Part 2:\u00a0\u00a0 1946-1947<\/b><\/p>\n
There are only three letters from the Spring Term of 1946 and I have no means of telling what I did that term, although there were the preliminary trial eights to sort out the crews for the summer term.\u00a0 I must have done well and was awarded my trial cap.\u00a0 I have no idea what happened in the Easter holidays although I am sure we must have gone down to Llangynidr for Easter.<\/p>\n
The big event of the Summer term was my getting into the 1st<\/sup> VIII and rowing at Henley for the first time.\u00a0 I was still only 16 years old.\u00a0 It was all very exciting.\u00a0 I am amused how diffidently I break the news to my parents; in the middle of a letter about minor events is: \u2019I think I can tell you now that I am in the 1st<\/sup> VIII\u2019.\u00a0 I then go on to say I may still get thrown out, but I had already been there three weeks before I told them.\u00a0 I was over the moon really, but my English schoolboy phlegm did not want to let it show.\u00a0 My father certainly was delighted and immediately joined the Phyllis Court Club so they could come to Henley and watch me.\u00a0 The Club is on the other side of the river to the Stewards Enclosure and rather posh, but does not involve any rowing connections to enter.\u00a0 He used it for his business entertaining but I think I was the excuse for joining.\u00a0 My letters, typically, say little about the eight.\u00a0 It was in fact a very good crew and we did not disgrace ourselves at Henley.\u00a0 Unlike nowadays, when school crews compete in numerous other regattas, Henley was the only one for us.\u00a0 I was intensely proud of being in the VIII and it did my standing within the school no end of good!\u00a0 I was particularly proud of all the clothes that went with being in the VIII, the rowing vest with the cerise Maltese cross, the white cap and the cerise cross, the special tie and above all the white blazer with the cerise cross on the pocket.\u00a0 Because of clothes rationing I did not have my own blazer, but was lent one that had belonged to P.L.Fanning, the stroke of the 1938 VIII that had won the Ladies Plate.\u00a0 He had been killed in the war.<\/p>\n I wish I had kept a diary of that Henley period since it was an utterly new world, one of hustle and bustle, of crowds, the unforgettable smell of the changing tents and then the rather solemn quiet of the boat tents, waiting for a race wrapped up in one\u2019s own private thoughts.\u00a0 We used to come from Radley by bus each day, starting some days before the regatta, so that we could get used to the conditions and the course, and we returned to Radley in the evening to sleep.\u00a0 I suppose we got off all work during this period.\u00a0 We were entered in the Ladies Plate and the Princess Elizabeth Cup.\u00a0 This latter was a new cup, presented by HRH Princess Elizabeth, just for schools.\u00a0 In future years crews were not allowed to enter both events; they had to choose whether to go for the big prize, the Ladies Plate, which was also open to university colleges and foreign crews, or to go only for the school\u2019s event.\u00a0 But this year it was a new event, rowed only on the Friday and Saturday, over a shortened course, starting at the Barrier, allowing any crew who was knocked out of the Ladies Plate on the Wednesday or Thursday to compete on the Friday and Saturday.<\/p>\n Wednesday was the first day in the Ladies Plate, and we had an early race against Winchester, which we won, giving us time to recover for a second race late in the day.\u00a0 We were very pampered during the day; and we must have gone somewhere to rest.\u00a0 The only part of that afternoon I do remember is being taken into Leander Club and being given a pick-me-up to drink by an Old Radleian; it was raw egg beaten in a glass of port.\u00a0 I have never had it since!\u00a0 It must have done us good as we won the second race against St Catherine\u2019s College, Cambridge.\u00a0 The next day we were beaten by Jesus College, Cambridge, who went on to win the event.\u00a0 So, on the Friday, we were in the Princess Elizabeth Cup facing Shrewsbury School.\u00a0 We won.\u00a0 There were still four crews left on the Saturday, which again meant two races for the crews which won the first race.\u00a0 We beat Bedford Modern School in the morning and faced Bedford School in the final in the evening.\u00a0 I know we were very confident but disaster struck.\u00a0 In the last few yards, as we were neck and neck with Bedford, our cox, having let us get too near the booms, tried to steer away at the last moment and 7\u2019s oar hit a boom and we almost stopped.\u00a0 I have always been convinced we would have won but for that.\u00a0 The records show us losing by one length and a bit.\u00a0 Absolute devastation, particularly as HRH was presenting the prizes.<\/p>\n One bonus came from all this; the VIII was invited by the Christiana Roclub to compete in an International Regatta in Oslo in September.\u00a0 I am not sure how this came about; through an old boy network I imagine.\u00a0 This was an extraordinary prospect.\u00a0 I had only been abroad once, to France in 1938, and now eight years older I was ready to start on a post-war world of travel and adventure.\u00a0 Keeping fit was a problem as the crew would be apart for a month or more for the first part of the summer holidays.<\/p>\n I took Higher Certificate at the end of term.\u00a0 I think this is the equivalent of today\u2019s A levels.\u00a0 This was more as a dummy run for the following year when the results would influence scholarships than as a critical exam.\u00a0 I passed in my two main subjects, French and English and also in my two subsidiary subjects, German and English History.\u00a0 In the following year I took French and English as the main papers and\u00a0 European History as subsidiary.<\/p>\n Another adventure awaited me at the end of term: training camp.\u00a0 At some time in the past few months I had made a crucial decision not to try for the RAF during my National Service.\u00a0 I made the decision during one long sleepless night weighing up the pros and cons.