King Henry VIII Grammar School

Here is the link - you'll see that Herbie and Piggy both get a mention at the end

Further to my interrupted message... A lot of people would be surprised at Ted Norrish's "other" side. I believe he spent a lot of time looking after his sick mother - the reason he spent a lot of time on the Isle of Wight. He took us orienteering there once, when we were the "Octavian Droobers", and the brambles took off most of the skin from my legs. Not sure I'll ever forgive him for that, though! But he had a serious nervous breakdown a few years ago. Not the sort of guy you would think could have that sort of problem, but it was serious big time, and it was largely due to his wife - Emi - whom he met years ago in Bulgaria - that he actually escaped the atrocious treatment he was getting, and survived that problem. Strangely enough, I think he's an extremely shy person, and all that scary stuff that kids saw at KHVIII pretty much disappeared once you got to know him outside of school. He still lives in Coventry, and is working on his memoirs - focusing mostly on those epic climbs and treks. You might bump into him at some of the local music performances, or even having a quiet pint somewhere. He's not (or no longer) the dragon that people saw back then, and I'm sure he wouldn't mind me saying so!

Hello JohnnieWalker, I have a very dear friend, Glenn Fiddick. You might know him. I was interested to read your posts about Droob and was wondering whether you might have arrived at - or been offered - an explanation as to why he was, at times, excessively short-tempered and intimidating. As far as I was concerned, he was not alone amongst the teachers in possessing these character traits, but if I was going to select someone who personified them, it would be him. I was also aware that he had his admirers, presumably those who shared his interests. Hopefully, they witnessed his qualities, but for those who were not so fortunate, it might be enlightening to them as to why he behaved in such an overbearing manner, to put it mildly. From my point of view, he gave the impression that he perceived a lot of pupils, during my time there, as being 'troublemakers'. That is, if we were not controlled by threat and punishment, then we would make life intolerable for the teaching staff. Whereas I would contend that most pupils would not behave in this manner. We saw school as merely a rite of passage into adulthood, found it difficult to relate to the Henrys' ethos and had most enjoyment in life from activities which were not available to us inside it's premises. Here I am thinking mainly of soccer, popular music, contemporary issues of public interest and, most importantly, to me at least, fun and laughter. I was left with a strong impression that humour of any kind was unwelcome. Nothing was to be taken lightly, or whimsically. The school took itself way too seriously and, by so doing, inadvertently encouraged the very thing that they were trying to prevent. Of course, if they wanted to spread the net widely enough, lots of unremarkable conduct could fall under the heading of 'troublemaking'. Yet you know a different Ted Norrish from the one that I perceived. Therefore, I would be grateful if you have any insights to supplement those already provided. What I have in mind is whether my 'troublemaker' hypothesis has any credence. All of us get grumpy and displeased with our lot in life and people around us, from time to time, but it seemed a little more systematic than that. Please don't feel under pressure to respond. I'm just intrigued at this point in time. It will have passed by the weekend!

Ouch, grammatical error! I meant 'its premises'. Yet another 'See me afterwards' comment at the bottom of my homework!

Droob dropped me and 3 others in Shropshire, showed us how to set a map, pointed on it where we needed to get to and then left us to get on with it. I honestly believe he was very lucky not to have had to explain to our parents as to why we were missing.

At the end of the second form (1st year to those who don't know) I went to Solihull with Droob and a few others to help out at the national athletics meeting. I was then taken quite poorly and Droob took me home to Kenilworth in his Land Rover much to the grateful relief of my parents. He didn't have to but he did. At the start of 1972 we moved from Kenilworth to Wellesbourne (a terrible mistake on my folk's part.) I can't remember why or how it came about but on the afternoon of the move Droob ran me out there after school as my folks were still in the process of sorting out the move. I think my old man had sorted that out with him, can't remember. Now I was never part of the cross country or athletics set or taught by him, but I always got on really well with Droob. I even went on one of the mad adventures to the Lake District with Geoff Courtois, Dave Greatorex and Chris (Rocky) Holland. Droob was a really OK guy as long as you didn't wind him up. I may hasten to add I wasn't either a swot or a goody goody as any of my contemporaries can attest to. When I think of Droob the first thing that come to mind is him shouting, "Go for your time boy!!!!"

I have to agree with you on this Bags. I think Droob just expected everyone to have the same love of running, orienteering, trekking or athletics as he did, and anyone who he thought was not doing their utmost would be in the cross wires. As I mentioned in a previous post, I went to the '72 Olympics with him and got to know him quite well, one of the others who accompanied us (younger lad, cant remember his name) was having a bit of a whinge about the conditions in the back of his Landrover, actually there were 3 of us and we were all having a say, but he rounded on this one lad in particular. I can only assume that I was exempt as I was in the school athletics team and therefore I was viewed in a different light? I have to say though, once he got it out of his system 10 minutes later he was fine, as if nothing had happened.

Hi Inkers, and others who joined this discussion. It's good to see a more balanced picture emerging of this teacher! Inkers - your mate Glenn would have found a warm welcome at Ted's place. He was (probably still is) very fond of his single malts, and I visited him (with my two kids - aged 13 and 11) at his cottage in Stranraer back in 1988, where he had a very impressive range available for sampling. I can't remember (for some reason) how many I actually sampled, but the sampling took place in front of a video of Turandot - an opera which he clearly loved - and I didn't! I'm no fan of all that bellowing and shrieking, and the scotch probably dulled the pain! You ask me to try to explain his two sides, but that's well beyond my limited psycho-analytical abilities. Bags has hit the nail on the head - "was a really OK guy as long as you didn't wind him up". He was very impatient with kids who weren't - in his eyes - doing their best, and I think the "shock and awe" treatment was his way of encouraging greater effort. It works for some, and definitely not for others. Bohica - he was very convinced of the "character-building" effect of excursions like yours - and your character probably benefited in some way from the trauma! It would be interesting to see if we can find the "good" side of some of the other teachers. Anyone have anything nice to say about Piggy, for example? I would like to be able to kick-start that one, but...

