The Glorious seventies

[NEILL THE NOTORIOUS]

Well done EA
You beat me to it !!

"Brown" must be warned against the Pedant's Revolt !!


DS McNutt (Senior Classics Master and Ximines of the Times) wore no Hood in Chapel, rumour has it that HE had been Rusticated from Oxford (We know not why) but Oily Flecker had employed him because he was a brilliant scholar.

--- others may know more --- ?

[Brown]

Honest, it was all innocent fun.

Haha count yourself lucky! I got suspended (rusticated - that's a real Housey word!!) in early 1990 for having a girl in my Dormitory. I'm not sure the Head would have been quite so lenient if he'd known I had broken into Barnes A and woken said girl up before going back with her to Maine A...

Ah, well, you see, there you have it; CH didn't go co-ed until long after I'd gone. These girls were from Horsham High, Farlington, etc. etc., mostly met during theatre productions. It was absolutely verboten without specific permission, but I don't recall Mr Higgins ever questioning me on the subject. Also had a bit of a problem at Farlington when we stayed rather late in the girls dorms one Sunday, but that's another story.

Come to think of it, I also spent a bit of time in Helen Watters' company, but then who didn't...

TBH, Angela, I'm not sure how much of my experience at Hertford is printable. Bear in mind that we're only talking about a few visits, and I was 'spoken for'.
Though I blithely waltzed around the place, I sort of suspect that behind the scenes there was some 'monitoring' of the situation, but then I was a Housey boy, and a friend of the Head girl's brother.

Sadly, no pics from that time to share.

PS: I thought you got sent down from Oxford and rusticated from Cambridge (and Eton), same thing, different words. Now who's a pedant?

[anniexf]

Come to think of it, I also spent a bit of time in Helen Watters' company, but then who didn't...

CAREFUL...!

[Angela Woodford]

Though I blithely waltzed around the place, I sort of suspect that behind the scenes there was some 'monitoring' of the situation, but then I was a Housey boy, and a friend of the Head girl's brother.

Aha! It's always fun to hear of accounts of Hertford Lite.

There's another account here on the Forum - might have been 1970 - of a group of Housey Boys who planned a surprise and secret Saturday visit to Hertford in disguise, wearing masks, and, for added irresistability, bearing boxes of Black Magic.

Superb! I wonder which House they would have chosen? Maybe to keep the spirit of the thing, they'd have swung in through a window? I imagine the arrival of an appalled po-faced DR on the scene, the removal of the masks, the implacable phone call to Horsham and the ordering of the boys from the premises. I wonder if she'd have allowed us to keep the Black Magic?

I have an idea that they were rumbled even before setting out - I think they'd asked the wrong person for directions to Hertford... who promptly gave them away Shame!!

[Richard Ruck]

... Brown-hatter and Chapeau Brun

Very seventies C.H.!

Yes, I think I remember you. Something dredged from the depths of my memory tells me that you left for a year and then returned. Is that right? I'm sure we used to play rugby for the school as 3rd. formers (U.13s, I suppose.......).

[Mid A 15]

Welcome to the forum Brown!

Did your buddy Andrew Quest have an older brother called Steve?

Steve was my vintage and a bastion of the 1st XV and 1st X1.

[fra828]

Hello Brown. You mention Andy Quest. Did he have a sister at Hertford? I remember the name Barbara Quest, but nothing else about her, except she was there in the late 1940s.

hi Midget. No, Andy didn't have a sister, but it could conceivably have been an aunt. Andy's mate Time Cuddeford's sister Becky was head girl in 79. Though I vividly remember some of the experiences when I visited (any red-blooded man would), I (understandably) can't recall too many of the girls' names.

I remember Becky Cuddeford, we were in 8's together. She was several years younger than me, as I left age 17 in 1973. Sounded like a lot of the rules got relaxed when Miss Tucker got into the swing of headmistress. Still very strict in Oct 72 on long Sat when a group of us went by train to meet parents/friends at Liverpool St- we tried to put on make-up at the back-gate on the way out, but a member of staff spotted us and furiously told us : 'wipe that muck from your faces' . We were 16 after all for goodness sake!!

[fra828]

Hello Brown. You mention Andy Quest. Did he have a sister at Hertford? I remember the name Barbara Quest, but nothing else about her, except she was there in the late 1940s.

hi Midget. No, Andy didn't have a sister, but it could conceivably have been an aunt. Andy's mate Time Cuddeford's sister Becky was head girl in 79. Though I vividly remember some of the experiences when I visited (any red-blooded man would), I (understandably) can't recall too many of the girls' names.

I remember Becky Cuddeford, we were in 8's together. She was several years younger than me, as I left age 17 in 1973. Sounded like a lot of the rules got relaxed when Miss Tucker got into the swing of being headmistress. Still very strict in Oct 72 on Long Sat when a group of us went by train to meet parents/friends at Liverpool St- we tried to put on make-up at the back-gate on the way out, but a member of staff spotted us and furiously told us : 'wipe that muck from your faces' . We were 16 after all for goodness sake!! Good to hear that things got better soon after that .

[Jo]

Hello Brown. You mention Andy Quest. Did he have a sister at Hertford? I remember the name Barbara Quest, but nothing else about her, except she was there in the late 1940s.

hi Midget. No, Andy didn't have a sister, but it could conceivably have been an aunt. Andy's mate Time Cuddeford's sister Becky was head girl in 79. Though I vividly remember some of the experiences when I visited (any red-blooded man would), I (understandably) can't recall too many of the girls' names.

