'? Surely it was 'Tickle-toby'?
Th.B. 27 1955-63
eucsgmrc
GE (Great Erasmus)
Posts: 184
Joined: Thu Mar 10, 2011 12:38 pm
Real Name: John Wexler
Location: Edinburgh

Re: Strange old man dressed in WW1 army gear / dog named lobster

Post by eucsgmrc »

michael scuffil wrote: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 something that other people were acquainted with. Kirby never actually taught me any subject, so I frequented his lab as a guest rather than a student, and was not subject to discipline.
John Wexler
Col A 1954-62
Richard
LE (Little Erasmus)
Posts: 51
Joined: Fri Oct 25, 2013 2:31 pm
Real Name: Richard Slingfield

Re: Strange old man dressed in WW1 army gear / dog named lobster

Post by Richard »

CFK was certainly eccentric and also never liked to spend a penny more than was necessary. That's presumably why his everyday dress was ex-Army gear (but of WW2 vintage and not WW1 as the thread's title suggests). Another indication of his strong disinclination to 'waste' money was his objection to paying purchase tax on an ordinary car. So he always owned a van, which was subject to much less tax. However CFK also needed something to transport camping equipment, etc. Another person who owned a van for exactly the same reason was DCF Chaundy. CFK was generous too. He built his own house on Three Mile Ash and subsequently bequeathed it to CH.
viejoazul
2nd Former
Posts: 18
Joined: Fri Nov 08, 2013 9:55 am
Real Name: PR Hunt

Re: Strange old man dressed in WW1 army gear / dog named lobster

Post by viejoazul »

A while ago eucsgmrc asked if Kirby ever

“adapted to transistorised and miniaturised communications”.

He did. In the late 1950s there were supplied the first transistorised sets used by the Signals Section. They were “45” sets (I think) and were in a cube shaped container, with sides about 15 cm long. They rested on the belly, supported by a strap around the neck. However their aerials were longish, about 130 cm in length inclined upwards and forward at an angle of about 40o to the vertical. They worked well, though I remember their range was somewhat less than the standard infantry set (the “38?”, heavy, valve based and worn on a backpack frame), our usual wireless. The transistor set was much more frequency-stable. Their most memorable characteristic was a throat microphone, which worked very well. I have never seen such a microphone since, perhaps because it is uncomfortable to wear one continuously for many hours. (I'm not sure about tbe number designations of the wirelesses mentioned.)
Post Reply