King Henry VIII Grammar School

Hi all No matter what school, as we from our forum send our very best wishes to our students on their way to collect their A level results. O level results follow in a few days.

On the letters page of today's Guardian is a letter from John Mann who states: "I was in the same class as David Frost in the sixth form at Wellingborough grammar school. We always thought his mannerisms were a perfect 'take-off' of our history teacher, Mr Tompkins." This of course is the same Mr Tompkins who moved to KHVIII circa 1962 and remained at the school till he retired.

Good day from close to Toronto, Ontario, Canada. My life long friend Alastair Ballantyne introduced me to this forum, "Bags" as he signs on, a spectacular guy. I attended KHVIII junior and senior schools, and "graduated" in 1976. I felt very privileged indeed to have attended such a remarkable school, and the effects of my education and life experiences have stayed with me for all of my life, dear and fond memories, the best of times. My brother Robert Dodd also attended the school with me, he is 4 years younger than I. My Mum and Dad could really barely afford the school, but my Dad had been at Warwick, and they dedicated their lives to my brother and I, so we are fortunate in many ways. I married 33 years ago and my wife and I emigrated to Canada, we have two boys here, 27 and 24 years old. We live in the small town of Rockwood, Ontario, some 45 miles or so north east of the 6 million people that are Toronto. I managed to scrape by with a bunch of "O' levels and "A" levels and immediately found work with the Banks in England, I am now self employed in the aviation forum. My days were the days of "The Beak", Shore, Captain Cook, Taffy, Peter Jones, Geoff Courtois, Bugsy Leachman, Alfie Crocker, Ron Hough, McGawley, Joe Soap, Droob, Maxi Gordon and many more. (spelling ?) I lived a very privileged life at KHVIII, and played first fifteen rugby, first eleven cricket, basketball and more. I never felt intimidated by any teacher, although Maxi Gordon and Taffy did instill fear upon me, but I just laid low out of their way. The friends I made and the times I had were spectacular, from being friends, from antics and activities, to just plain growing up, it was a great time of my life, and an enchanting place to be. I remember distinctly morning assembly in what I called 'the great hall", ("hey, you boy, get off of that wall!") school lunches, lessons in that formidable and beautiful building, and sports. I loved to run, wind in my hair, and rugby and cricket were both a passion for me, and of course especially in rugby, we had a formidable reputation and history. Girls came to the school on my last year and one can only presume that lesser boys means lesser men's sports teams, although that may not be the case of course. I will write more, just wanted to introduce myself at this juncture.

Hello Doddman, welcome to our forum, we hope you enjoy being an active member Thanks for an really interesting post - look forward to more memories of KHVIII from a fellow OC

We lived in Kenilworth, so on most days we caught the Midland Red bus in from the bus stop by The Green Man pub. On occasions Dad would drive us in, and on occasions Alastairs Dad would drive us in in his red Fiat sports car. Bags' Dad was a born again Graham Hill, and the drive was to say the least a white knuckle job, but great fun. He used to stamp on the accelerator pedal at every opportunity, curse at other drivers, especially when tearing away from traffic lights, especially the ones on the Kenilworth Road just as you were entering Coventry, cannot remember the name of the intersection. From time to time Tony Snelson used to drive us home in his wife farm van, but most nights because of sports my Dad would pick me up and drive me home. I played lots of sports and was in good shape, but one afternoon Simon Hogg brought me to me knees in the urinals off the playground, we were joshing and what I did not realize was that the trombone player has exceptionally strong hands, he locked his fingers in mine and pushed me to the floor. Simon was a tremendous guy, but we used to mock him a lot for playing the trombone, every afternoon he would arrive from the music room with Louis Armstrong type lips, swollen from playing that instrument. Last time I looked Simon had published several albums, had played for royalty if I remember it correctly, and had been awarded the MBE for his services to music. What a fabulous achievement. Ted Norrish "Droob" was an interesting guy, passionate I guess about track and field. I remember being in his Land Rover travelling to meets often, he looked like a tall Hitler, and behaved like one a bit, but later in life I realised that all he wanted to do was win events, and if discipline by discipline he could carve his way up a notch, then winning meets became much more acheivable. He was passionate about track and field that is for sure, I did the shot putt and javelin for him. I remember David Duckham well, he left well before I did but he always came back to the alumni vs. school track meets. He was playing on the wing for England at the time, and he always ran the anchor leg of the 4 x 100 meters on alumni day, or perhaps yards in those days. No matter what they would exchange the baton and give it to David, he would explode on to the scene, his longish blonde hair rising from his head to become a mane almost, and he would win the race always as I remember it. Over those first 20 yards he was the fastest human being I have ever witnessed, and I remember his great try with the Barbarians which for a time stood as the greatest try in history before the Gareth Edwards try came along. Alan Cowman taught phys ed at the school for a time and played for England, I remember him attempting a drop goal and almost breaking his ankle in the process, with the ball spinning just yards away. We gave him some stick on Monday let me tell you. That purple Loughborough track suit...