\u00a0 I had always set my heart on joining the RAF, but after Michael\u2019s death and seeing the effect it had had on my mother, I wondered whether it was the right thing to do and decided to make the change.\u00a0 This was a big decision and one that made a significant difference to my next few years.\u00a0 There were many other things which influenced me to change, but it is too far away in time for me to remember them now.\u00a0 Suffice it to say that I left the Air Training Corps and went back into an army-oriented training corps preparing me for National Service in the army.\u00a0 No longer was it the Junior Training Corps, but the Senior Training Corps.\u00a0 The older boys had become part of the Oxford University S.T.C. and this is where I went.\u00a0 The camp was my first experience of real army life.\u00a0 At camp I trained to become a wireless operator, with the intention of getting into a cavalry regiment.\u00a0 I learned to drive, in a Bedford 15 cwt truck, which had a very heavy gearbox requiring double declutching to change gear.\u00a0 One Sunday afternoon I drove with my instructor and another boy to visit my parents at Temple Golf Club.\u00a0 They always went there on Sundays as the Club served a good lunch with beef to supplement our meagre meat ration. I was very proud to show myself off there in my battledress.\u00a0 On the way home I hit a stationary car on the edge of the road and dented it.\u00a0 My instructor went into the house it was parked outside and apologised and we drove on.\u00a0 The camp also provided another initiation into adult life: I got drunk for the first time in my life on six pints of beer!\u00a0 But at the end of the camp I was awarded my Certificate B and could wear a star on the right sleeve of my battle dress.\u00a0 This was of considerable help when I got into the real army.<\/p>\n The following morning I made my way to Northleach on the A40 (how I got there I have no idea) where my mother and father picked me up on their way to Wales.\u00a0 They were off for another of our holidays in Llangynidr, which had by now become part of their (and my) regular routine.\u00a0 We had long since ceased to stay at the Red Lion, which had become too grand for our liking, preferring the local charm of Emrys and May Morgan at \u2018The Coach and Horses\u2019.\u00a0 This was then a small pub with about four or five bedrooms, a large bar used only by the locals, and wonderful food cooked by May Morgan.\u00a0 They were a delightful couple. My father and Dennis fished while I walked the hills.\u00a0 I do not remember what my mother did.\u00a0 One member of the Radley VIII\u00a0 curiously enough[1]<\/sup><\/sup><\/a>, had an aunt, Miss Raikes, who lived at the Old School House on Llangorse Lake and he came to visit her while we were there\u00a0 So we used to train together in the Black Mountains, walking and running, to keep fit, covering huge distances and enjoying being alive and well.\u00a0 I am sure the sun always shone!<\/p>\n We assembled in Newcastle and got the Fred Olsen Line ferry to Oslo.\u00a0 We travelled steerage, and the sea was rough.\u00a0 This was my first experience of being seasick, cooped up in steerage, where the lights never went out, big glaring fluorescent things.\u00a0 I (most of us probably) arrived in Oslo feeling awful.\u00a0 But the wonderful hospitality of the Norweigans was overwhelming.\u00a0 The food was wonderful as well, especially after the miserable rations of Britain.\u00a0 A gorgeous young blonde called Ella was put in charge of our off-duty time and we all fell for her.\u00a0 The rowing wasn\u2019t so good.\u00a0 We had a strange boat and oars, we were rusty after a month off, but worse, we had never rowed on salt water before.\u00a0 This is a whole new sensation and I do not think we ever grew comfortable with it.\u00a0 In addition the sea could be rough, much rougher than the Thames ever was. We had a preliminary race, beating the Roclub Junior Juniors, but we came last of four crews in the Junior Eights in the Regatta proper, two lengths behind the first crew.\u00a0 I remember my father had to pay \u00a318 for the whole trip and I was told off later by Joe Eason, our coach, for not thanking him properly for all his efforts in organising the whole trip.<\/p>\n Back to school for the winter term of 1946.\u00a0 My letters are full of my rugger games.\u00a0 I had moved up to the 2nd<\/sup> XV by this time, but we were not at all good, losing practically everything.\u00a0 I played once for the 1st<\/sup> XV.\u00a0 The tone of the letters is changing as I grow up and become more confident.\u00a0 I took up dancing lessons, and even went out to a local girl\u2019s school for a dance, with a hoard of other boys I remember; it was all rather embarrassing as I had a limited dance repertoire and I was not very skilled with girls!<\/p>\n The Christmas holidays are a blank, except that I ended them as the owner of Dennis\u2018s motor bike, just seventeen and so old enough to ride one.\u00a0 I do not know why my parents approved of this after what had happened to Dennis on the same motor bike, but nevertheless they did.<\/p>\n The spring term of 1947 was awful.\u00a0 My letters are all about the weather and the affect it was having on our activities.\u00a0 Boyd\u2019s book describes that term vividly. He says it was the worst term in the school\u2019s history, except for the disastrous Easter Term of 1895, which had been the second coldest of the nineteenth century, when the ink remained frozen in the classrooms till after midday and three boys died in an influenza epidemic.\u00a0 \u2018There was intense frost in the first week; in the second week came snow which covered the ground till within a week of the end of term.\u00a0 At the end of February temperatures hovered around zero, and the river was frozen over.\u00a0 Except for two days in the first week the Pitch was unusable throughout the term and dry-bobs could play no out door games.\u00a0 There was a fair amount of skating on the pond, and at one time it was successfully flooded by the fire brigade; but for much of the term snow made the ice unusable.\u00a0 Rowing was at one time impeded by ice, and after the final thaw by the worst floods in memory.