Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

sejintenej wrote:
Do you remember Corks (the Rev Cochrane), Jr housemaster in Col A? He moved to work at St Paul's Cathedral where he could visit Smithfield Market from 3am, Borough Market in the morning, City clubs in the afternoons, West End in the evenings and clubs until 4 am (and back to Smithfield Market again) 24 hours a day drinking time when the UK had strict licencing hours. I liked him as a person but I don't think he was necessarily a good teacher or housemaster. I spent about 8 hours with him doing the rounds one day - steady and not too fast so we didn't get legless. Surprisingly I never heard of him drinking with Kit Aitken - who was not teetotal!

I remember Kit, of the one pedal bicycle pedal fame, well.

I'm not sure I ever got involved with his Deputies. What were his years in Col A ?

J.R. wrote:

sejintenej wrote:
Do you remember Corks (the Rev Cochrane), Jr housemaster in Col A? He moved to work at St Paul's Cathedral where he could visit Smithfield Market from 3am, Borough Market in the morning, City clubs in the afternoons, West End in the evenings and clubs until 4 am (and back to Smithfield Market again) 24 hours a day drinking time when the UK had strict licencing hours. I liked him as a person but I don't think he was necessarily a good teacher or housemaster. I spent about 8 hours with him doing the rounds one day - steady and not too fast so we didn't get legless. Surprisingly I never heard of him drinking with Kit Aitken - who was not teetotal!

I remember Kit, of the one pedal bicycle pedal fame, well.

I'm not sure I ever got involved with his Deputies. What were his years in Col A ?

Corks left 1960 (and was replaced by Potts, straight out of Fettes and Uni, and my last A level year chemistry teacher)

http://www.chforum.info/pictures/brianl ... A-1952.jpg
I'm pretty sure it is Corks to right of Kit next to a button grecian.

Corks was succeeded as Director of Music by a man called John F. Rust, who was not universally popular (to put it mildly), but Corks was a difficult act to follow. Rust (aka Jack Frust) used to come and have coffee with the Thornton B monitors in the evening. Shortly after his arrival, he told us, he found a note in the organ loft reading: Wanted, rust remover, with corks to replace.

Corks incidentally is buried in Itchingfield churchyard. His headstone reads 'Musician and Priest'.

(It is Corks in the picture which David provided a link to. This was taken before the demon drink took its toll.)

michael scuffil wrote:Corks was succeeded as Director of Music by a man called John F. Rust, who was not universally popular (to put it mildly), but Corks was a difficult act to follow. Rust (aka Jack Frust) used to come and have coffee with the Thornton B monitors in the evening. Shortly after his arrival, he told us, he found a note in the organ loft reading: Wanted, rust remover, with corks to replace.

Corks incidentally is buried in Itchingfield churchyard. His headstone reads 'Musician and Priest'.

(It is Corks in the picture which David provided a link to. This was taken before the demon drink took its toll.)

I'd rather not comment !

Can't get away from the place. I met a man today in Tavistock whose best man at this wedding had been a teacher at CH. Must ask him next time I see him who it was and see if anyone on the forum knew him.

I got married at Kelly College chapel outside Tavistock as my father-in-law was a classics teacher there.

Corks sits between David McKie (was on the Guardian as political editor) and Kit in 1953 Col A house photo. He was slimmer in 1946 when he joined the house. His father was the rector of Winchelsea, Sussex, and Corks once came to visit me in Hastings where I lived. He certainly drank with Kit when they took small groups on Broads holidays. The demon drink was his tragedy; I am not sure when it took hold; not before 1953 I think.
His sermons were popular, though infrequent.

wurzel wrote:I got married at Kelly College chapel outside Tavistock as my father-in-law was a classics teacher there.

Twilight zone! Ain't life funny. The chap I was talking to was 3rd Master at Kelly, recently retired (Christopher Kirwin sp?). He is organising the Tavistock Music and Arts Festival currently on.

Corks was allegedly shifted by Flecker's successor who allegedly (again) complained that choral singing got an unfairly large share of the Director of Music. However the new Head may have wanted to get an alcohol problem off his hands, who knows? Corks was notorious for loading up in the Common Room in the evenings long before 1953. Corks held his trousers up with a Broadie btw (a small detail of CH history that might otherwise be lost). I had a year of English with Kit once, found him boring and pedestrian and unrewarding compared to Gad Malins and David Jesson-Dibley.

postwarblue wrote: However the new Head may have wanted to get an alcohol problem off his hands, who knows? Corks was notorious for loading up in the Common Room in the evenings long before 1953. Corks held his trousers up with a Broadie btw (a small detail of CH history that might otherwise be lost).

