Roger Allam in Radio Times

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time please
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Re: Roger Allam in Radio Times

Post by time please »

sejintenej wrote: Mon Sep 13, 2021 11:13 am
time please wrote: Sun Sep 12, 2021 7:10 pm Continuing: the school at least in the 60s and 70s was full of " damaged children " children who grew up with one or more parents who suffered during WW2. Certainly there were other pupils who came from backgrounds not damaged by a war but a host of other difficulties . A lot of these if not most had loving parents. I certainly did even though my fathers love for me was horribly damaged by being a Lancaster pilot who somehow survived ( physically if not mentally ) three tours.
I think your first two sentences got it right but was that not one of the prime aims of the school? That your father survived three tours is remarkable - the average lifespan in 101 sqdn was 5 sorties so what he would have experienced day in day out would have been terrible. Even training flights had a high level of danger. My brother survived 7 sorties.
The school was supposed to fend and care for us regardless if we had " loving parents "or not.

Two much older masters, many unmarried, themselves damaged by the war and a matron to control 50+ boys of mixed ages, backgrounds, temperaments, even languages; given the norms of the day what could they have done better? At least CH was better than home. We had hot meals, electricity for light, warmth (comparatively) decent clothing, no pollution - luxury.
Interesting! My father was in 106 and later 156 squadron.
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Re: Roger Allam in Radio Times

Post by sejintenej »

time please wrote: Wed Sep 15, 2021 5:34 pm
sejintenej wrote: Mon Sep 13, 2021 11:13 am
The school was supposed to fend and care for us regardless if we had " loving parents "or not.

Two much older masters, many unmarried, themselves damaged by the war and a matron to control 50+ boys of mixed ages, backgrounds, temperaments, even languages; given the norms of the day what could they have done better? At least CH was better than home. We had hot meals, electricity for light, warmth (comparatively) decent clothing, no pollution - luxury.
Interesting! My father was in 106 and later 156 squadron..
106 was Lancasters, 156 was Wellingtions and later Lancasters, tasked with being the first over targets
Bomber Command overall 60% killed, 3% seriously injured. With those statistics no wonder any survivors were badly affected. In those days they didn't acknowledge PTSD. Due to Lancaster design tail gunners had difficulties donning parachutes and exiting the aircraft
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: Roger Allam in Radio Times

Post by rockfreak »

I can't imagine what sort of a life poor old Banker Brown had, over there in the land of the accordion players. After we got over the worst problems of rationing (necessary in order to spread scarce resources around) most working class households in the later 50s (like my dear old mum's) were able to cook up simple if wholesome food and a good roast on Sundays. In Northern Ireland it seems to have been not only "No Popery" but "No just about everything else-ery". The mind boggles.
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Re: Roger Allam in Radio Times

Post by sejintenej »

rockfreak wrote: Fri Sep 17, 2021 8:40 pm I can't imagine what sort of a life poor old Banker Brown had, over there in the land of the accordion players. After we got over the worst problems of rationing (necessary in order to spread scarce resources around) most working class households in the later 50s (like my dear old mum's) were able to cook up simple if wholesome food and a good roast on Sundays. In Northern Ireland it seems to have been not only "No Popery" but "No just about everything else-ery". The mind boggles.
I thought Germany was the land of accordion players. Only been there once when had to check our Frankfurt branch. What is the connection with RAF squadrons and heavy bombers? I can't even get there to see my brother's grave, Equally the connection with masters suffering from PTSD?

As for popery just look at what they were doing to young children.
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: Roger Allam in Radio Times

Post by loringa »

rockfreak wrote: Fri Sep 17, 2021 8:40 pm After we got over the worst problems of rationing (necessary in order to spread scarce resources around) most working class households in the later 50s (like my dear old mum's) were able to cook up simple if wholesome food and a good roast on Sundays.
Though I am pleased never to have been subjected to the privations of rationing (though I still have the ration card I was issued as a baby 'just in case'), my parent's view is that the nation as a whole was never better fed, nor more fairly. Everyone, rich or poor, got what they needed (just) and as many that were able supplemented their rations with healthy home grown fruit and vegies, kept chickens or communally raised pigs.

Food in this country is incredibly cheap compared with the real costs of producing most of it yet our collective diet has never been so unhealthy. The wealthy often eat far too much meat (as I most certainly do myself and even my healthily vegetarian dd eats lots of highly processed vegie burgers and sausages) whereas far too many of the less well off feed themselves and their offspring all too often on unhealthy and expensive junk food. It's one of the great myths of our time that healthy food is expensive; it is not, certainly when compared with the tasty but high fat, sugar and salt-laden takeaways. Pasta, vegies, tinned tomatoes etc are cheap, healthy and relatively easy to prepare yet we all, rich and poor, stuff ourselves either with rubbish or too much of the stuff that is wrecking the environment.