\u00a0 On February 10th<\/sup> the national fuel crisis started.\u00a0 At\u00a0 the very start of the term the School was ravaged by influenza, which merged into epidemics of measles, chicken-pox, streptococcal throat , and scarlet fever.\u00a0 After nine weeks of continual struggle against discomfort and adversity, steadfastly endured by all concerned, the medical authorities decided to call \u2018time\u2019 and the School broke up a week early.\u2019\u00a0 He also adds that on March 2nd the whole school, or at least those not ill, again wore gowns for the first time since the war.\u00a0 I did not get affected by any of these epidemics, though obviously I was in quarantine for all of them.\u00a0 I had my fair share of the skating, and we seemed to keep on rowing whatever the weather.<\/p>\n In the Appendix on Rowing in Boyd\u2019s book the affect of the weather on rowing that term is described from the point of view of those in charge. \u2019Challenge Fours were decimated by illness, while frost and snow, followed by floods, led to the postponement of Trials, which had to be squeezed into the Summer Term.\u00a0 There was plenty of material available, but the problem was to find the right people for right places, so that the lack of opportunity to make experiments was an even greater misfortune than usual.\u00a0 Marlow Regatta really had to take the place of the Lent Term events, and the experience gained there led to a change in the crew which meant their getting used to a new stroke in just over a week\u2019[2]<\/sup><\/sup><\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0I just kept on doing what I was told, bearing with the snow and ice on the river as best I could .\u00a0 My letters describe what it was like.\u00a0 I can\u2019t imagine the quality of the crew was up to much.\u00a0 Nowadays we would have gone off to a training camp in some warmer spot.<\/p>\n My mother and father went off to Wengen in Switzerland, he to start skiing at the age of 52, but the weather was just as bad when they came back as when they had left.<\/p>\n I was made a Junior School Prefect..<\/p>\n There is a very unclear reference in one letter to my having to go to Cambridge for three days towards the end of the term.\u00a0 I am not sure why but presumably something to do with entering Pembroke College.<\/p>\n We all went down to Llangynidr for Easter.\u00a0 The devastation of the severe winter weather on farming came home to me when I saw the carcases of dead sheep wherever I walked in the hills.<\/p>\n The summer term of 1947 was a major event in the life of Radley College; the centenary of its foundation.\u00a0 Everybody concerned was determined to celebrate it in style.\u00a0 HRH Princess Elizabeth was invited for a formal visit.\u00a0 Field Marshall Lord Montgomery of Alamein was asked to make an inspection of the Training Corps.\u00a0 A big play recounting the history of Radley, \u2018The Radley Retrospect\u2019 was written and performed by members of the staff, of the boys and invited Old Radleian actors.\u00a0 The sports teams were expected to win everything!\u00a0 Many boys who should have left earlier managed to stay for an extra term to be part of the celebrations.\u00a0 The term actually began a week early to leave time for us to do some work.<\/p>\n I restarted a diary at this point and kept it up till the start of exams near the end of term.\u00a0 The style of the diary is clearly strongly influenced by all the reading of English classics and diarists that I was doing for Higher Certificate and the English scholarship and is very mannered.\u00a0 But that was me at that period of my life and I am not ashamed of it, more amused than anything!<\/p>\n I began this journal solely with the purpose of keeping\u00a0 a record, however meagre and uninteresting, of the events of this centenary term.\u00a0 I shall begin it on the eve of my return to Radley.<\/p>\n Thursday, April 24<\/span><\/p>\n I went up to London on the 4.52 train from Maidenhead, and went straight to Piccadilly Circus.\u00a0 From there I walked leisurely to the New Theatre and took my seat in readiness for the performance of Richard II.\u00a0 It was the second night and so I was expecting to see something more alive than would be seen during a long west-end run.\u00a0 Daddy joined me in a few minutes, when we discovered we had both travelled on the same train.\u00a0 The play was marvellous, and more alive than when I had heard it on the wireless the previous night.\u00a0 What was even more striking was the attentiveness of the audience, and the proverbial pin would not have been out of place.\u00a0 Alec Guiness was in the title role and Ralph Richardson as John of Gaunt \u2018time honour\u2019d Lancaster\u2019.\u00a0 On coming out of the theatre we walked, as we had plenty of time, to Piccadilly Circus, passing on our way the Odeon, Leicester Square where the first night of \u2018Black Narcissus\u2019, with Deborah Kerr was in progress, outside were large crowds waiting to see the celebrities return.\u00a0 This was the first time I had seen such a crowd.\u00a0<\/p>\n Friday 25th<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n This was the day of my return.\u00a0 I played a round of golf with Godfrey Piggott (he was the son of the Golf Club Secretary) in the morning and went round in 140, 40 less than last time.\u00a0 My golf is improving but still atrocious.\u00a0 Arrived home for a very late lunch, after which I went into Maidenhead and then Marlow, to see if I could get any films, but with no success.\u00a0 Daddy called for us at 6.00, picked up David Gummer and drove over to Radley, in good time.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t feel at all homesick, and it is a great relief to find that one doesn\u2019t mind returning to school.<\/p>\n Saturday 26th<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n In common with every beginning of term there is remarkably little to do and even less time to do it in.\u00a0 After seeing form and pupil masters I unpacked my trunk, which had arrived in the meantime.<\/p>\n In the afternoon I went out in a trial VIII, rowing 5 for the first time in three years.