King Henry VIII Grammar School

Ah, yes, the arrival of the girls. Forgive me if I appear to be harbouring resentment here, but I (and many of my contemporaries) were cheated! Allow me to explain; all the years I was at the school, we looked up to the balcony during assembly and saw where the sixth formers sat, and we dreamed, nay, we aspired to be among that hallowed group, lounging on their plywood seats while lower ranks stood in rows below us. Then, the girls arrived. They stood (with the boys) in rows at the front of the hall, nearest the stage, where generations of 'fuzzers' (including myself) had previously stood. We fifth-formers stood in the last rows at the back of the hall, just one academic year away from promotion to the actual balcony itself. But then the fainting started... first one, then by twos, and finally, they were dropping like flies. It seemed to us to be some sort of competition among them! But instead of being told to have a proper breakfast, or to sit down instead of going to assembly when they were feeling faint, oh no! Instead, they were given the balcony to sit in! Our privilege, our very birthright was snatched from us. We stood in rows at the back of the hall, and we looked into the balcony above, and, perhaps it was just me, but I thought I detected faint smiles of satisfaction from the girls... the look that almost says out loud "Ha! We fooled you all!". Other than that, everything was fine.

I am surprised nobody has mentioned Kitty Fisher. IMHO a nastier piece of work has never existed

Ah, but he has been mentioned. Martin Beresford "Kitty" Fisher was mentioned by Beesman and myself here in a thread entitled 'Precinct Reconstruction' last April. He was indeed a nasty and strange man, and as I stated in that thread, he had some odd habits. He was undoubtedly gay and certainly spent his free time with senior boys with similar preferences. He also took pleasure in being a self-appointed 'enforcer' with several sycophantic young boys providing him with information about misdemeanours of their peers. Fisher would then summon the miscreant to a vacant classroom and intimidate them with various threats. I am sure none of this was done officially, i.e. with the approval of the chief punishment officer, Piggy Shore. I was subjected to several sessions with him in an attempt to admit being a part of an incident which disrupted one of Ernie Shaw's RE lessons in a rather interesting way, but he got nowhere with me, much to his frustration. A very unpleasant man, as you say.

Sorry, I hadn't gotten around to exploring that part of the board. So, he left under a cloud did he? I can't say I'm surprised. IMHO a truly vile man

I'm sure he did leave in, shall we say, doubtful circumstances. But it was after I left so not too sure exactly what happened. I believe he went 'up north' somewhere, possibly not as a teacher. I would be interested to know if anyone was there when he left and can throw any more light on it. He never actually taught me, but my first experience of him was on the ski-ing trip to Switzerland. He was a loner there and used to disappear in the evenings on his own. It was here that we saw that he was quite an enthusiastic boozer too, something which didn't seem to impress Max Gordon who organised the trip. Looking back, this one-man vigilante campaign he pursued now seems very odd indeed. He seemed to latch onto unpopular kids and get them onside to obtain information about any perceived troublemakers. Makes you wonder what he gave them in return.

KHVIII must be rubbing off on you MisterD-Di!!! I seem to recall 'can anyone throw any light on the matter...' was one of Piggy Shore's favourite phrases when pleading for information in assembly!

He taught me for one year, my first. The guy was totally unstable. One minute he'd be squashing up to you in your seat... (you get the picture!) thr next it'd be the Bunsen burner tube out beating **** of your backside. He seems to be credited with editing a Latin book sometime in the early 70's, but other than that I have no idea of what happened to him.

I was taught Latin in the 4th form by Kitty Fisher. Like you said bohica, he would squeeze up on boys seats. His other distinctly unpleasant habit was to get behind a pupil who was seated and proceed to 'massage' said individual's back. I would like to think that these days a teacher like him wouldn't be allowed within a mile of a school.

I'm glad he never taught me! His habits sound revolting. I remember him being quite familiar with some of the older lads on the ski trip to Switzerland though. He should certainly never have been supervising kids on a trip like that, especially with his liking for drink. The bunsen hose sounds familiar. I have a feeling that he showed me he kept one in his jacket pocket when he was interrogating me about the RE lesson. I wasn't aware if he used it, and I suspect that this would have been a step too far for the headmaster, even if Piggy knew about it. But I reckon his self-appointed disciplinary activities were kept to himself and had more sinister overtones. Remember that another teacher was convicted of certain activities around 2000, but some were aware of what he was up to 30 years earlier. So Fisher was not the only one who should never have been allowed near a classroom.

According to a post on friends reunited, Fisher moved to Manchester Grammar School in the mid 70's. As regards the other miscreant mentioned above, he also taught me in the early 70's. There were always alarm bells ringing about him, though no outward signs of impropriety.

I've only just found this forum, and it brings back memories of the old school; some fond memories, and some not so pleasant ones; about two thirds, and one third respectively. I was in both the junior and main schools in the sixties. I was informed about the school song "the school at the top of the hill" about a month ago by an even older (by three school generations) old boy; during all my time at KHVIII, I was unaware of the song and the tune. When I get a minute, I'll print it and play it on the piano. It seems like only last week that I was a pupil there - that is how vivid my memories are. Much of the time spent was a good laugh. In adult life, I have found that most people do not do impersonations (mannerisms and voices). I and a colleague do; he is brilliantly funny. I put it to him that he started the same way as I did - taking the mick out of teachers for the amusement of his classmates, and he confessed that was exactly how he started. Names like Foghorn, Bert, Gerry Barrel, Thunderguts, Kitty Fisher, Herbie, Droob, Slug, Popcork... and so on... they were just begging (even if they didn't know it) to be impersonated.