BTW, I have absolutely no idea how we deal with this. Governments of all hues are in hock to the big manufacturers and producers so are reluctant to do the right thing but, above all, it's incredibly difficult to get people to change their habits (until they suffer heart failure or their nearest and dearest lose a limb to diabetes which is a bit extreme). Oh well, time for a nice cup of tea ... and perhaps a biscuit or two.
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Re: Roger Allam in Radio Times

Post by sejintenej »

loringa wrote: Tue Sep 21, 2021 8:20 am
A useful and generally sensible rant (well, it was over 10 words ;-) )

Though I am pleased never to have been subjected to the privations of rationing (though I still have the ration card I was issued as a baby 'just in case'), my parent's view is that the nation as a whole was never better fed, nor more fairly. Everyone, rich or poor, got what they needed (just) and as many that were able supplemented their rations with healthy home grown fruit and vegies, kept chickens or communally raised pigs.
Do you still have your identity card? There was a psycho..... article some years ago that the average person has trouble learning a series of over 7 characters. we all had identity cards and our numbers consisted of seven letters and numbers - I still remember mine - until they imported those yanks who converted our numbers into an unconsciable long number and told us that henceforth it was out NHS number. Can someone work out how many combinations could be made out of 24 letters and 10 numerals (including zero) (Edit; my number included the capital letter I and the number 1 so no need to worry about confusion so make that 26 letters)

I also read an article about the man who devised the rationing quantities. Having worked it out he walked from London to Birmingham to check it and made a few corrections. Yes, it was adequate and also very healthy - no obesity (well everyone worked 6 days a week and sometimes more). I still remember that lovely Rose Hip Syrup which was part of a child's ration. As far as I remember the raising of animals had to be done on the sly or the bobby would be after you. The second house I lived in we had a lot of chickens so there were eggs every day and frequent chicken meat. Also a huge vegetable and fruit garden.
Food in this country is incredibly cheap compared with the real costs of producing most of it yet our collective diet has never been so unhealthy.
I have to wonder about this as a generalisation. It is a question of climate - much of our fruit and veg was grown in the very sunny warm climes of Italy and Spain. Our outdoor climate restricts the growing season though the introduction of square miles of glasshouse will improve that. When I lived there food in France (including VAT at 20% was about the same, sometimes less that in the UK - transport and more middlemen took the difference.. Meat is a different matter - it is cheap but the middlemen take so much commission that the farmer suffers. On top of that every last petty civil servant has its nose in the regulation that they increase the price inordinately as well.

The wealthy often eat far too much meat (as I most certainly do myself and even my healthily vegetarian dd eats lots of highly processed vegie burgers and sausages) whereas far too many of the less well off feed themselves and their offspring all too often on unhealthy and expensive junk food. It's one of the great myths of our time that healthy food is expensive; it is not, certainly when compared with the tasty but high fat, sugar and salt-laden takeaways. Pasta, vegies, tinned tomatoes etc are cheap, healthy and relatively easy to prepare yet we all, rich and poor, stuff ourselves either with rubbish or too much of the stuff that is wrecking the environment.
It is exceptionally difficult to get a fully balanced diet from a vegetarian meal. (I would remind you that a couple were found guilty of the manslaughter of their child who had to share their vegan diet and did not get adequate needed whatevers)
A few months ago I actually did a short university course on nutrition and what they came up with was a bit frightening. For example they wanted us to take a quantity of cinnamon which another authority rates as poisonous in such quantities. (I have been using a small amount of cinnamon daily for years - after I researched it!) If you take vitamin tablets look at the nutrient reference value (which is what a healthy adult male needs daily) mine include 1000% of the NRV for vitamin B12 and they say "do not exceed the stated dose"!
Let us just accept that there are multiple conflicting ideas. However things are constantly changing. You needed 10 1960 oranges to receive the same nutrient quantity as a single 1945 orange. Modern farming methods have change (and in almost every case reduced) the mineral and vitamin content of vegetables and fruit. Indeed there are one or two vegetables where specific minerals have since disappeared. Let me stress that this refers to commercially grown products - not home grown.
In this house we eat very little meat quantities - but som e most days. My dislike is the use of fat whether to bulk up a product or to fry it. Fat is needed in one's diet but not in the quantities often seen in fast food, fryups etc., Salt is a problem - it improves the taste of food but too much is needed for that.
" far too many of the less well off feed themselves and their offspring all too often on unhealthy and expensive junk food". I suspect several causes - kids are not taught how to cook, it's quick after a long day's work, it needs little thought and effort and it seems cheap. How many readers, male, female or other were taught to cook by their parents? How many of their fathers cooked or was it a "woman's job"? How many learned anything about nutrition? (I was lucky; outside of when I was physically at CH, from the age of zero to 17 i lived and often worked in the kitchens of houses where good nutrition was de rigeur but at the same time it won prizes)
The concept also concerns me in that I went into a very well known burger joint withe the floor covered in rubbish, food being handled in a vert unsafe manner and other worse problems; when I complained to the UK ho their answer was along the lines of "too bad, get lost".