\u00a0 Nevertheless I got on all right, though feeling awkward\u2026We were closely watched by five coaches all the way.\u00a0 I can imagine what it felt like if I had been trying to row well.<\/p>\n I read quite a lot of \u2018Northanger Abbey\u2019 by Jane Austen, which I am enjoying.\u00a0 It seems immature, almost a satire on the thrillers of the day.<\/p>\n Sunday 27th<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n I went to Communion in the morning.\u00a0 Congregational practice\u2026.I played a game of squash with Tyler in the afternoon and beat him four-love.\u00a0 Had a very good tea with Soames.\u00a0 Played lie dice till supper. Finished off Walton\u2019s \u2018Life of Donne\u2019 and read some more of \u2018Northanger Abbey\u2019 and after more lie dice<\/p>\n Monday 28th<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n First full day of work!\u00a0 Luckily I had several study periods (ones in which I worked by myself in my own study) or else I should have been very bored.\u00a0 During the English periods we talked of nothing but Richard II and James Agate\u2019s article, and C.E.Montague.\u00a0 On the first corps of the term we spent some time in falling in and getting settled down.\u00a0 Then Mr. Borgnis gave us a lecture on Platoon Battle Drill, which we are to perform in front of Monty.\u00a0 Did an absolutely stinking French translation by the Brothers Goncourt.\u00a0 In the evening I became very grasshopper-minded, and as an antidote I tried \u2018Religio Medici\u2019[3]<\/sup><\/sup><\/a> which soon soothed me.\u00a0 It was due to weariness.\u00a0 On previous occasions when I have been feeling much the same I had tried poetry which I already knew, with remarkable results.\u00a0 After Chapel the Shakespeare Society met.\u00a0 We were going to begin \u2018The Merry Wives of Winndsor\u2019.\u00a0 I knew this already, but in spite of that I had some misgivings, which were dispelled and I thoroughly enjoyed the evening.[4]<\/sup><\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 I read Page and Mistress Ford (goodness knows why!).<\/p>\n Tuesday 29th<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n An early morning period with the Warden, in which I did nothing but yawn.\u00a0 Learned most of my declamation, which is the first fifty lines of the third book of \u2018Paradise Lost\u2019.\u00a0 Read quite a bit of \u2018Northanger Abbey\u2019.\u00a0 Today was the first proper half-holiday.\u00a0 In the evening there was a short meeting of the Literary Society (of which I was Secretary) in which we discussed the term\u2019s programme and the \u2018Petreian\u2019[5]<\/sup><\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n Wednesday 30th<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n In the evening the Warden heard Upper VIth\u00a0 Declamations, as L.A.G.Strong is coming down tomorrow to judge.\u00a0 I was not chosen for the finals but only as a runner-up. [6]<\/sup><\/sup><\/a> These sort of days are very unsatisfactory.\u00a0 Had a very nice letter from\u00a0 home.\u00a0 Apparently Dennis is using my motor bike to go to and from Portsmouth, while the Morris is being repaired.<\/p>\n Thursday May 1st<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n It being St Philip and St James Day we had Chapel in the morning and no early school!\u00a0 It is nice to be able to on in bed in the morning.<\/p>\n In the evening I went and listened to the end of the declamations and to the summary by L.A.G.Strong.\u00a0 It was a brilliant speech and showed the amazing control which he has over his voice, changing from normal, to base, and to Irish.\u00a0 Two tips he gave us were: before performing relax completely in a corner, go limp and take twelve deep breaths, and it will cure harshness and breathlessness caused by nervousness, this tip was given him by Freddie Grisewood.\u00a0 The other tip was that variation in speed in declaiming is far more important than variation of stress and tone.<\/p>\n Friday 3rd<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n In the evening I went and watched the R.C.J.A.D.S. act \u2018Richard of Bordeaux\u2019 by Gordon Daviot.\u00a0 The audience rather spoilt the play and behaved very badly.\u00a0 In the very difficult circumstances of production it was a magnificent feat.\u00a0 The acting was remarkable good, and though there was quite a bit of prompting, some parts were very long.<\/p>\n Monday 5th<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n Started drilling for the Guard of Honour for Princess Elizabeth of which I am to be part.\u00a0 Very boring corps and did practically nothing, except a bit of section battle drill about which I knew nothing.<\/p>\n Told off for not signing up a form for a state scholarship.\u00a0 Very bad day indeed.\u00a0 Everything went wrong.<\/p>\n Tuesday 6th<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n Weighed and measured in the morning.\u00a0 12 stone 4, a disgusting weight and height 5-8 8\/10 which is less than last term. (I was still 11st 13 at Henley, 10lbs more than the year before.)<\/p>\n Wednesday 7th<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n Did section Battle Drill again and I had it at my finger\u2019s ends this time and it went much better.\u00a0 It is amazing how much difference knowing what one is doing makes and how much extra confidence it gives one.<\/p>\n Thursday 8th<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n Did some more Guard of Honour drill and got on much better.\u00a0 Issued with bayonets.\u00a0 Mine is sand-blasted and cannot be cleaned.\u00a0 Hurrah!<\/p>\n Wrote an essay in the evening on \u2018How far was the Renaissance inevitably pagan?\u2019\u00a0 pretty filthy subject.<\/p>\n Practiced for the Radley Retrospect, centenary episode play, a game of Radley Football, early 20th Cent.\u00a0 Most amusing and highly hilarious.<\/p>\n Monday\u00a0 12th<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n Did some more drill for the Royal Guard of honour.\u00a0 It is quite good fun and the sergeant major is most amusing.\u00a0 on parade in the afternoon we started doing Platoon Battle Drill.