The Making of Them by Nick Duffel

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Fjgrogan
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Re: The Making of Them by Nick Duffel

Post by Fjgrogan »

Totally unrelated, but in a similar vein of 'humour' - Alison, a CH friend of my daughter's, who went on to work as a pharmacist, married a guy called Branch, thereby becoming A Branch of Boots!
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Re: The Making of Them by Nick Duffel

Post by rockfreak »

One of Nick Duffell's Wounded Leaders was on display at PMQs just the other week. In answer to a question from (I think) Angela Eagle which went in effect "If even your well-off, privileged, middle-class mother is questioning the fairness of your austerity programme, shouldn't you be having another think about it?", Cameron's carefully practised, suave, plausible, public school carapace was dramatically punctured and he started raving at Jeremy Corbyn about his dress sense. It was so spectacular that even the Labour benches were stunned and forgot to shout "Flashman, Flashman!" as is usually their wont. I've no doubt Nick Duffell would say that this was "the boy inside the man" escaping; another instance of a child hothoused into adulthood too early and having been given an illusion of entitlement and a brittle armour of self-confidence which is all too easily punctured by what, after all, was a perfectly legitimate question. What a pity that our leader couldn't even take a few seconds to consider the question and give an adult and intelligent answer. Unfortunately the "entitlement illusion" isn't just confined to the products of Eton, Harrow, etc. It also exists on the CH Unofficial website.
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Re: The Making of Them by Nick Duffel

Post by HowardH »

As soon as I found out that it was not a documentary about the founding of the legendary 60s Belfast band fronted by the legendary Van Morrison, I decided not to watch.
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Re: The Making of Them by Nick Duffel

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Astral Weeks. Still legendary. Had my vinyl copy for years.
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Re: The Making of Them by Nick Duffel

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Simply the greatest album ever recorded.
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Re: The Making of Them by Nick Duffel

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'Van the Man'. Superb.

A band member of a blues group who are regulars in my local, has done recording sessions with him. The stories are awesome, if not somewhat frightening !
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HowardH
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Re: The Making of Them by Nick Duffel

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Only seen him 105 times, John!
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Re: The Making of Them by Nick Duffel

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HowardH wrote:Only seen him 105 times, John!

Lucky you Howard !

All I'll say is that from tales told to me, Van is a very hard man to work for. A true perfectionist with moods and temper to match.
John Rutley. Prep B & Coleridge B. 1958-1963.
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Re: The Making of Them by Nick Duffel

Post by HowardH »

'Tis true, John .... but when he is on .... my goodness!
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Re: The Making of Them by Nick Duffel

Post by rockfreak »

HowardH wrote:'Tis true, John .... but when he is on .... my goodness!
My favourite Van number - the barnstorming live version of "Caravan" from The Last Waltz where he ends with some most uncharacteristic high kicks.
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Re: The Making of Them by Nick Duffel

Post by rockfreak »

Of dear, we're going off thread again. The Politics thread got diverted by Cats, the Constant Lambert thread got diverted by Hats, the Daily Timetable thread got diverted by Hockey & Hormones (we're still waiting for some replies, girls), and the 26% Fee Payers thread got diverted by Capital Punishment. Perhaps we should just relax and view the CH Unofficial Website as a giant game of Consequencies.
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Re: The Making of Them by Nick Duffel

Post by LongGone »

rockfreak wrote:Of dear, we're going off thread again. The Politics thread got diverted by Cats, the Constant Lambert thread got diverted by Hats, the Daily Timetable thread got diverted by Hockey & Hormones (we're still waiting for some replies, girls), and the 26% Fee Payers thread got diverted by Capital Punishment. Perhaps we should just relax and view the CH Unofficial Website as a giant game of Consequencies.
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Re: The Making of Them by Nick Duffel

Post by AMP »

Some provocative letters in today's Observer.
I'm sure Rockfreak is familiar with the tome under discussion, but what do the ladies think?


Observer letters
Letters: boarding schools are no longer repressive
Whether or not you approve of private education, today’s independent schools are a far cry from their predecessors


Richard Beard’s book extract and accompanying interview made for interesting insights into the current Tory government and his own experience of boarding as a boy was clearly traumatic (“The childhood of a leader”, the New Review). However, newspapers focusing on the experiences of that generation of men who were made unhappy by their education helps perpetuate the myth that all boarding schools in 2021 continue to churn out repressed, inauthentic individuals with no interest in creating an equal world.
Whatever your views on private education as an idea, many modern boarding schools are deeply committed to educating children from all over the globe with strong values of service to others, teaching them that “with your privilege comes responsibility”. As a mum of three teenagers at a co-educational boarding school, I can also tell you that today’s boarders are home each weekend and FaceTiming for a catch-up every night; the days of not seeing your parents for weeks on end are long gone.
Finally, where are the voices of women? Boarding in the 1970s was not exclusively a male experience, yet I cannot remember reading in any newspaper about the female boarding experience, which I suspect was a more positive one.

Richard Beard’s piece reminded me of the motto of Eton College – Floreat Etona (May Eton Flourish). The school’s primary concern is to preserve itself. Is it any wonder, with this message having been instilled in them at the age of 13, that our two most recent Etonian prime ministers have focused so much on their own financial interests and that of their friends – to the detriment of others?
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Re: The Making of Them by Nick Duffel

Post by sejintenej »

rockfreak wrote: Sat Mar 12, 2016 9:24 pm Of dear, we're going off thread again. The Politics thread got diverted by Cats, the Constant Lambert thread got diverted by Hats, the Daily Timetable thread got diverted by Hockey & Hormones (we're still waiting for some replies, girls), and the 26% Fee Payers thread got diverted by Capital Punishment. Perhaps we should just relax and view the CH Unofficial Website as a giant game of Consequencies.
Just noticed this. So What???? One newsgroup to which I subscribed had a strict rule that a thread had to go off topic by the third post. Any offence was quickly dealt with by posting something including the correct spelling of Hilter's name- that closed the thread immediately. Of course the merkins tried to thwart that and got themselves pasted
What happens if a politician drowns in a river? That is pollution.
What happens if all of them drown? That is solution!!!
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Re: The Making of Them by Nick Duffel

Post by rockfreak »

In reply to AMP (since none of the girls have taken up the challenge) I'm familiar with Nick Duffell's books and some years ago he asked me to put my thoughts about boarding schools on his Wounded Leaders site, which I've done from time to time. One of the things which interests me about the Richard Beard article is the way that the private schools are now bragging about giving a good education to pupils from all over the world. Without wishing to be too parochial, shouldn't they be concerned about giving an education to our own people? Just as the budget for state education is being slashed, the core curriculum narrowed down, and of course Thatcher having sold off the playing fields. Can't Gulf sheiks and Russian oligarchs pay for a decent education system in their own country for their own brats? Even CH now touts itself as an international boarding school.

And this stuff about helping the local community annoys me. My daughters went to state school and at one comprehensive a show was put on every year. The senior boys in tandem with the music master trawled all ages for singing or dancing ability, rehearsed them and then presented the concert. Parents' arms were twisted to pay for tickets and the hat was passed around again on the night. The resultant cash went to charity. I don't know whether their good works got any publicity. The school didn't have a full-time slick, plausible, pushy PR person like the private schools all have now, including of course, CH.
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