by Don Bennett (1939-45), Southern California:
Thanks for the photo page (No 2 May 2006). It brings back memories, as I used to sit across the desk from Mr Bodey in his physics lab.
You may remember his room had a long table with all the boys sitting round it and his desk was towards one end. His teaching of physics was what caused me to eventually work in areas which he awakened my interest in. My eventual work included pneumatics, hydraulics, electrics and electronics, plus a few other technical areas such as aerodynamics, instrumentation, Radar, etc, and my training led me to work in 6 different countries. I am now retired in Southern California.
Brian Beames (1945-50) writes:
“Can’t remember whether I’ve mentioned it before but Pongo’s car No. was DHK 745. Many fond memories of him. One thing that always sticks in my mind was that he told us of some advice given to him by an ‘ old hand ‘ before he entered his first ever class. That was to hit the first boy in the room and warn the rest of the class that that was their fate if they misbehaved. He told us that he had never had a problem since as his reputation as a hitter spread far and wide. For my part I always enjoyed his classes and learned a lot from him.
“PONGO came in for a fair bit of ribbing. Reading the article by Ernest Ames in the 2008 February edition of the newsletter reminded me of the occasion around 1948/9 I would think when a group of us rested a blackboard against the side of his Austin 7 Ruby Saloon which quoted the last line from Milton’s poem entitled ‘ On His Blindness ‘. That last line reads: ‘They also serve who only stand and wait’ – only we put a W after the S in the third word. Dear old Pongo found that quite amusing and only gave us a weary smile. At the same time we had put a rolled up page of a newspaper in the car’s exhaust and that only became apparent when he drove away, the car with its multiple reeds sounding rather like a Formula 1 car ! I’ve always had a head for numbers — who remembers Pongo’s car registration No.? It was DHK 745.”
Len Hope (1951-59) wrote some time ago about his undiminished admiration for the gentlemanly discipline of PONGO BODEY and remembers his skill at controlling teenage boys.
“The long lower corridor at the COHS was frequently an untidy noisy rabble of two poorly-formed queues of boys waiting to enter the Chemistry and Physics labs. All Mr BODEY had to do was to appear at the head of the few steps entering the corridor. Silence was instant and complete”
Ralp Baer (1941-45) remembers in particular Mr BODEY, with whom I spent a fascinating half-hour in discussion after school because I did not believe one of the physics principles he enunciated.
Jim Fleetwood (1946-51) writes: “At the end of one term, we had bored a hole through a potato and inserted a referee’s whistle in one end. Whilst the rest of the gang “Kept Cavey”, this assembly was stuffed into the exhaust pipe of Pongo’s old Austin 7 and we all immediately scarpered to start our Summer vacation. Some little time later, as I cycled along The High, Pongo pased me with a loud whistling sound. — (Since I know that Pongo was no fool and must have noticed the whistle when he started his car, I have concluded that he simply decided to go along with the prank. I did find, at a much later, time, that he was not quite the stern tyrant we all thought him, and, in fact, had quite a sense of humour.)”
Tony Argyle (1941-46) writes: “I remember helping to carry Pongo’s Austin 7 into the school with a number of others.”