John Drinkwater (1888-1937) was born in Leytonstone, the son of an actor.
Continue reading “John Drinkwater (1899-1903)”“Journey’s End”
by Ron Baker (c.1949)
Ron Baker (c.1949) writes:
Further to Ted Bown’s reference to “Journey’s End”, the play was produced by George Wright and performed on 2nd to 5th February 1949. The cast:
Captain Hardy: Alan Stokes
Lieutenant Osborne John Robinson
Private Mason James Higgins
L/Cpl Broughton Maurice Croxon
2nd Lt Raleigh Howard Jones
Captain Stanhope Paul Groves
2nd Lt Trotter Michael Somerlad
2nd Lt Hibbert Alan Lower
Co Sgt Major Michael Tregoning/Keith Gibbons
German Soldier Maurice Croxon
The Colonel Ron Baker
Paul Groves, who had left School in 1947 to study at RADA, took over the part at short notice after P Wharton was injured during County Rugby Trials, and Keith Gibbons took over as CSM when Michael Tregoning became ill just before curtain up on the second night.
The School Caretaker, Mr Durham, was also involved behind the scenes, one of his duties being to make the “stage whisky” with cold tea.
Eugh!
Ed. This production was written up in the school magazine here. Journey’s End is a 1928 play by R. C. Sherriff, set in Northern France towards the end of the First World War. It has often been produced, as it provides a glimpse of life in the trenches and is of a manageable size for performances by amateur societies. First performed at the Apollo Theatre in 9 December 1928, it starred a young Laurence Olivier. (Wikipedia)
A Memory of Mike Winters
by Derek Jeffs (1940s)
Derek Jeffs (1940s), at the School during the war, reminisces in the Oxford Mail about a disastrous night when he took part in a gig with the future comedian Mike Winters:
Mike Winters, whose real name was Mike Weinstein, was one of many evacuees who had come from London to Oxford. He later teamed up with Bernie Winters.
Four boys formed a quartet – Derek was on the double bass, Peter Payne on drums, John Beesley on piano and Mike Weinstein on clarinet.
“We mostly played in private in Peter Payne’s house, but on one occasion we were asked to do a professional gig.
Unfortunately the people who were there wanted to dance, and we didn’t have any dance music. Our music wasn’t what they wanted.”
Memories of Ronnie Barker
by Tony Phelps (c.1946)
Tony Phelps writes:
“I met Ronnie on the (non-professional) stage in Oxford in 1946. That was the year when I returned from war service.
Having acted a bit during the war, I joined a drama group calling themselves the Theatre Players, somewhere in East Oxford. Ronnie Barker was a member, and we acted together in a thriller called “A Murder Has Been Arranged” in early 1946.
We then began rehearsing “The Blue Goose”, with Ronnie as a small-town mayor (a part he fitted perfectly even as a 16-year old) and me as a round-the-world yachtsman. Unfortunately I had to leave the cast as I got a job in London before the play could be produced.
I met him only once more, when we bumped into each other in the Charing Cross Road, by which time he had already started in repertory.
“The Forum Presents”
by Malcolm Williams (left 1960)
“The Forum Presents” is mentioned twice on the “News of Old Boys”, once by Malcolm Williams (left 1960) and once by David Green (left 1953). How many versions of the Forum Presents were there?
Malcolm Williams has responded very quickly:
Thank you for forwarding the note from David Green. The sixth-form entertainment was revived in either 1958 or 1959. I am not too sure of the date now. I remember taking part in a sketch about Speech Day which involved us all taking on the idiosyncracies of various masters. We did ask if we could borrow their gowns but this request was refused. Nonetheless we still took them from the common room before the show and returned them afterwards.
There was another show just before Easter in 1960, the highlight of which was a ballet sketch to music from The Nutcracker. This had to be encored every night. I myself took part in a performance of the last part of Sophocles’ play, Oedipus Rex, which I was studying for A level and by sheer coincidence that part of the play formed part of the exam later.
“Der Forum” band of 1954
David Cooper writes: Memory plays tricks. My initial list of members of the band bears little resemblance to the list I discovered in a photo album in the attic recently.
The “Group” consisted of Brain Moores, “Jos” Jocelyn, Ron Tapping, Gerry Jenkins, Bill Beckett, Phil Gammage, Derek Heape and Pat Willis (conductor).
The School Song
by John Gaskin (c. 1955)
John Gaskin writes:
The precise origins and authorship of the School Song (see Newsletter 4) were never known to more than a tiny handful of people: F C Lay and Jimmy Soulsby are long since dead, and it would be a pity for the knowledge to perish unrecorded with me.
I don’t remember what put it into my mind, but when Len Tombs and I jointly embarked on the production of “The Forum Presents” for May 1955, the thought occurred to me that we had no unique school song – “O quanta Qualia” was more or less functioning as one, but it was not OURS.
At that time (and until his death) I had been much befriended by the lately retired Jimmy Soulsby (Solar) who seemed to me then, and still seems to me fifty years later, one of the wisest and most understanding human beings I have ever known. He was also a talented musician and versifier.
I asked him to help with a song. He did. The music and established words are his. I was merely responsible for some of the verses sung at its first performance at the end of The Forum Presents on 4th May 1955.
Solar also wrote the finely worded review of the whole show for the July edition of the School Magazine. His diffident but prescient mention of the Song is worth recalling.
“The verses were too light and topical to wear well, but the chorus was compact and deftly woven with all the essential elements, faults and virtues alike, of a successful rallying slogan. Nobody can tell beforehand whether such a thing will catch on. They may or may not have found a new School Song; they have, beyond doubt, given expression to the urgent need for one.”
Lyrics of the School Song
The school motto “Labor Vincit Omnia” (’tis work that conquers all) was carved above the prefects’ door, and became the basis for the school song that every boy knew by heart:
In tranquil days of long ago
Under good Victoria’s rule
Their faith in Oxford’s youth to show
Our grandsires built a school.
“Labor Vincit Omnia”
Tis work that conquers all.
This gem of ancient Roman lore
Was carved above the prefects’ door.
“Nemo Repente Sapit”, too,
Was there beside it in full view,
Reminding those of slower pace
That perseverance wins the race.
Labor Vincit Omnia
Labor Vincit Omnia
Ed. For alternative songs see this reminiscence and this one
The School in Wartime
Writer unknown (1941-45)
When originally published Mike Chew apologised that he had temporarily mislaid the name of the author of this item, but would acknowledge its provenance in due course, which he never did. “Sua culpa”, as he said at the time.
“Having read and thoroughly enjoyed the latest COSA Newsletter I was trying to remember the various masters during the period 1941 – 1945. Old (very old) school reports gave me the following.
The COHS Double Bass
by Philip Gammage (1947-54)
Philip Gammage (1947-54) writes:
“Does anyone know what happened to the COHS Double bass?
Continue reading “The COHS Double Bass”The School Play
1949
A production of “Journey’s End” by R C Sherriff, produced by Mr George Wright, was performed with the following cast:
Continue reading “The School Play”