\u00a0 It certainly did not go very well but I expect it will improve.<\/p>\n Tuesday 13th<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n Owing to my damned superstitiousness I expected to have an unlucky (damn fool) day, but didn\u2019t.\u00a0 Very good one instead.\u00a0 Had a most a livening history period discussing our\u00a0 essays on the Renaissance and enjoyed\u00a0 it no end.<\/p>\n Wednesday 14th<\/span><\/p>\n Corps in the morning, Ceddie[7]<\/sup><\/sup><\/a> took over and he was awful at Platoon Battle Drill.\u00a0 He takes such ridiculous ideas into his head that he upsets everything.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n There are entries about rowing most days but they are merely comments about how an outing went or about sculling or the weather conditions.\u00a0 At this stage of the term the selection of oarsmen for the first and second VIIIs was in progress, a process that culminated in the Trial VIII races to be held on May 17th<\/sup>.\u00a0 I had put on a lot of weight since the previous summer (the best part of a stone).\u00a0 I was grossly overweight and was in grave danger of not getting into the 1st<\/sup> VIII.\u00a0 I learned this much later.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think I realized how precarious my position was.\u00a0 At Henley I was demoted to 2 compared with 4 in 1946.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Thursday May 15th I expected the weather to be bad, as it has been the last three Ascension Days, but it wasn\u2019t.\u00a0 It was lovely all day.\u00a0 Started off with Chapel before breakfast, at which I communicated.\u00a0 A quick start after breakfast into Oxford by taxi.\u00a0 Did some shopping and got my hair cut.\u00a0 Bought \u2018Henry Vaughan\u2019 by Hutchinson, which I am looking forward to reading; also a record by Andre Kostalanetz.\u00a0 Then went and met George\u2019s (Birdwood) girl-friend Rosanne Mills at the bus station.\u00a0 Then we canoed down to the King\u2019s Arms at Sandford where we met the others.\u00a0 We got on very well and the boat moved quite fast.\u00a0 Had a good lunch.\u00a0 After lunch went through the lock to Radley, where they got out to look at the boathouse and I went on down a backwater.\u00a0 It was rather fun winding round corners, not knowing what one would meet next.\u00a0 We then went back to Oxford quite fast.\u00a0 It was marvellous fun and beautifully warm and I loved it all.\u00a0 I left them at the Randolph and wandered around before going to see \u2018Murder in the Cathedral\u2019 at the New Theatre.\u00a0 Eventually it was time to go there.\u00a0 Several other Radleians there.\u00a0 Enjoyed it very much indeed, a lot more than when I read it last time.\u00a0 Rushed to supper at White\u2019s, then to a taxi with the others outside the playhouse, then back to college.\u00a0 Tutor v. white as we were v. late. (\u2018white\u2019 I think must be Radley slang for furious).<\/p>\n Friday 16th<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n No nasty repercussions after yesterday\u2019s adventures and lawlessness.\u00a0 More Guard of Honour drill.\u00a0 Read some of \u2018Henry Vaughan\u2019 and it brought back memories of the times which I have spent in Wales.\u00a0 It is curious how my liking for him grew up.\u00a0 Spending the war in Wales we naturally went away sometimes, and one of those times was to Llangynidr.\u00a0 I loved it the first moment I saw it and longed to explore it and find out more about the country.\u00a0 Each time I went back there I loved it more, and we did go quite often because the fishing was so good and the country\u00a0 so nice.\u00a0 I was studying English Literature as well for a scholarship and when it came to the seventeenth century and to Vaughan I grew interested in him.\u00a0 At the hotel Mrs Jones was also interested in him, and we went to Tretower and then I read about him and so it goes on.<\/p>\n Saturday 17th<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n Trial VIII races.\u00a0 Starting opposite the boathouse up to 2nd<\/sup> gate.\u00a0 The course had been altered because the towpath was so bad above Black Bridge and the coaches could not watch us.\u00a0 They drew away from us at the very start, but they were the heavier crew.\u00a0 We clung onto them, doing a slower stroke and gradually began to draw up, they gave a ten which made no difference, we gave her one and drew up a bit, then they gave her another, and so did we and drew up to about half a length.\u00a0 We lost about quarter of a length circumnavigating a steamer and they drew away slightly at the end.\u00a0 It was a very good race and we did not lose nearly so badly as we were expecting to.\u00a0 Then I had to judge the sculling races and wasted two hours doing that.\u00a0 Then I sculled for about quarter of an hour.<\/p>\n Went to a debate in the evening, but was very bored and started drawing the Mansion, did quite a good sketch.\u00a0 Left in the middle, and went to try and hear nightingales in Little Wood without any success.<\/p>\n Had a little party with Miss Wheatear at night.\u00a0 We ragged her as usual, but she never seems to notice.[8]<\/sup><\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n Sunday 18th<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n We were supposed to be going into Abingdon this afternoon for a Youth Parade, it being Empire Youth Sunday.\u00a0 But it rained all morning and it was cancelled.\u00a0 We got off congregational practice to go, but we didn\u2019t and it all turned out very nice.\u00a0 We had a short talk from Major Waye[9]<\/sup><\/sup><\/a>.\u00a0 It was amusing as he said he had sent a time-table to F\/M Montgomery for his approval re. his visit, and he altered the whole thing.\u00a0 As far as I can see he is coming to see the college and not the corps.<\/p>\n Played a very hearty game of squash with Donald Waterer, lost 4-3.\u00a0 This was a great improvement on the last time I played him, when I lost 5-0.<\/p>\n Tuesday 20th<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n I heard much to my dismay that the sculling races were this afternoon and not tomorrow as I had hoped.