Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

Mark Thomas was just on rdio4. Seems like his experiences at CH were a bit mixed! Not alone then!

Well worth listening to on the 'listen again' feature!

I happened to hear the programme while washing the dishes and noted the remarks about C.H.! Who is Mark Thomas?

You heard the programme and you don't know who he is!! A brilliant comic who also did some very good and very funny investigative journalism on telly. As he explains on the programme.
I would ask if you are a judge (as in 'who are the beatles') but I think, with the potential litigation generated by Mark's programmes, that most judges have heard of him!

I heard it too, I only learnt this morning from the article in The Times that he is an OB. How old is he? When was he there?

Surely most of us had mixed experiences of school - any school not just ours?

Katharine wrote:I heard it too, I only learnt this morning from the article in The Times that he is an OB. How old is he? When was he there?

Surely most of us had mixed experiences of school - any school not just ours?

I think he would be about 43 and would have been there with RR, Sport! and that generation. 73/74 through to about 80/81.

Yes, he was in Barnes A and Col B between 1974 and 1981.

For those unfamiliar with Mark Thomas here is a profile from a few years back.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/1106167.stm

And an interview some of us may be able to relate to in part.

http://www.unesco.org/courier/1999_05/uk/dires/txt1.htm

All your mates at home think you’re posh and all the people at school think you’re common.

From the Mark Thomas interview linked above.

What a chip on his shoulder?

Some mates!!! Perhaps I was just lucky but my mates at home picked up where we left off the previous holidays, and their new friends took it as read that I would be there too.

Why on earth should people at school think he was common? I came from a very similar background, and as far as I know so did everyone else at school.

While I agree with his politics, especially the Nestle thing, I don't think I would like him as a person.

Like the man who is walking through the village and comes across an old-timer sitting on a bench.

" Hello" says the man "What are the folks like in this village"

"What were they like in the last village?" asks the old man.

"Oh, they were lovely, really kind and friendly"

"Well I think you will find them much the same in this village."


A few minutes later another man comes along.

" Hello" says the man "What are the people like in this village"

"What were they like in the last village?" asks the old man.

"Oh, they were horrible, really snooty and unfriendly."

"Well I think you will find them much the same in this village."

I met him briefly once; they had an evening with him and Attilla the Stockbroker at CH...

I thought he was OK, he certainly has a revloutionary zeal!

There's a house photo (Col.B) from 1977 here (scroll down to the second picture):

viewtopic.php?t=508&start=0

Mark Thomas is in the front row, second from left.

englishangel wrote:

All your mates at home think you’re posh and all the people at school think you’re common.

From the Mark Thomas interview linked above.

What a chip on his shoulder?

Some mates!!! Perhaps I was just lucky but my mates at home picked up where we left off the previous holidays, and their new friends took it as read that I would be there too.

Why on earth should people at school think he was common? I came from a very similar background, and as far as I know so did everyone else at school.

While I agree with his politics, especially the Nestle thing, I don't think I would like him as a person.

Like the man who is walking through the village and comes across an old-timer sitting on a bench.

" Hello" says the man "What are the folks like in this village"

"What were they like in the last village?" asks the old man.

"Oh, they were lovely, really kind and friendly"

"Well I think you will find them much the same in this village."


A few minutes later another man comes along.

" Hello" says the man "What are the people like in this village"

"What were they like in the last village?" asks the old man.

"Oh, they were horrible, really snooty and unfriendly."

"Well I think you will find them much the same in this village."

I think you were lucky.

My closest friends from home were ok about CH but there was a definite undercurrent with neighbours and other kids who, although not close friends, I'd known well through sport, cubs etc.

His comments struck a chord with me.

yes, MT was a year below myself in Col B.

I can understand his "mates" comment too.

Well I didn't hear the radio show so I don't know what he said.

I had almost no friends outside of CH as I moved house into a new part of the country when I was 9, so holidays for me were sitting around waiting for my parents to come home from work... V boring.

I believe he left in 1979 and was in Col B at that time.

He did a grecians' lecture on my grecians and was really quite funny. I remember him saying that not getting his buttons was a big deal, until he left and then it meant nothing anyway. Only in a much more comedic way, of course. He said then that it wasn't a great experience for him.

One of my year thought it would be funny to play a prank on him and managed to fix a banger to the bottom of his stool, so when he picked it up to move it, the banger went off. He laughed, but it was not one of my year's finest moments.

Wasn't your year the one which klept a load of stuf from the Science Museum?

Great Plum wrote:Wasn't your year the one which klept a load of stuf from the Science Museum?

Dunno. Wasn't me.

If it was my year, it wasn't noteworthy to get into any diary I've found so far!