KEN CAMPBELL (1942-47) writes from Portsmouth: “The pictures of headmaster Badham shown at the pre-AGM slide show brought back painful memories to schoolboy Kenneth Blackwell.
The fourth form had a classroom at the end of the main hall. One day, when it was too wet to go out into the playground, we decided to relieve the boredom by playing a game of ‘tig’, running and jumping from the top of one row of desks to the other. Unfortunately, the classroom was directly above the headmaster’s study and he came storming up the stairs to find out who was making such a racket. As I jumped off the top of the desk nearest the door, he gave me a swift kick up the backside with a very pointed shoe. That certainly made an impression upon me.
Then there was the time he gave me six strokes of the cane for swinging on the big green curtains. Several others in the class had done it, but it came crashing down when I did it. I also busted a desk, for which my pocket money was stopped for several weeks to pay for it. Who said schooldays are the happiest days of your life?”