\u00a0 Racing Davenport whom I really didn\u2019t expect to beat as he has been doing much more sculling than me.\u00a0 We had to wait for a long time up at the start because of steamers and launches, but eventually we started.\u00a0 I did an atrocious start and did not settle down till third gate.\u00a0 We were neck and neck for half a gate and then I did a few good strokes and drew away.\u00a0 I kept ahead till just after fourth gate when he drew level by an enormous effort.\u00a0 I kept going with an effort and managed to pull away to about four lengths at the finish, when I was so dead I could hardly move.\u00a0 I never realised sculling could be so gruelling.\u00a0 It was nearly the hardest race I have rowed.<\/p>\n Thursday 22nd<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n Raced against Craig[10]<\/sup><\/sup><\/a> in the sculling.\u00a0 Started quite well, but he got ahead, then I started catching up but crossed into his water and then had to stop and get out of his way and from that time on it was his race.\u00a0 It was unfortunate otherwise it might have been a good race.\u00a0 But all the same my sculling is improving fast.\u00a0<\/p>\n In the evening we had another rehearsal of Radley Football for the centenary play.\u00a0 It was great fun.<\/p>\n Sunday 26th<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n Went round with Mr. Waye inspecting for where to do a scheme which we have to for General Inspection.\u00a0 He is so narrow-minded and obstinate that nothing original appeals to him.\u00a0 We did not really settle anything.<\/p>\n Monday 26th<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n On corps again we practiced for one scheme which Waye had expressly said was no good.\u00a0 At the end they had a stand-up fight and argument and persuaded him that our own was best.<\/p>\n Tuesday 27th<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n Wrote a history essay on Charles V.<\/p>\n Wednesday 28th<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n J.V.P.Thomson read my history essay and said that it was a very good one and only just short of being very outstanding.\u00a0 It was very gratifying to hear this, but I was most surprised.<\/p>\n On corps we practiced the march past in toto for Monty and it went very well and from reports looked very good.\u00a0 It was exceedingly hot and\u00a0 lining up for half an hour was a bit of a strain, but very few fainted, less than usual.<\/p>\n In the evening we practiced the Procession into Chapel for the centenary.\u00a0 it went all right, but no better. \u00a0I am an acolyte and carry a candle.<\/p>\n Had my first bathe of the year.\u00a0 Lovely!<\/p>\n Thursday 29th<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n Went down to nearly the start of the Trial VIII course in the VIII.\u00a0 It is still going very well.\u00a0 I am still surprised that it hasn\u2019t gone wrong yet, as it usually does after a few days in a light boat.\u00a0 I expect it will soon.\u00a0 Had another very pleasant bathe and sunbathe.<\/p>\n Sunday, the Glorious First of June<\/span><\/p>\n Had a glorious, fairly long bathe down at the river it was beautifully hot but the river is disgustingly dirty.\u00a0<\/p>\n We had a service outside in the evening to the North of the Mansion, in the shade.\u00a0 Father Biggart of the Community of the Resurrection preached.\u00a0 He is delightful little man.\u00a0 He talked about the connection of his Community with Radley.\u00a0 It was founded by Bishop Gore a former warden, about 70 years ago.<\/p>\n Monday June 2nd<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n The heat wave continues.\u00a0 We were allowed to walk about now in \u2018change\u2019 and go into periods, meals and chapel in it.\u00a0 This is quite a revolution in ideas and a blessing.\u00a0 On corps we had to run around in full equipment doing our scheme and damned hot it was too.\u00a0 The whole blasted platoon grumbled and groused, and made a thorough nuisance of themselves.<\/p>\n Also started to arrange to sell the \u2018Petreian\u2019 which comes out next Monday.\u00a0 We want to sell as many copies on that day as possible.<\/p>\n Another Procession practice into chapel this evening.\u00a0 I am beginning to get rather bored with them.\u00a0 But only another week more now.<\/p>\n Had another lovely bathe down at the river.\u00a0 The water is boiling hot now.<\/p>\n Wednesday June 4th<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n On corps we did another rehearsal of the march past.\u00a0 It is quite unnecessary to do it so many times.<\/p>\n Thursday June 5th<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n Had a rehearsal of the bishop\u2019s chaplains and acolytes.\u00a0 The organiser, I don\u2019t quite know what he calls himself was there.\u00a0 He is a very decent man and the way he treats the bishops\u2019 idiosyncrasies is amusing to say the least.\u00a0 Had a final procession rehearsal this evening<\/p>\n An amusing incident has occurred.\u00a0 Shop accused us of stealing 20 glasses and refused to serve drinks in glasses.\u00a0 In revenge Shop was boycotted for a day and it would have continued had not the Warden stopped it.<\/p>\n Friday June 6th<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n More procession rehearsals.\u00a0 Dress rehearsal of the Retrospect in the evening.\u00a0 Very good fun although it rained quite a bit.\u00a0 Spent most of my time taking photographs, but I do not know what they will turn out like.\u00a0 Received Pa\u2019s camera from home.\u00a0 I shall be able to take some photographs now.<\/p>\n I was seriously into photography by this time.\u00a0 Now that I had my father\u2019s camera I could do more.\u00a0 I was buying 35mm film in bulk and loading it into cassettes myself, and I had a developing tank plus the necessary chemicals so that I could develop my own films in the bath room and see the results at once.\u00a0 I had one major disaster with the one film of the Retrospect; I was in too much of a hurry to develop it and ran the rinsing water in at too high a temperature and washed all the emulsion off the film.\u00a0 Except for that, the negatives are still perfect 55 years later!