I remember Becky Cuddeford, we were in 8's together. She was several years younger than me, as I left age 17 in 1973. Sounded like a lot of the rules got relaxed when Miss Tucker got into the swing of headmistress. Still very strict in Oct 72 on long Sat when a group of us went by train to meet parents/friends at Liverpool St- we tried to put on make-up at the back-gate on the way out, but a member of staff spotted us and furiously told us : 'wipe that muck from your faces' . We were 16 after all for goodness sake!!

I don't really remember Becky from school but I got to know her afterwards, when she came to live near me, did a holiday job at the same place, and ended up engaged to a friend of mine. They split up very suddenly and sadly I haven't seen her since. She was fun but I've completely lost track of what's happened to her since.

[Brown]

... Brown-hatter and Chapeau Brun

Very seventies C.H.!

Yes, I think I remember you. Something dredged from the depths of my memory tells me that you left for a year and then returned. Is that right? I'm sure we used to play rugby for the school as 3rd. formers (U.13s, I suppose.......).

I was fairly sure I knew your name, Richard, but one doesn't like to presume. Yes; I was a hooker, very small for my age a somewhat lacking in a sense of self-preservation. Used to get nose bleeds a lot; in those days, we didn't have to leave the pitch; I used to just run around chasing the opposition with blood streaming down the front of my shirt.

I left at the beginning of LE (my mother remarried and stepfather both disapproved of public school and refused to pay). I was in a local comp in Basingstoke for 4 weeks until I put my foot down and flatly refused to return there, on the grounds that it was absolutely pointless. Eventually, I got my way and was returned to CH in the Summer Term. I think we were in Russian classes together, but I was forced to drop it as I had missed too much. I remember you as being larger than I, and a chum of Kibble's; is that right?

The nicknames were courtesy of Johnny Granger, who went on the grow very tall and be Senior Grecian after I left.

Nice to see that my reminiscences have sparked off some banter about misbehaviour. Wait till I get to the CH stories...

[loringa]

[Come to think of it, I also spent a bit of time in Helen Watters' company, but then who didn't...

I didn't - but I should very much have liked to; a lovely girl.

[Richard Ruck]

... Brown-hatter and Chapeau Brun

Very seventies C.H.!

Yes, I think I remember you. Something dredged from the depths of my memory tells me that you left for a year and then returned. Is that right? I'm sure we used to play rugby for the school as 3rd. formers (U.13s, I suppose.......).

I was fairly sure I knew your name, Richard, but one doesn't like to presume. Yes; I was a hooker, very small for my age a somewhat lacking in a sense of self-preservation. Used to get nose bleeds a lot; in those days, we didn't have to leave the pitch; I used to just run around chasing the opposition with blood streaming down the front of my shirt.

I left at the beginning of LE (my mother remarried and stepfather both disapproved of public school and refused to pay). I was in a local comp in Basingstoke for 4 weeks until I put my foot down and flatly refused to return there, on the grounds that it was absolutely pointless. Eventually, I got my way and was returned to CH in the Summer Term. I think we were in Russian classes together, but I was forced to drop it as I had missed too much. I remember you as being larger than I, and a chum of Kibble's; is that right?

The nicknames were courtesy of Johnny Granger, who went on the grow very tall and be Senior Grecian after I left.

Nice to see that my reminiscences have sparked off some banter about misbehaviour. Wait till I get to the CH stories...

Sounds like I was one of your props, then! U13 B sounds about right.

I didn't do Russian at C.H., though Rory Farquahar-Thomson and Andy Sizer did, and eventually formed an A-level class of 2............

Yes, I was a mate of Toby Kibble then, and remain so now. He was best man at my wedding, and I last saw him a month ago at the Retreat. Incidentally, his eldest daughter was at C.H., and left at the end of the summer term.

Blood was part of the experience then - looked particularly fetching on a white shirt.

[Richard Ruck]

[Come to think of it, I also spent a bit of time in Helen Watters' company, but then who didn't...

I didn't - but I should very much have liked to; a lovely girl.

I always wondered how she felt about being 'admired' by around 850 boys.......

[sejintenej]

somewhat lacking in a sense of self-preservation. Used to get nose bleeds a lot; in those days, we didn't have to leave the pitch; I used to just run around chasing the opposition with blood streaming down the front of my shirt.

No connection unless you are from Omeath! Yes - I had the same problem which got worse then better then worse then better ................. up to the present time. I remember being sent out of Mr Crosland's class because of a bleed one Monday morning. Dr Scott had taught me a way of stopping it because I had such problems but he was away and the nurses decided to go by the book - I was still streaming Wednesday afternoon when the doctor came back. He shooed the nurses out and allowed me to do "my thing" - it was stopped in under 10 minutes.
I was lucky and never got a bleed during rugby but things got serious when I had to be taken to the sicker after some bullying - I was a real mess but got sent back to the house eventually to show what bullying can do. The chief perpetrator got away with that and, when last heard of, was responsibile for a load of older kids in a Uni down under

[michael scuffil]

DS McNutt (Senior Classics Master and Ximines of the Times) wore no Hood in Chapel, rumour has it that HE had been Rusticated from Oxford (We know not why) but Oily Flecker had employed him because he was a brilliant scholar.

--- others may know more --- ?

He wore a Cambridge MA hood in my day. Perhaps it had something to do with clothes rationing? Wikipedia says of him:

Macnutt was educated at Marlborough College before achieving a double first in classics at Jesus College, Cambridge. Between 1928 and 1963 he held the position of Head of Classics at Christ's Hospital near Horsham, West Sussex, as well as being a housemaster.