I.A.R. Christie, Lamb A 1956-63

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Fidésien
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I.A.R. Christie, Lamb A 1956-63

Post by Fidésien »

I was sorry to learn from a recent Old Blue mailing of the death of Ian Christie. Ian, known predictably as 'Aggie' or just 'Ag' during school years, was an exact contemporary in Lamb A, and afterwards at Oxford. He was much more interested in books and architecture, and possibly flower arranging, than in organised games. For which reason Johnnie [A.L.Johnstone, the house-master of Lamb A; a dreadful man] wrote him off as 'ineffectual, head-in-the-clouds, dreamer'. Ian was, along with the late Howard Davies, an English Grecian, a rare animal in the 1960s, when English was thought of as 'a bit cissy' compared with real subjects like Classics and Mathematics and, possibly, Medieval History. When Ian won an award at Magdalen College, Oxford, to read English, he was belatedly given his buttons. In between CH and Oxford he hitched around Italy accompanied by Pevsner [the book, not the man], drooling over churches and Baroque architecture. Was it Ian who asked for street directions in Rome by addressing a Catholic priest in Latin ? At Magdalen he was a friend and contemporary of the novelist and Francophile Julian Barnes. After Oxford he did bits of private tutoring for, I think, Gabbitas and Thring. And wrote long and very funny letters about his adventures. He spent time with a very crusty military family in Perthshire, where he was allocated two private bathrooms labelled Ancient and Modern. A bit later he tutored [and fell in love with] one of the Rothschild daughters, who subsequently married an Old Etonian Tory cabinet minister. I have letters from him somewhere with the synopses of projected novels. One, called Flotsam, featured a hero called Albert Clapham, known to his friends as 'the Junction', who only masturbated on his birthday and on Saint's Days. Later letters featured improbable meetings on trains with improbable women. I last saw him in the mid-1970s, when he was working for the Civic Trust for the North-West, and living in what I think was a condemned house in Todmorden with a lavatory across the street. He came to stay with us in Paris, with a [then] girl-friend who was a town planner in Milton Keynes. Can that be true ? Does anyone know the rest of the story ?
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Re: I.A.R. Christie, Lamb A 1956-63

Post by Katharine »

What wonderful memories, thank you for posting them.

Don’t know why your post didn’t have a thumbs up button.
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Re: I.A.R. Christie, Lamb A 1956-63

Post by Foureyes »

This is a most readable and sincere obituary notice which, for reasons I do not understand, is posted under 'Ask the CHOBA board'. Should it not be moved to somewhere more appropriate where more people might read it?
I mean no disrespect, but with reference to the girlfriend mentioned at the end, are not 'town planner' and 'Milton Keynes' mutually exclusive?
David :shock:
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Re: I.A.R. Christie, Lamb A 1956-63

Post by J.R. »

Foureyes wrote: Fri Apr 03, 2020 4:00 pm This is a most readable and sincere obituary notice which, for reasons I do not understand, is posted under 'Ask the CHOBA board'. Should it not be moved to somewhere more appropriate where more people might read it?
I mean no disrespect, but with reference to the girlfriend mentioned at the end, are not 'town planner' and 'Milton Keynes' mutually exclusive?
David :shock:
Topic moved David. John R.
John Rutley. Prep B & Coleridge B. 1958-1963.
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Re: I.A.R. Christie, Lamb A 1956-63

Post by sejintenej »

Foureyes wrote: Fri Apr 03, 2020 4:00 pm are not 'town planner' and 'Milton Keynes' mutually exclusive?
David :
This one of those words or combinations that I detest, hate (or whatever epithet comes to mind).
Go into a high class dress shop and it is all "designer" this and "designer" that. Now go into a cheapo clothes shop with no such claims; surely someone somewhere had to sit down with pencil and paper and put on that paper how the cheapo item will look.
Anything man made, be it a paving slab or a spacecraft has been designed in one way or another so all these fashionable London, Milan and Paris names are no different from the Hoi Polloi designers. Coming back to your comment, someone somewhere had to scribble on paper where the roads and buildings of Milton Keynes should go. You might consider the result criminal but what word(s) suit such a scribbler?
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: I.A.R. Christie, Lamb A 1956-63

Post by brian walling »

A beautiful obituary note. I missed it earlier.

