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Re: Edward Malins

Posted: Sat May 10, 2014 11:04 pm
by alterblau
In the writings about EG Malins so far, only his military, equestrian, pedagogic and intellectual qualities have been mentioned. There is more to add!

I was in the school Colts (under 16 rugby team) in 1954 and 1955 and our coaches then were Kit Aitken and Gad Malins.

Re: Edward Malins

Posted: Sun May 11, 2014 7:50 pm
by rockfreak
alterblau wrote:In the writings about EG Malins so far, only his military, equestrian and intellectual qualities have been mentioned. There is more to add!

I was in the school Colts (under 16 rugby team) in 1954 and 1955 and our coaches then were Kit Aitken and Gad Malins.
If Kit was coaching you I imagine you may have turned out like a rugby version of the Monty Python Long John Silver Impersonators Eleven.

Re: Edward Malins

Posted: Mon May 12, 2014 7:22 am
by michael scuffil
The thought of Gad and Kit demonstrating rugby tackles. The mind boggles somewhat...

Re: Edward Malins

Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2014 11:17 am
by PeteC
Gad Malins was a pretty mean pianist: I remember him playing the virtuoso piano part in Constant Lambert's "Rio Grande"
We used to satirise his somewhat detached aristocratic manner: when he played Xylophone in something the Orchestra were playing, a neighbour muttered to me "Gad looks like he's putting sugarlumps into cups of tea". As someone else has said, his harpsichord used to appear for concerts too: I remember it in Chapel when we did the St John Passion.

Re: Edward Malins

Posted: Sat Mar 11, 2017 1:36 pm
by Phil
Gad Malins taught me English when I was in the UF and then history the following GE year. I believe his degree was in history, although he was head of the English Department.

We were taught to write two sorts of notes. One formal sort comprised full complete sentences, with paragraphs, etc. He called them “history notes.” The less formal sort was written in incomplete sentences, using clauses, phrases, etc. But I have forgotten what he called them. Can anyone else tell me? (This unnecessary detail is remembered because once I had prep to write notes on something, but produced the wrong sort. He was very reasonable about my error.)

I always found him a good teacher (in spite of some others’ comments in earlier postings) and often imaginative.

Re: Edward Malins

Posted: Sat Mar 11, 2017 3:00 pm
by sejintenej
michael scuffil wrote:The thought of Gad and Kit demonstrating rugby tackles. The mind boggles somewhat...
Thank goodness alterblau kept Kit so busy thay he never trieds to coach Col A teams (and nor did anyone else).

I think we must have been a fairly placid team compared to some; I remember one game getting kicked in the head and being sent home immediately after the game for a week - no trip to the sicker, just gggggooooo

Re: Edward Malins

Posted: Wed Jul 10, 2019 12:28 pm
by KMB
Malins was very generous to older boys with a musical gift (there was no way actually to study music for GCE in the early 1950s), and I remember him taking groups of us out in his Austin Hereford to play in local concerts. I was a clarinettist, and he did me the great honour of inviting the conductor and clarinettist Colin Davis down to CH to audition me as a potential student - I played the Mozart Concerto for him in Big School, with Malins at the piano. I subsequently visited Colin Davis in his Chelsea flat, and he advised me what I should do to become a professional. Sad to relate, this put me off - extensive dental surgery and expensive instruments were not possible for me in those days. I was always indebted to Malins for his musical encouragement and advice, as well as his English tuition. In about 1956 he and Jesson-Dibley took the Dram Soc to Germany with our production of Julius Caesar, and I have fond memories of that too - I was involved as an interpreter rather than for my acting skills!

Re: Edward Malins

Posted: Sun Aug 04, 2019 9:38 pm
by rockfreak
Someone posted in a much earlier post that Gad served with a cavalry regiment in WW2. Forgive my ignorance of military matters but I'd always imagined that cavalry horses were redundant in WW1, apart from towing guns and supplies and sustaining awful slaughter in the process. Have I missed something? Was there an ill-conceived charge of the Light Brigade in WW2?

Re: Edward Malins

Posted: Sun Aug 04, 2019 9:57 pm
by Ajarn Philip
I'm no expert, but I think you'll find that by WW2 they used tanks and the like rather than horses!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavalry_r ... itish_Army
In October 1928, a new era began as the 11th Hussars became the first regular cavalry regiment to "mechanise", to change from a horsed cavalry role to a motorised one, re-equipping with armoured cars previously used by the Royal Tank Corps. Other regiments followed suit; in April 1939, the Royal Armoured Corps was formed to encompass the eighteen mechanised cavalry regiments of the line alongside the eight battalions of the Royal Tank Regiment, but did not include the Household Cavalry. The remaining two regular cavalry regiments were based in Palestine, and following the outbreak of war retained their horses until 1940 (the Royal Dragoons) and 1941 (the Royal Scots Greys). Following mechanisation, the few remaining distinctions of unit type became meaningless; cavalry regiments moved between the heavy and light armoured roles regardless of their names.

Re: Edward Malins

Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2020 1:00 am
by dondun
He once let slip that he was well-known in Sussex and I remember one term a GE class wrote a letter to him which one of us posted from a continental holiday. The envelope was addressed simply as Mr E. Malins, Sussex. The next term he thanked us for 'corresponding' as he put it.
Donald Duncan (LaB 53-58, Pe B 1959)

Re: Edward Malins

Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2020 9:50 am
by sejintenej
dondun wrote: Fri Nov 13, 2020 1:00 am He once let slip that he was well-known in Sussex and I remember one term a GE class wrote a letter to him which one of us posted from a continental holiday. The envelope was addressed simply as Mr E. Malins, Sussex. The next term he thanked us for 'corresponding' as he put it.
Donald Duncan (LaB 53-58, Pe B 1959)
Far from easy because most are in/from Warwickshire and very few with any Sussex connection.. ? Born Hastings 1910. Had he been married to Meta Leo (just a guess)
The GPO has a section whose sole job is to try to sort out insufficient addresses, difficult writing, foreign scripts etc.
Apparently they are usually very successful.

Re: Edward Malins

Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2021 8:43 am
by Nick Gough
Yes, EM married Meta Leo. She had been a nanny to my father and aunt and they had adored her. Meta was American and my grandfather gave her away at their wedding in his Oxford College: Oriel.

Re: Edward Malins

Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2021 1:28 pm
by Phil
I understand that EGM spent a year in the USA very soon after WW2 and returned with his American wife, whose nickname was Mitzi. They had two daughters. He had taught at Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts. For some years following we had a final year import from that school. Can anyone confirm all this?