I remember JBV, Jeff Vent, very fondly. French in room 203? was it, on Monday and Thursday afternoons. I never knew anyone who was born to be a teacher like Jeff was, he was a very special guy and I don't think they make them like that any more, he loved his "job" with all of his heart, and he was spectacular within it. He introduced me to French with Marie Claude and her family, her Dad worked at Orly aiport in France, cannot remember the name of the book but he made it interesting. He introduced me to cricket and rugby, and was my first high school coach in both discplines. After that at the Under 16 age level Geoff Courtois transformed us from boys to men on the rugby field and evetually McGawley rode that horse, but it was Geoff who made us what we were. My crew was Cobb, David Pennington, Ken McPhail, Nigel Wright, Tim Bull, John Firth, Big Ben, David Weitzel, (spelling?), and more I shall remember shortly of course. I remember the AJ Salmon hoax well, in my era they entered him into a run we were involved in, a fund raiser for charity, he soared with sponsorship, and the day after at assembly Taffy asked if anyone knew the whereabouts of "AJ Salmon" I loathed Latin, and German, and dropped German as early on as I could. The bad boys in my class were Torley, Lapworth and Malcolm, although they were only mildly bad, more like activists. I got on with them well, they smoked a lot and Lapworth was a low profile skin head, Torley a mad Irishman, and Malcolm a long haired blonde hippie, all good guys in their own way. I dated Ron Hough's step daugther for a while, Karen, from Barrs Hill schol, a spectacular girl, he was the same out of school as he was in it, stern, they also lived in Kenilworth. Alastair and I spent half of our lives together and went from puberty to manhood in each other's company, some of the best memories of my life as we grew, experienced so much, and moved forward in life. Being at school together only helped, and while we had very different profiles but we had a massive amount in common. I learned a lot from Alastair, all of it good. On my last day of school I remember being almost overcome as I exited the covered way for the last time to head for the bus home. My Mum had given me a pound so I walked down to the Rocket pub by the railway station, and with David Pennington and someone else ordered a pint of Brew XI. The landlord promptly produced the bright shining pint of ale, looked at me as I handed my money forward and said "the gentleman over there has bought you that beer", nodding towards that person. It was my Dad! A magical time.... he knew it was a bitter sweet day for me, and just wanted to make it better. I was already playing club rugby and cricket, so beer had been in my life for a couple of years, Al and I saw to that !