I cannot comment on your suggestion save to opine that if Seaman had that view then he should have got rid of Kit Aitken at the time. IMHO Corks held his liquor far far better than Kit.

postwarblue wrote:I had a year of English with Kit once, found him boring and pedestrian and unrewarding compared to Gad Malins and David Jesson-Dibley.

ISTR I had Kit for Latin in my forst year in the upper - I couldn't see any point in Latin, it's structure was not explained and sim0ly learning Amo, Amas, Amat........... etc. in a limbo land seemed then (and seems now) a waste of time. I've made the point (contested by others) that after learning 3 romance languages Latin still sems a waste of time, effort and neuron use. Yes; Kit did not inspire one in any manner even even though in later years he allowed me to get away with all sorts of way-out things without comment.

michael scuffil wrote:Corks was succeeded as Director of Music by a man called John F. Rust, who was not universally popular (to put it mildly)

aka the screaming skull - he subsequently came to Jersey for the sake of, so the story had it, his health. Here he found himself teaching music to, amongst others, a teeny-tiny Vièr Bliu. There are many choirs, no doubt, that I have deserved being thrown out of, but in fact I've only ever actually been thrown out of one, and that was in a Jersey school and by Mr Rust.

Vièr Bliu wrote:

michael scuffil wrote:Corks was succeeded as Director of Music by a man called John F. Rust, who was not universally popular (to put it mildly)

aka the screaming skull - he subsequently came to Jersey for the sake of, so the story had it, his health. Here he found himself teaching music to, amongst others, a teeny-tiny Vièr Bliu. There are many choirs, no doubt, that I have deserved being thrown out of, but in fact I've only ever actually been thrown out of one, and that was in a Jersey school and by Mr Rust.

Fascinating.
Rust had a tendency to curry favour by playing to the gallery (i.e. cheeky adolescents). He would close Chapel Practice with phrases like "Over to you, vicar" (addressed to the chaplain). When having coffee with the Thornton B monitors he would say things like "Here comes the Galloping Major to send you to bed." (= John Page, the housemaster, who was a major in the CCF).

Seaman wielded his new broom fairly vigorously, but I didn't know that he wanted to sweep Corks out. Corks was appointed a minor canon of St Paul's, which sounds reasonably prestigious, and by all accounts he enjoyed life there. I can see though that he might not have been a great administrator of the CH music department (presumably part of the job description), he was only interested in chapel singing. The music department had to wait for McKelvey.

Kit was an all-purpose master. But he wasn't allowed into deps and grecians, or into any of the top streams above the LF or LE. Certainly he was rather out of place in a very strong English department (Jesson Dibley, Malins, David Herbert, Peter Austin Jones).

I don't of course, remember "Corks" who was after my tme, Dr Lang was Director of Music and composer of much Church Music, also a lovely piece called "Tuba Tune".
I saw a mention of Mr Malins, who taught me English, how to enjoy Shakespear, and how to act Polonious.
The English enables me to, in the main, avoid the critiscm of English Angel, and the Acting, stood me in good stead,in some films in later years.
Whenever one of these appeared on late, late TV, my sons would always say "Dad Dad, -- that was the WORST film that was ever made "
It didn't matter which one it was ---- "A Prophet is not without Honour ---- "
Seriously, I thought he was a great English Teacher, who encouraged individual attitudes,

michael scuffil wrote: Corks was appointed a minor canon of St Paul's, which sounds reasonably prestigious, and by all accounts he enjoyed life there.

Yes, he certainly enjoyed being there but I never did get to know what he was supposed to do there. I heard mention of the occasional service but no more.

michael scuffil wrote:Kit was an all-purpose master. But he wasn't allowed into deps and grecians, or into any of the top streams above the LF or LE. Certainly he was rather out of place in a very strong English department (Jesson Dibley, Malins, David Herbert, Peter Austin Jones).

David Herbert; that is a name which brings back memories. Ex professor or something like that in either Granada or Seville and for a time a junior housemaster in Col A. When doing A levels one had to do 2 periods a week of a language one had not done before and 2 periods of art or handicrafts. The only option then available to me was German but I was able to get Mr Herbert to set me Spanish which I did in the back of the German class. After 1 year I went into the O levels far more competent than when I did French O level after 3 years. I missed one written exam (had to start work early) so I failed but was able to hold my own in Spain the following year thanks to him.

Can anyone place the master who had worked in India and frequently used an Urdu word sounding like "ooloo" to suggest lack of mental processes (ie an idiot)?