Far worse is that by law all our water must be contaminated.
I have absolutely no idea how we deal with this. Governments of all hues are in hock to the big manufacturers and producers so are reluctant to do the right thing ...........................
True. As an example Britain badly needs new sources of green energy but in the 1970s when they had a chance of that ..
read paragraph three of
https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/un ... lters-duck

I remember those times well; one independent engineer reckoned that if it were put offshore they would get enough electricity for all the uk's 2000 needs. A less efficient version of Dr Salter's Duck (designed by his students) is currently in use in Europe. What the report didn't say was that it would also reduce the damage done to coastal towns. There are at lest five places around England where the tide runs so fast that hydroelectric power is a distinct possibility as well - only one small experimental one has been placed.
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: Roger Allam

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Ruth wrote: Sun Sep 12, 2021 11:30 am Page 25 of the Sunday Telegraph today - Allam on tough times at CH, "Eton for paupers"
Could anybody reproduce the text please?
I'm not a subscriber and can't see it
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Re: Roger Allam in Radio Times

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Re: Roger Allam in Radio Times

Post by Avon »

Nope, behind a paywall.
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Re: Roger Allam in Radio Times

Post by Ajarn Philip »

These don't appear to be the interview in question, but are quite interesting nevertheless:
https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/rog ... sic-on-tv/
https://all-allam.com/endeavour-series-viii/

Oh, here it is on Roger's website: https://all-allam.com/roger-allam-articles/
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Re: Roger Allam in Radio Times

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Ajarn Philip wrote: Sun Sep 26, 2021 11:53 am These don't appear to be the interview in question, but are quite interesting nevertheless:
https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/rog ... sic-on-tv/
https://all-allam.com/endeavour-series-viii/

Oh, here it is on Roger's website: https://all-allam.com/roger-allam-articles/
Read the article, (thanks), and his recall is obviously better than mine.
I have absolutely no recollection of calling a senior boy "Sir", nor getting struck by a senior boy, except once, in my first year in Dining Hall. Sitting near the bottom of the table, we were close to the monitors, one of whom reached a long arm round the back of someone, and knuckled me on the top of the head. Surprised rather than painful.
I have no idea about beatings by teachers, the pyjama thing seemed to happen in the Prep but not the senior houses. I seem to remember one senior boy, Edgely I think, who was caught smoking and given six, after which he swore and immediately bent over for another six.
As regards to a sixth sense about masters, there were quite a few single masters, any of whom could have been a threat, but I must have been seen as an unlikely subject. One Housemaster wrote on my report that I didn't seem to like him, which took a bit of explaining as I didn't really like any of them.
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Re: Roger Allam in Radio Times

Post by AMP »

Thanks for the links.
I wonder which teacher he was referring to?
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Re: Roger Allam in Radio Times

Post by Foureyes »

Have read the article. The way I read it, he recalls rather more positives than negatives about CH, although I accept that six masters sent to prison is a definite negative. Like John Hopgood I have no recollection whatsoever of having to address senior boys as 'sir'. Certainly not in Lamb 1949-55, anyway. It may have been a house thing, but I don't know which house Allam was in.
David :shock:
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Re: Roger Allam in Radio Times

Post by rockfreak »

When I went up into Col. B in 1955 there was a punishment called fotching. This was administered by monitors and involved having to stand there while you got a good clout around the back of the head as a response to some minor misdemeanour, sometimes nearly knocking you off your feet. Some monitors administered this with gusto while others didn't do it at all. This was in the days of AH Buck in Col.B and it went out of fashion with the advent of Seaman. As was mentioned, these things often seemed to differ house to house.
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Re: Roger Allam in Radio Times

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AMP wrote: Sun Sep 26, 2021 3:00 pm Thanks for the links.
I wonder which teacher he was referring to?
The convicted abusers teaching during Roger Allam's time were: Peter Burr, Peter Webb and Roger Martin.

Roger Martin was the most generally popular of those three so, if I was a gambling man, I would surmise Martin is the teacher referred to by Roger.
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