For Latin homework Droob would give you 20 marks to start with then deduct half a mark for every mistake you had made in the translation. According to him I was the first person in his teaching career who had ever scored a minus number, a fact which seemed to amuse the rest of the class but must have scarred me for life because I can still remember the shame of it 52 years later. When I reached the sixth form and dropped Latin I did however go climbing with him several times. On one occasion in North Wales he had left three of us (who were by then reasonably experienced, but nevertheless still only 16 or 17 years old) to trek over a mountain and camp at a campsite on the other side while he returned home to attend an important function. He would then return to pick us up the following day. However, as we neared the top of the mountain the weather had deteriorated and the driving snow meant we could no longer see where we were going and the wind made even standing up difficult. We therefore decided to retrace our steps and take the long route round to the campsite via the road. Having hitched a couple of lifts we approached the campsite in the darkness of the late afternoon when a familiar Land Rover pulled up beside us. Apparently he had seen how the weather had worsened shortly after leaving us and had returned to check on our welfare. Not finding us on the mountain he had then driven up and down the road several times not realising that we were being chauffeured along it at the same time. I only crossed Piggy once when I had been given a detention by Dr K for the heinous crime of cycling in the cycle park. Not realising that the enigmatic doctor had been serious, I took no notice until about a month later when my name was read out in assembly as having to report to CBS forthwith. He asked how it was that my name had appeared in the weekly detention book for four weeks running but I had never appeared. I explained that I must have misunderstood the situation to which he replied that he had no real desire to put a member of the sixth form into detention so I had better stay behind for an hour one evening (when convenient) and do my homework . Must have been one of his better days.

When I first began posting on this Forum, I did so in the hope that it would ultimately prove to be therapeutic. Today, I can report success, thanks to my fellow OCs! What has now replaced 'Scary Droob' in my memory banks are the following: From Bags: 'Compassionate Droob' - an image of him driving home a sick lad to his concerned parents. From Al M: 'Exuberant Droob' - an image of him cheering on David Hemery to a bronze medal at the 1972 Olympics. From JohnnieWalker: 'Merry Droob' - an image of him sipping Single Malt Whisky, whilst belting out "Nessun Dorma" at the top of his voice. and From Midland Red: 'Chic Droob' - an image of him modelling some early Vivienne Westwood designer clothing, that inspired her on towards her 1970s punk look. Mission accomplished. And, apart from the last one (fashion disarrrster, darling) - no more nightmares!

Just found this - the late Allen Edwards

In addition, I think we might have made a ground-breaking discovery that could revolutionise teaching in this country. It seems to be that if you have some positive experiences with a teacher then, as their pupil, you will tend to like them. Conversely, if you don't, you won't. It appears bl**ding obvious, but apparently not to many teachers, judging from my secondary school life. Well, if we are not quite in Nobel Prize winning territory with this one, then I feel certain that we will receive at least a nomination for the 2016 "Piggy And The Beak Awards", which will be held, as usual, at the Hotel Leofric, Broadgate, in March. See you there! Smart dress only, please. And for Heaven's sake - wear your cap.

Try having a school teacher for a Father. "King of the kids" - "Not of the real world - no idea of life outside academia" - "impractical" Authority on everything and of course, their children not allowed to have or express an opinion of their own.

Hi again JohnnieWalker, Thanks for your suggestion as to Droob's Theory of Motivation, in order to try and get lads to do their past. I suspect that Alex Ferguson was also often a subscriber to this management style. The Stick, as opposed to the Carrot. As you correctly point out, this might work with some, but not with others. It, absolutley, definitely, did not work for me. If someone bellows at me for underperforming, then I would instantly underperform my underperformance. That is possibly why I failed all my 'O' levels at the first attempt. Then I went on to College, where the style was more relaxed, and pretty much passed every one that they put in front of me. So, my thought which, yet again, seems too bl**ding obvious to mention, was that the teachers needed to do a better job at getting to know individual pupils and try and discover what motivational form works for them. If they considered this too time consuming, then how can they ever hope to bring out the best in each of us? And how can their assessments as to our true capabilities have any worth? All they know about us is based on their test and exam results, which are influenced by their management style. It is a vicious circle. Henrys, of course, was not alone in this glaring lack of attention to important detail. Heck, I worked 14 years with a company, where two of the three partners in the firm knew no more about me on the last day than they did on the first. Actually, come to think of it, they both attended Henrys! On that funny note, I shall finish my mini-rant!

Hello Roger Turner, I feel your pain! I must confess to overlooking this aspect of being 'The Son of A Teacher Man'. Naively, I thought you might be on the inside track, as it were. Clearly, there is a lot more to it than that. I have a friend of a friend who is a teacher and he seems to be much given to pontificating upon things about which he knows very little. (Actually, re-reading my last post on here, I'm now getting worried that it might be a contagious disease). One thing I found very beneficial when I was in a difficult situation. It was to take a magical tablet known as 'The P**s', at least three times a day. Worked wonders. However, a word of warning. Don't get caught taking it when you are in school. That does not have a happy ending.