Thanks for having me here. Exciting for me ! Nick D

I remember the smell of good cigars in the great hall after an old boys dinner, I remember the "tuck shop' at which Mr. and Mrs Grimes sold sweets mostly though the partitioned windows which when closed were actually white board panels. Love hearts were my favourite! I remember that Chris Forman's family sold product to KHVIII, and that lots of Forman's sweets were sold at KHVIII, and the white "Foreman's" delivery van. I remember boycotting the presence of girls at the first day of assembly on their arrival and hiding in the sixth form retreat next to the tuck chop and being challenged by members of staff and eventually attending morning prayers under pressure, I remember being shocked that the girls had been awarded sole place in the upstairs balcony, which until then had been our sixth form domain. Whatever teacher it was alluded to the fact the women had "periods" and thus could not stand for a long time, which bothered me and shocked me at the time that that would be the argument. I remember school lunches, fish fingers on a Friday, that custard in the silver jugs headed by a thick topping of congealed skin, and the spotted dick that was so great. Prunes I never never ate! I remember the "dinner ladies" and the kitchen itself, and I liked them a lot, white hats and white aprons. Sometimes during cricket games they made sandwiches and the like, mostly ham, which were great. I remember the "cage", which was really the place to put coats, and I remember that purple photocopying fluid that smells so weird, can smell it even today, and I remember the corridor to the teachers study, and the transition from a wooden floor to some kind of tiled floor, which meant "do not cross"! I remember across from the cage the blue double doors to the playground, and I can see down the corridor to classrooms on the right that I attended often. I remember the stairs to the stunning library, which I used too infrequently, to the Dewey system of books, and the Board of Governors table and blue leather chairs, which bore the schools moniker embedded upon them. I remember both the indoor and playing field changing rooms, and getting ready for combat in the latter many many times, at one first XV game in my last year I was shocked as we ran out on to the field vs. Bablake at how few people were in attendance, then within 2 minutes a thousand people appeared from behind the science building to watch the game, and the reality of events gathered me. I remember playing at William Webb Ellis Road, "The Close" I think they called it, against Rugby School, a moment in life certainly. I remember playing at Edgbaston for Warwickshire for cricket, wow! We prevailed at Rugby School! Tony Spencer was our man! I remember playing for Coventry, and Mercer Mottram being hospitalised with a broken nose and more, and he and his Dad turning up at the CRFC clubhouse at Coundon Road after discharging him from hospital on the spot, Mercer and his family were iconic. I can still see him and his Dad today. I remember playing pick up soccer in Spencer Park with Rick Rogerson and a cast of many, and what were those fields we used to coach to offsite to play rugby and sometimes cricket? Anybody help me here? I remember vividly Rod Markley a science teacher whose parents were wealthy and owned a car dealership, he drove a very nice sky blue car with the initials "RFM" evident on the drivers side front panel. He was a fun good guy, although it took us weeks to comprehend the principle of moments under his direction I remember on one Monday after a pupil lost his life falling from a cliff while climbing somewhere over the weekend the Beak saying "this morning we mourn the loss of one of our number"... a class act... and I remember the day he died and Taffy announcing it to us, riddled with remorse if that is the correct word, perhaps sadness is a better one... Herbert Walker was a solid guy I think and believe...

Another great post, Doddman The "playing fields" are on Stonebridge Highway, the Coventry by-pass (A45)

So the summer I left KHVIII three or four or more of us went to pick farm produce almost at Dax, Spain, although technically we were in the last French village before the border. Rogerson, Satchell, myself and probably one or two others. Lived in tents, and it was not a lot of fun, but we earned some money, used to go to the local shop at lunch time, buy ourselves a 15 pence bottle of wine, or multiples thereof, some French bread and cheese, ate and drank it at the local swimming pool, lasted about two months I think, then came home. My Dad sat me down and told me that I was going to get an office job, and that emphatically I was not allowed to join a "union". "They were all well and fine when they were sending 5 year old boys to clean out chimneys but they are of no use any more".... So I started applying at the banks and other places and quickly found myself at the Midland Bank, HQ, New Street Birmingham I think it was. I was being interviewd by an older gentleman, I could just make him out through the smoke filled air He asked me several questions, and as we got through the interview the questions got more and more negative, and I knew that it was not going well. We came to our conclusion and he thanked me and I thanked him and I was literally walking out the door, when, "hey, hold on" he said, still looking at my resume. "It says here that you have played rugby for Coventry and cricket for Warwickshire"... "that's right" I said, "well you know the bank has a cricket team you know", "I did not know" I said... he picked up some papers from his desk and calmly said "I think I have an opening at the Kenilworth Branch, you can start Monday"... and that was it, next day I got my letter of employment, or "marching orders" as my Dad referred to them, and off I went. I think I worked for the Bank for three or four years, nice people, a fun job, but I was challenged by the kind of work the girls were better at, being specific has never been a strength of mine, so balancing books and money always took longer than it should, although in the end I had a good track record of ultimately balancing to the penny. The bank sent me to work off site in Cheltenham where they had a lack of people problem, I soon found out why. The accountant running the branch was very difficult to work with, and they had several people staying in a hotel working there, from out of town. I met what was to become my wife there, and eventually we went back to work in Kenilworth and Coventry. My wife had relatives in Canada and had wanted to emigrate, so we started that process and pursued it for almost another two years. Interview after interview after interview at the Canadian Consulate in Birmingham by Canadian men who all wore Rupert the Bear like trousers. On about the sixth interview the guy looked up from his desk and said "ok, you can go now, to Canada that is, you have a six month window to get there and be landed", so off we went. Of course being the disciple that I was it never occurred to me that we would get our papers, but more importantly I had never contemplated leaving my Mum, Dad, brother and friends behind. I was entrenched within Kenilworth Cricket Club, and to some extent the same at Kenilworth and Leamington Spa rugby clubs. My Mum and Dad had recently separated, which made things harder all around, but there it was, a life time opportunity, and both my Mum and Dad flat out told me to go and do my best. I guess they were Margaret Thatcher days, and Canada had a strong and good reputation, so we all decided we would go. My Dad had flown Lancaster bombers in WWII, a pilot eventually decorated for bravery by the King at Buckingham Palace, as I type this anecdote I look at his campaign and dress medals that are framed hanging in my home office, a picture of him, his Distinguished Flying Medal, a picture of a Lancaster bomber, and in the same frame a picture of my grandfather and his WWI medals. On the day we left I stayed at my Mum's house, and we just broke down and cried as Dad picked me up, it was an awful day. My Dad who had faced Hitler and was stoiic (spelling) was going to drive us to Heathrow to fly WardAir. En route we pulled into a British Rail station and he handed Shona and I two train tickets to Heathrow, "Nick" he said " I am just not capable of saying goodbye to you at the airport", so hugged, told each other we loved each other and off Shona and I went, an awful experience. More on Canada later. Within three years of being here my Dad was dead, and a year later Mum died, agony really, and the one regret in life I do have is that my parents never got to meet Kyle and Logan, our two boys. More on Kyle and Logan later. Kyle graduated from Eastern Michigan University in the USA, and as we attended convocation (his graduation ceremony) my wife said exactly that about her Dad, who died ten years ago now, "My Dad would have been so proud" were her exact words... More on Canada as we land there

