Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

When I was at CH., a mate of mine had a sister at Hertford and I picked up a few details re. the establishment over the years. One of the more memorable things I learned about Hertford CH was the concept of 'K.O.' (i.e. being keen on a fellow female person).

How did this work exactly? And what did it actually signify?

Was it a schoolgirly crush thing? Or did it just mean you admired someone? Was the person you were keen on made aware of the fact that you were keen on them? If so, did they tell you to sod off and be keen on someone else? And were there league tables showing which girls had the most fans? Or would you all have been mortified if the girls you were keen on had actually discovered the fact? Or what?

And did anyone ever end up in the sack with someone they were keen on?

It all sounded rather strange to me at the time. But then I'm not exactly female, am I? I'm a big fat bearded slob, like.

WOW SPOONBILL !

What a leading question !

I can't wait for the replies to start flooding in !!!

We called them " cracks" and the smitten one was a " cracklet" - very useful, actually - I had 3 " cracklets" at one time who used to polish my shoes, carry my books and generally dogsbody... all very giggly and girlish stuff...

So did I, but none could polish my shoes like I did/do. Though#1son does them very well.

I think we were a bit like queen victoria about the sack thing (well I was anyway) though I am sure (we were pretty average after all) some batted for the opposition.

I was a "cracklet" to someone - and had a cracklet as well - all it involved was the odd passing of notes and the odd chat - nothing about getting into sacks - I thought that was done at primary school in the sack race???

I have no recollection of the term KO, it may have been restricted to a particular house. Cracks yes - don't remember the term cracklet either.

Katharine wrote:I have no recollection of the term KO, it may have been restricted to a particular house. Cracks yes - don't remember the term cracklet either.

I don't remember KO either - we had cracks and crackletts!

Yep - I remember cracks & cracklets. Remember that if you were cracked on someone you were expected to buy birthday & Xmas presents for them, hence a lot of "de-cracking" would go on in December
It was also common practice to have a crush on an older girl as well I had one Remember turning beetroot every time this particular girl even looked in my direction

Vonny wrote:It was also common practice to have a crush on an older girl as well I had one Remember turning beetroot every time this particular girl even looked in my direction

How sweet!

Did anything like this happen in Horsham?

Great Plum wrote:Did anything like this happen in Horsham?

ah! well that's another story!

Somehow that which is innocent enough in a girls only establishment becomes rife with sexual innuendo in a boys' boarding establishment!

I thought that might be the response!!

Being cracked on someone was somewhere between being a fag (as in a boys school rather than the US meaning) and having a crush. I don't remember KO either.

I'm with DBTS on this one, as in our day/s, girls and women were a weird species, generally only encountered during school holidays, wot wiv CH being a one sex school, and even fraternisation with the generally Spanish and Italian female kitchen staff could result in dire consequences.

Hence, I think the term 'Nuff Said' seems apt here !

Men still are a weird species JR - !!