Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

There I was with 2 friends, eagerly puffing away on our roll-ups, outside the back of Peele B - when around the corner strode Des Carrington (GET OFF THE TRACK!!!) He said words to the effect of "If youv'e got to smoke, try to be a bit more discreet about it." and off he went like some overloaded freight train. We lived in fear of the call-up to the inevitable caning but it never happened, He never reported it, and I never thanked him, sadly.

Anyone else out there got caught doing something really punishable but no trouble after and tell us who let you off - and it has to be a teacher.

Me and a friend were caught smoking red-handed by Terry Clarke in the alley between the Theatre loading doors & the music school. He was puffing on his pipe at the time, told us we were stupid, and then just walked off.
Caught a few times by Duncan N-P, but he never said a thing.
Probably the best one was Mr O'Boyle. Stumbled across us several times smoking - once whilst ice-skating on his flat roof (the old quiet room) and once whilst hanging out the toilets at the back of Mid B. He must have been blind, and fortunately he seemed to have a permanently stuffed up nose, so he didn't smell it either.

I was caught and let off by the school marshall/rsm loads of times, and always in the same place! (my bike shed behind dining hall)
Also the night-watchman rarely reported you, he was scary though when blinding you with his massive torch/bike light!

Nope ! Never caught, fortunately, as it was considered a major offence in the 60's !

Not smoking related but I was caught with 2 friends emerging from the tube which runs from the laundry to Dining Hall. One Sunday afternoon we were wandering past the laundry building next to the old gym and noticed the door was open. Just inside was a set of concrete steps which went straight down to the tube. All went well until we go got almost to the Dining Hall end. We didn't have a torch between us and couldn't see where the tunnel went, but there was something like a large fly wheel revolving in a metal cage at the side which was alarming in the dark. So we re-traced our steps about half way back down the tube and then climbed out of a concrete and glass block grating.

Unfortunately we emerged right outside that house which is on the road behind the squash courts where the Clerk (I think he was called Robinson) was having his sunday afternoon tea and looking out of his window. He could run quite fast (for a lawyer) and caught up with us just as we got to ThA and marched us off to see our housemaster Michael Carrington. Fearing the worst we just got a lecture about how embarrased he was to have members of his house apprehended by the clerk and we had to write him an apology. I think it helped that the clerk just said he'd caught us coming out of the laundry tube without revealing the details.

Tydd St Giles wrote:Not smoking related but I was caught with 2 friends emerging from the tube which runs from the laundry to Dining Hall. One Sunday afternoon we were wandering past the laundry building next to the old gym and noticed the door was open. Just inside was a set of concrete steps which went straight down to the tube. All went well until we go got almost to the Dining Hall end.

I hope you have seen there is a wonderful post about adventures down the tube

I was going to post on it but saw that all the places I had illegally found had been found by others

The oddest one for me was going down one of the secret side run-offs (partially bricked up with a 2 foot hole at the top so a mate would have to give you a leg up before you pulled him up)from the main tube and ending up under the chapel where a service was taking place. It was extremely spooky because it was well known that these passages were haunted / dangerous / had had suicides taking place.

Myself and some friends were smoking around the back of the music school in the alcoves (stupidly right next door to the window into the staff room!) when John Thwaites (piano player extraordinaire) popped his head out of the staff room window and asked us if we'd be finished in time for his lesson! As it happened we said we wouldn't and he asked if ten minutes would be long enough to finish our cigarettes!!
Pure class.

Hmmm... got in trouble many a time for smoking. Sargent Major, however, was never mean. He'd walk past the bushes and cough very loudly. Whilst in Grecian's East, we used to walk over past the long grass and sit to have a cigarette. I'll never forget the day he said, "as long as they're proper fags and not those home-made ones". Fantastic. Well, a man who made his dog wear a pair of bands on its collar can't really be taken seriously!
Mrs. Cairncross though, a completely different kettle of fish!

Emma Jane wrote:Hmmm... got in trouble many a time for smoking. Sargent Major, however, was never mean. He'd walk past the bushes and cough very loudly. Whilst in Grecian's East, we used to walk over past the long grass and sit to have a cigarette. I'll never forget the day he said, "as long as they're proper fags and not those home-made ones". Fantastic. Well, a man who made his dog wear a pair of bands on its collar can't really be taken seriously!
Mrs. Cairncross though, a completely different kettle of fish!

Oh No ! The fish jokes will start now.

It's enough to make yer fall off yer PERCH !

Oh fer cod's sake......!

What WAS that Everly Brothers song? Bream, Bream, Bream?

It's enough to want to make yer DAB yer eyes !!

Oh dear.
Surely you should be hard at work rather than banging out the fish jokes?
Naughty scampis.

Emma Jane wrote:Oh dear.
Surely you should be hard at work rather than banging out the fish jokes?
Naughty scampis.

On a SCALE of 1 - 10, that was terrible, Emma Jane.

(p.s. Check your PM message box !)

J.R. wrote:

Emma Jane wrote:Oh dear.
Surely you should be hard at work rather than banging out the fish jokes?
Naughty scampis.

On a SCALE of 1 - 10, that was terrible, Emma Jane.

(p.s. Check your PM message box !)

Oh dear, someone will really have to bring you to eel.

Anyway, off I skate - lobster do......