The school also used rugby pitches at Allesley Park in the mid to late 60s. They were on a slope and extremely exposed to the howling wind in the middle of winter. We were taken in old, battered coaches, and there were no changing facilities available for us. I suspect the use of these pitches was somewhat 'unofficial'.

Nick. I remember when you and some of the guys went off to France. I seem to recall that the plan was to work your way across the globe and end up in Australia. I recall that I was on my 3 weeks holiday from work and I was staying at my folks house in Warwick while they were off on holiday in Wales. You turned up on a Wednesday morning out of the blue and boy was I glad to see my best mate back. We went off to Kenilworth for a few beers that lunchtime and to Mr George at night. In the club we pair along with Martin Satchell decided to just grab a tent, a camping stove and b****r off to the South Coast for a few days the following day. That was a good few days break down on the Dorset and Devon border around the Lyme Regis area. Buying a pint of milk each every morning and a box of cereal and shoving handfuls of cereal in our gobs and washing it down with a swig of milk. Cooking basic meals on the stove. We came back the long way round and went to Weston-super-Mare for some strange reason. I recall us being astonished at how dull it was and that the sea was so far out that we couldn't even see it. Ah golden days of high jinks and exceptionally golden memories. This isn't strictly about school, but what we did afterwards. Edited by Midland Red, 15th Sep 2013 12:15 pm (Slight amendment to phrase used!)

Really interesting posts although they relate to 10+ years after I left Even so, I can relate to references to some of the staff you mention and to the school buildings.

Those were great times. Hopefully will Skype you later on to-day. I know, I also worry about my meanderings and that they are somewhat off topic. I also worry about boring people to death, but they have a choice to read or not to read. I am sure the moderators will tell me to desist if they think I am errant though. Rather them than dozens of people!

Ah yes, the cage! This brought back memories of the main school corridor (parallel to Warwick Road) - starting from the hall, along the cloisters and up the steps to room 10 (right) and 11-13 (left) ; then the main noticeboard and doors to the playground (right) and the cage (left), and stairs off right At this point the corridor led to room 14 and the staffroom (left) and the staff cloakroom (right) and this section was out-of-bounds unless you were accessing room 14 (RE/Ernie Shaw) So if you had to see a master (his choice or yours) you had to wait at the end of the cage (Woggism no.374 "Meet me by ze cage, preferably in ze cage!") At the other end of this section was the main front door to the school (not sure if anyone used it in the 50s/early 60s, as it was also o-o-b to boys, masters didn't appear to use it - perhaps only used by visitors and on special occasions) - adjacent was the lost property room, and stairs up which came out by Piggy Shore's office, and a door to the playground Then through double doors were Gussy Gains' office (Junior School headmaster) and Mrs Gardner's and Herbie's offices (all on the left) - then you were into the Junior School Paintwork was dark blue floor to about 4' - 5', above was cream - there was a narrow orange strip just above the top of the dark blue