Ian Christie was three years later than me at CH. I don't recall him and thus unfortunately cannot add anything. However, there was an earlier D C L Christie, a contemporary of mine, who was 1952-59 (including one year in the Prep, I think). D C L Christie was also in Lamb A. Could the two have been brothers? There were a number of pairs of brothers at the school in my day and they always seemed to be placed together in the same house.

I have a treasured photo, taken in July 1956 by form master Michael Cherniavsky, of the Upper Fourth A in formal pose on Big Side. Among the 25 boys is D C L Christie, who always stood out because of his striking mop of very pale coloured hair. He went into the history stream, but I don't recall whether he followed on in the usual CH academic route to university. His latest appearance in the school alphabetical records that I still have is Spring 1959, suggesting that he left in Jul or Dec 1959 and didn't go on to university.

(I am happy to email a copy of the 1956 UFA photo, with names, to anyone. Just send me a PM with an email address.)

As I recall, D C L Christie was artistic and creative and could have matched a number of the descriptions in Fidésien's original post. So was he an older brother of the Ian Christie described in that post?
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Re: I.A.R. Christie, Lamb A 1956-63

Post by Foureyes »

Brian Walling writes: "There were a number of pairs of brothers at the school in my day and they always seemed to be placed together in the same house."

Not 'always.' My younger brother (RWA Miller) was in Mid B (1950-56), I was in Lamb B (1949-55). To the best of my recollection neither of us was consulted on this, but our late mother might have been, or, perhaps (as occurred often in those days), it just happened.

That said, the two Wornell brothers were in Lamb B in my time.

David :shock:
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Re: I.A.R. Christie, Lamb A 1956-63

Post by sejintenej »

Brian Walling writes: "There were a number of pairs of brothers at the school in my day and they always seemed to be placed together in the same house."
Not 'always.' My younger brother (RWA Miller) was in Mid B (1950-56), I was in Lamb B (1949-55). To the best of my recollection neither of us was consulted on this, but our late mother might have been, or, perhaps (as occurred often in those days), it just happened.

That said, the two Wornell brothers were in Lamb B in my time.
As I recall in my time the Hildrew brothers were in different houses but the Bisset twins were together as were the Steggles twins
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: I.A.R. Christie, Lamb A 1956-63

Post by Oliver »

Perhaps overall most brothers were in the same house. The following pairs certainly were:

Arnold
Cavendish
Eyles
Griffiths
Millwood
Stileman
Wilkins
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Re: I.A.R. Christie, Lamb A 1956-63

Post by jhopgood »

It seems to me that there were quite a lot of brothers in the same house.
From memory in my time there were:
Joe and Robin Curtis. I inherited Joe’s number and he left a large pen and ink drawing of devils etc, that was on display at the entrance to the Art School.
Bass drummers, Nick and Pete Ledeboer.
Colin and Keith Bright.
Myself and my brother a Richard, and my sister, Josephine was in Hertford.
From Lamb B there were the Springbett brothers who played in the Band, trombone and trumpet. I think they both got into the NYO.
Bound to have been more.
Last edited by jhopgood on Mon Apr 06, 2020 11:17 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: I.A.R. Christie, Lamb A 1956-63

Post by J.R. »

And the Boyle and MacCleod (sp?) brothers with me in Col B.
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Re: I.A.R. Christie, Lamb A 1956-63

Post by Goatherd »

Does anyone remember the christian names (or even initials) of the Steggles twins?
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Re: I.A.R. Christie, Lamb A 1956-63

Post by Ajarn Philip »

Pop quiz: which family had the most brothers at CH?

In my day, the Savages. 3 (or 4?).
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Re: I.A.R. Christie, Lamb A 1956-63

Post by rockfreak »

Foureyes wrote: Fri Apr 03, 2020 4:00 pm This is a most readable and sincere obituary notice which, for reasons I do not understand, is posted under 'Ask the CHOBA board'. Should it not be moved to somewhere more appropriate where more people might read it?
I mean no disrespect, but with reference to the girlfriend mentioned at the end, are not 'town planner' and 'Milton Keynes' mutually exclusive?
David :shock:

As far as I'm aware Milton Keynes is planned isn't it? That's the point of it. Whether you approve of the planning of course is another matter. I'm sure that there are others here who have personal experience of Milton Keynes.
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Re: I.A.R. Christie, Lamb A 1956-63

Post by Foureyes »

"...are not 'town planner' and 'Milton Keynes' mutually exclusive?"
It was only meant as a joke - please don't take it seriously.
David :shock:
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