I have just come across this forum by chance - and the memories came flooding back. I was at KHS 1958-1965. My form teacher was Willie Rose ["Willie sat on a pin, Willie Rose"]. He was also head of house - Sherwyns. He taught French. As I recall it on Mondays we had House prayers/meetings rather than full assembly. Ours were held in ?room 13? - near to the cage in the main intersection of corridors. I can understand how we arrived at King's and Hales for house names but I have forgotten - or never knew - who or what were Holland, White or Sherwyn - any offers? As for the school song it had at least one more verse than the 2 given. It began "And when we look back in years yet to come and our days live again in thought..." It then continues about the friends that we made and the battles we fought. Do they no longer sing it at Speech/Founders day? Does no-one have a complete copy? I remember Bunny very well [gap-toothed, hence his name]. He taught us English - though Nick [Mr Nicholson] covered Shakespeare. In fact I now recall that Bunny was absent for a term - don't know why - and the School took the unprecedented step in appointing a woman to stand in for him. I am sorry to hear he died but any teachers now alive from that era must be well into their 80's. I was also sorry to hear about Jeff Vent - a perfect gentleman. When I close my eyes and picture him I can still hear his melodious Lancashire accent - I think he came from the Blackburn area. Sooty Blackwell [always rode a bike] also taught French but he left early 60's to go to a school [girls only I believe] in Kent. "Wat" [schoolboys often have little imagination] Tyler taught German but he too left at the same time - 2 very nice men!! Unlike some of the others!! Dr Kolisch taught me AO maths-calculus etc, I did not understand a word he said. I found however the more sadistic to be "Maxie" Gordon. Woe betide anyone who forgot a simple declension or the pluperfect of some obscure verb. They were "invited" to enter Maxie's secret garden. He would seize the hapless victim by the short hair/sideburn near his ear and give it a savage twist whilst pulling upwards at the same time. This caused the victim to stand on tip-toe and Maxie would then walk him up and down the room berating him for his mistake for a good few minutes. One of his regular victims was a lad called Donoghue [I think that was the right spelling]. Talking of punishments I received a Sat. morning detention for not wearing my hat on my way home. I was spotted by a maths teacher - a big dark haired fellow who I believe was called Morgan [I may be wrong]. Also who can forget Piggy in assembly always on the look out for anyone talking, improperly dressed, wearing dirty shoes etc? Before we left the hall the names of the miscreants were spoken aloud and they were instructed to stay behind to await their fate. From memory I was only caught the once. As for "Pip" such a gentleman but no control whatsoever. How did he manage to last so long? I recall visiting him 1x after he had retired. Let us just say his flat's tidiness left a lot to be desired. What about the school hours? The younger generation look at me as if I have gone mad when I tell them for the first couple of years we started at 8.50 and finished at 4.35!! It was later modified to 4.20 - mind you we did have a very generous lunch break - we needed 2 sittings for lunch in the hall. So many many more memories but I think I will call it a day now. All the best. PS Re Debee Ashby - long after my time of course - she went to the Isle of Man to run a pub, has settled down here with a family.

Welcome Slim and TOJO, fellow OC's - thanks for the memories too! I think Thomas Sherwyn was the first headmaster of the Grammar School Philemon Holland and Thomas White are both covered by Wikipedia entries Sooty Blackwell was my form-master one year, and he was certainly one of the few real gentlemen amongst the staff Never suffered the pleasure of being taught by Max Gordon, but didn't Irwin dish out similar punishment? (And was the student's name Donohoe?)

Kitty Fisher (so called because he was one of the younger teachers) taught me Latin for 2 years. We never suspected anything dodgy about him. He seemed prim and proper, very strict, but with a sense of humour; knew his subject well and was a good teacher. He was the school snob, head held back and looking down his nose at the boys, so he came in for a lot of impersonating in the playground. One day, he told me to step up front and spell the word onomatopoeia out loud to the class (no doubt hoping I'd get it wrong). As soon as I'd finished, he bawled "Well that's wrong, isn't it, Wallhead!" I quietly replied "I don't think so, Sir." He then asked one of the other boys to look it up. I don't think he liked it when the other boy was forced to say "Wallhead is correct, Sir!" Piggy Shore: smoke dried, used to hastily stub a fag out underfoot before entering the main hall for assembly, red faced with a boozer's bonker; word was he'd written his car off whilst drink-driving. One day he bawled at one of the fifth years: "The boy with the tea cosy hair style - yes you - come out here!" He bent down from the stage, and in front of the whole school, used his biro pen to put ink marks on the boys cheeks. He then added "That's where your sideburns should finish. Go to the barber's now, and don't return until you've had your hair cut!" Quel embarassomondo for the boy. He was a big fat kid with a mop of blond hair, spectacles, and by now a bright red face. All good fun. I managed to never ever get a personal detention. If you kept your nose clean, you stayed out of trouble. Or appeared to keep your nose clean. The trick was to not get caught. I'm sure I may well have been expelled for one one the things I did. Which is why, as you've probably guessed, Wallhead is not my real name!

During my time at KHVIII, 1967-1974, school hours were 8-50am to 9-10am. House assembly, in my case Kings, in the metalwork shop! on a Monday. Hall assembly on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, followed by form assembly on a Friday. Teaching hours were 9-10am-10-40am, 20 minute break, then 11-00am to 12-30pm. Dinnertime was from 12-30pm to 2-00pm!! Afternoons were 2-00pm to 4-00pm (3 forty minute periods) I remember Maxie Gordon and from memory I believe he called it 'A walk in Maxie's Magic Garden'. A thoroughly nasty piece of work who would not be let near a classroom these days. I also recall Piggy Shore summoning a pupil out from assembly by pointing in his direction. Naturally nobody was exactly sure who he meant. Piggy then qualified his demand by saying 'you boy, the one that looks like a doll in a box!' So this poor unfortunate, through having frizzy blond curly hair, was forever afterwards known as 'Dolly' Edwards! .