<\/p>\n \u00a0Saturday June 7th<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n We had a \u2018dress rehearsal\u2019 of the guard of honour, in which we wasted \u00be hour standing around doing nothing.<\/p>\n Another retrospect \u2018musical coordination\u2019 rehearsal.\u00a0 It was exceedingly amusing.\u00a0 Nicholas Hannen [11]<\/sup><\/sup><\/a>was there and reciting a poem about winning the Ladies Plate, which he had just learned.\u00a0 He hardly knew it and made remarks all the time.\u00a0 (It doesn\u2019t sound amusing but it was.)<\/p>\n Sunday June 8th<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n Mattins and a very moving sermon by Dean Henderson\u00a0 [12]<\/sup><\/sup><\/a>on the college and the centenary.\u00a0 Followed directly after lunch by another complete dress rehearsal of the Retrospect.\u00a0 But for the wind it went very well all through.\u00a0 It is a very good show and the continuity, between isolated scenes, is very clever, done by a series of narrators.\u00a0 I took quite a few photos which I hope will come out.<\/p>\n I spent the evening in arranging for the sale of the Petreian, which I hope will go according to plan.\u00a0 1200 copies have been printed and if we are lucky we ought to be able to sell 600-700.<\/p>\n Monday June 9th<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n The day, the red-letter day in the history of Radley, woke bright and early.\u00a0 Went to communion where we all wore surplices for the first time.\u00a0 It was a moving sight to see it all.<\/p>\n There was not all that much to do in the morning.\u00a0 I spent the time cleaning my uniform and selling the Petreian.\u00a0 News began to come in that it was selling like wildfire everywhere.\u00a0 Then followed a quick and filthy sandwich lunch.\u00a0 A hectic rush to get everything finally settled, last minute discoveries that things aren\u2019t there.\u00a0 Then\u2026The Procession went off quite well[13]<\/sup><\/sup><\/a>.\u00a0 The Princess party, led by the counsel (sic) was late.\u00a0 The bishops were nearly late because the Archbishop of Canterbury kept on telling funny stories.\u00a0 I was carrying a candlestick which looked very heavy but wasn\u2019t.!\u00a0 A very good service and address by Cantuar.\u00a0 After we had processed out, I rushed to change into uniform.\u00a0 Then a very good tea, with meringues and ice creams, a rush onto parade and march over.\u00a0 The drill went off very well.\u00a0 A speech in Latin by Wells (head boy), reply by Princess and reply by Dean Henderson.\u00a0 The latter two were excellent.\u00a0 Then Jonathan Wilkes (the Warden\u2019s son) presented the bouquet.\u00a0 It came as a complete surprise and was so beautifully na\u00efve.[14]<\/sup><\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 We then marched back and were congratulated.\u00a0 I discovered that the sales of the Petreian were nearly running into the thousand mark.\u00a0 Most gratifying.<\/p>\n Met Basil Mosenthal and Ian Henderson (two ORs I knew) who asked me out to supper in Oxford.\u00a0 Didn\u2019t refuse, though it meant breaking college rules (brave boy!).\u00a0 Had a sort of meal at Kemps, a cafeteria, and some beer at the Mitre Tavern.<\/p>\n Back again for the Retrospect.\u00a0 It went marvellously and in the still evening air you could hear every word.\u00a0 Then was a pleasant surprise when a pony and trap was driven on!\u00a0 Nicholas Hannen was very good and so was F.H.Grisewood O.R., BBC (he was one of the BBC news readers).<\/p>\n The fireworks display which followed was the most marvellous and fascinating thing I have ever seen.\u00a0 Hundreds of rockets of all sorts shapes and sizes, that came down in red, blue, green, yellow and silver stars, many of them exploding again into separate rockets..\u00a0 Huge catherine wheels six feet high, a sparkling duck which walked, a waterfall forty feet long cascading silver foam, an acrobat who did high jinks and sparked.\u00a0 Small rockets that span and whizzed, then a Radley crest and a picture of the King, all in fireworks.\u00a0 The beauty surpassed words to describe it.<\/p>\n Tuesday June 10th<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n Got up v. late, headache, tired.\u00a0 Work in morning – row in afternoon which went very well.\u00a0 Clear up from yesterday – anticlimax.\u00a0 Bed early!\u00a0 Lovely weather.<\/p>\n Wednesday June 11th<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n Had a very pleasant\u00a0 sleep on in the morning as it is St Barnabus day.\u00a0 On corps we did Platoon Battle Drill, which went absolutely atrociously first time through, but the second time, after various threats, it went quite well on the whole.<\/p>\n In the evening I went into Oxford and saw the Agamemnon of Aeschylus, in English, translated by Louis Macneice, which I enjoyed very much.\u00a0 It was in Christ Church.<\/p>\n Friday June 13th<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n Today would have been Michael\u2019s 23rd<\/sup> birthday if he had lived.<\/p>\n Saturday June 14th<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n In the evening went to see Menander\u2019s \u2018Rape of the Lock\u2019 by Sir Gilbert Murray.\u00a0 (Presumably in Oxford)\u00a0 It was most interesting as the stage was in the centre of the Town Hall with the audience all around.\u00a0 The players remained on all the time and retired to the corners when not playing.\u00a0 Also very amusing.<\/p>\n Monday June 16th<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n Hectic preparations\u00a0 for the advent of the great Field Marshall.\u00a0 It will be a most interesting day tomorrow I think.\u00a0 In the P.T. break we practiced Platoon Battle Drill.\u00a0 It went reasonably well, but Ceddie puts our backs up so much that it is a wonder we do any thing for him.\u00a0 In the afternoon we did our scheme, in full equipment and tin hats etc.\u00a0 They weren\u2019t as heavy as I thought they would be.\u00a0 The scheme went very well.<\/p>\n Tuesday June 17th<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n The great day.\u00a0 Field Marshall Monty was supposed to arrive at 10.30, so we get on parade at 9.00!\u00a0 We dismissed for about \u00bc hour after being inspected quickly.\u00a0 Then another inspection when we came back on parade and formed up.\u00a0 After a long wait in which we were given various instructions and false alarms he eventually came preceded by two outriders of ours, in an enormous Rolls Royce 12 cylinder, a very powerful and beautiful looking car.\u00a0 We presented arms when he came out.\u00a0 There was nearly a blunder then as an aeroplane was flying overhead when we were ordering arms and some people ordered before the word, but it was covered up.\u00a0 Then the inspection followed in which he walked up and down the lines very alert and seeing everything.\u00a0 This was followed by the march past the saluting base, at which it nearly rained, but held off.\u00a0 We marched to the south of the Mansion where we assembled to hear him talk.\u00a0 I want to give the substance of his speech as fully as I can.\u00a0 He first asked if you could hear well around here, the Warden said you could and told us to close in all round and make ourselves comfortable.\u00a0 At frequent intervals an aeroplane would fly overhead and stop him talking and we would have to wait.\u00a0 He began by saying that he had not composed any speech but that on the way here he had thought up something.\u00a0 He condescendingly said that he had accepted the invitation of the corps because he had not been around this part of the world and was interested to see the country (not the corps?).\u00a0 He was a very busy man and had condescended to give us part of his time.\u00a0 Next Saturday he was\u00a0 off to Japan by air at six-o-clock in the morning, to Africa and Egypt, Palestine, India, Australia, Japan and would not be back till mid-August, after that he was going to Mexico.\u00a0 He had decided to give us some advice.\u00a0 Now this wasn\u2019t the sort of advice one normally received that sent one to sleep but real good stuff.\u00a0 He would tell us how to win all our school matches before we had begun.\u00a0 he would show us how to win a battle.\u00a0 As an example he would show us one of which we might have heard.\u00a0 He had banned the press and women as some of the stuff he was telling us was not public.\u00a0 There was an absolutely obvious press photographer staring him in the face, but all the same he pointedly hoped the press weren\u2019t there.\u00a0 When he arrived in Egypt the position was this.\u00a0 The obvious thing was to separate the Italians and the Germans, by themselves the Italians were very bad fighters.\u00a0 The Germans had sandwiched themselves around them.\u00a0 But before the battle was begun it was won.\u00a0 He studied the enemy and especially the commander Rommel.\u00a0 He hung his photo in his caravan.\u00a0 people thought he was mad but he was so used to that, that he had begun to take it as a compliment.\u00a0 That when one commander was defeated his photo was replaced by that of the next.\u00a0 He smashed first a big bulge in the middle then delivered a series of attacks to the North so hard that the Germans were forced to move their crack troops there to stop a break-through, leaving in the South a thin ring of Italians.\u00a0 He had withdrawn meanwhile a number of troops from the battle, refreshed them and re-equipped them.\u00a0 In spite of frantic messages from Churchill he continued in his purpose.\u00a0 A smashing blow in the South won the battle.[15]<\/sup><\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n But before the battle was begun it was won.\u00a0 You must study and plan carefully and stick to your plan, never waver if things go badly, go on.\u00a0 Doing this on the rugger field you will always win.\u00a0 Get into the mind of the enemy commander, make your plan, let all your men know exactly what is the plan of battle, and their own little part, how that fits in.\u00a0 The Germans had three great qualities, competence & technical skill with their weapons, skill in using ground, if a German got well-established in ground you would have a hard job to remove him, & iron discipline, which never cracked even in the worst time.\u00a0 He was going to give 2 books to the school, his own.\u00a0 They were about the war and by a commander, which had never been done before, though it ought to have been.\u00a0 About the war, and not the chaos which was now reigning.\u00a0 He had signed them.\u00a0 He also wanted to ask the\u00a0 Warden to give us a whole holiday, and he would make sure it was a good one, and would find out.\u00a0 He also wanted to congratulate us for our steadiness on parade, which meant that we would be steady in battle.\u00a0 Shortly afterwards he went in and we rushed round to do our battle drill.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t watch us but a host of other officers from the War Office did.\u00a0 It went very well and we were just going through it a second time when Ceddie stopped us and said we were short of time.\u00a0 We later learned that the audience were out of his control and he sent them away.\u00a0 We rushed off.\u00a0 Sergeants and above to have our photos taken in a group with Monty. It was incredible, he just loves publicity and he enjoyed every moment of having his photo taken.\u00a0 An amusing comment on the photographer who was a very mournful chap, \u2018he needs a hair-cut and some discipline\u2019.\u00a0 There was a whole barrage of photographers of college and he posed in front of them for about 3 minutes (and I posed just behind!).\u00a0 They were interested in his car and he turned round and said \u2018 a nice one isn\u2019t it\u2019 and \u2018a great opportunity for the photographers\u2019.<\/p>\n After lunch we all lined the drive to cheer him as he went away.\u00a0 Immediately he saw us he got out of his car and walked the whole way down the drive very slowly revelling in all the cheers. It was an incredible thing that a man could so love cheers and praise without becoming entirely swollen-headed.\u00a0 In his talk self-conceit showed itself in every word, yet it was carried off so well that it was effective.\u00a0 It was all part of a plan.<\/p>\n
\n<\/sup><\/span>Ascension Day.\u00a0 Whole Holiday.<\/p>\n