King Henry VIII Grammar School

Oi oi Inkers! Nothing could be further from the truth! I do not have any of my school reports, despite the first few being quite complimentary!! I obviously didn't become a rebel until the fourth form. Probably around the first time I saw the superb film 'If.....' In actual fact after leaving KHVIII in July '74 I returned in September of that year to collect my leavers report. I was informed by a very smug school secretary, a certain Miss French, that my report had been destroyed. I think she mentioned that burning was the method employed. Having read the post from bohica concerning the availability of old reports I can only assume that my final damnation was not even worthy of space in the school vaults!

I wrote in when they asked if anyone wanted their reports, but alas mine were not available either. Perhaps comments such as "This boy is cleverer than we realised, I still don't know how he passed his 'O' Level" would be considered libelllous today. Little did he know the reason I didn't appear to be paying attention during his lessons was that I was doing my homework from his previous lesson to hand in at the end of the lesson. One of favourites was from Jack Rippon - who I had for 'A' Level French; 'Is this boy in my set ?" I admit, I didn't go often.

Lady and Gentlemen, Having been introduced to the dark arts through watching the antics of Dick Dastardly many years ago, I am getting a strong whiff of skulduggery with respect to these school reports. Why does the school claim that they have some for collection, whilst others are "unavailable" or "have been burned"? Let me speculate that the school possesses a blacklist, containing the names of notorious dissidents and ne'er-do-wells and should you be amongst these then your report will never see the light of day. Until, that is, when then are eventually discovered underneath a car park, some five hundred years from now, at which point the alleged misdeeds contained within are construed by historians as being courageous acts of freedom and independence, rather than those of troublemakers and lazy gits . The reports will be forensically examined for verification purposes before being taken to Coventry Cathedral where they will be placed on display to the general public, who will flock to see them. Alternatively, they might just have been sent to a paper recycling centre a few years ago. Boo Hoo.

Well LOTI, I was 'asked' to leave after I had taken my 'O' levels, so maybe that theory doesn't hold up to tight scrutiny.

Hi bohica, I'm not going to let something so inconvenient as disconfirming evidence subvert my grand theory! Good heavens, this country's instruments of government would collapse if politicians took account of facts before making their pronouncements. No - I shall follow their lead and simply call upon my spin doctor, who advises me, in this instance, to respond "You are the exception that proves the rule."

Something that I wanted to ask was whether anyone contributing to this forum ever went to a school reunion and what the experience was like. I was amazed when I received a telephone call from Jeff Vent informing of this reunion event for my year. How did he find out where I now lived? I told him that I was not interested and gave him some reasons as to why I had no desire to attend and he went on to write me a letter explaining how things had changed, that there were now girls at the school and, no, I would not have to wear a cap if I didn't want to (I'm kidding about the last bit!). He was unable to persuade me to change my mind, but part of me wondered how strange it would actually be to meet people that one had not seen for a long time. And, most importantly, do fisticuffs break out over long held grudges?!

My 5 years there were not something I enjoyed. JBV did contact my parents to ask them for my address so he could invite me to a reunion. It was a letter I didn't receive. (I was going through a divorce at the time, so can only assume the ex-wife intercepted it and actually did me a favour.) Would I have gone? - Hell would freeze over first!

I seem to remember Jeff Vent trying to get me to go to a 21-year reunion which would have been in 1985. He wrote to me at my parents' house and when I ignored the letter he rang there and asked for an address and phone number. He was told that they never gave out that information, not least because of my job. I had no intention of turning up to a reunion with people I hadn't seen for years and hadn't had much in common with anyway, so I never got back to him. Nightmare avoided. As for school reports, I recall they were in a yellow book and we were always instructed to hand them to our parents without looking at them. They were always in the same unsealed envelope so we always did, usually sat in Spencer Park. When I finally left, it was before I did my A-levels. I realised Piggy Shore was finally on my case so went home at morning break and only returned on exam days. So I never got my final report. I had a job by the end of term. I certainly never went back to collect it! By the way, Inkers, I think I do remember you. Tall with blond hair?

Well this may surprise some of you (MisterD-Di in particular!) but I actually did attend the 21 year reunion at KHVIII. The main reason being that I had several good pals at school who I was quite keen to see again. It wasn't a bad 'do' overall and I quite enjoyed it. It was strange to see various old boys, some still looked as if they had left school the previous day, whereas others looked as if they had been running pubs for the last ten years! Fortunately I was easily recognised as I still had long hair. Some attendees had traveled great distances to attend such an auspicious occasion. Me? I drove from Allesley Village! The curious thing was that at the end of the evening, around 10-30pm, several of us wanted to continue with a few drinks.It was a bit like being transported back to around 1973 as excuses like 'my mum and dad are home' and 'my dad's got to be up early' were offered up as reasons not to go to certain ex-pupils houses. Needless to say, we all ended up in Allesley Village! Generally I would say I enjoyed the evening. The strangest part was probably being allowed to smoke in the hallowed School Hall!

Hello MisterD-Di, Thanks for your recollection regarding the school reports. Although this is how I remembered it, I wasn't quite sure whether we were instructed not to look at them before handing over to the parents. How did they school think that command was ever going to work?! Heck, they treated us like we were barbarians in the making so, if we were, it was unlikely that we would think "Oh, I was told not to look inside this easily opened envelope containing information vital to my present well being, so I had better do as they tell me to." What the--??! No, I served time in the Cubs and the motto that they drilled into us was "Be Prepared"! As regards my appearance, I didn't have blond hair past the age of about three or four, I'm afraid!

Hi Beesman, Thanks for your memories of the school reunion bash, or whatever they called it. I don't think I would have been able to smoke in the grand hall. Force of habit would have taken me to the toilets in 'the quad', along with someone to act as look-out. Were there any teachers at this reunion, or did they rely on prefects (presumably armed) to guard the place? As you can tell, I'm having a hard time imagining what it would be like to be treated as an adult by the school. I think I might have regressed had I gone and started flicking ink over the back of blokes' jackets and all the rest. (Not that I ever did that but, boy, the temptation!) What was the programme of events? Were there speeches and suchlike? Was there a cake and candles to blow out? And after the food was eaten, did you have to drop your cutlery into one big metal bin and scrape slops into the other? (I seem to remember once that one kid got it the wrong way round and Droob, I think it was, made him stick his arm all the way down into wet splodge in order to recover the misplaced spoon. So much for Health and Safety in those days. He could have drowned!)

Like several others I stumbled across this forum by accident and subsequently spent several hours reading through all your reminiscences and I must say I am impressed by your memories. My association with the school started in 1961 and continued until I left with two A Levels to start a student apprenticeship in 1967. Yes, there were some complete ba*****ds amongst the teaching staff but there were also some good ones as well. But on the whole I was glad to leave the place as soon as I could. I have one or two memories which I may recount in the fullness of time but coincidentally as I was clearing out the garage today, I came across four copies of the school magazine (The Coventrian). In the April 1963 edition (number 213 for any collectors among you) I found the staff list which some of you may be interested to see. Alongside most of the their names I had pencilled in the names they were normally known by, but some are barely readable now so I'm not sure I've got them all right. Anyway, here it is: H Walker (The Beak), C B Shore (Piggy), J H P Allan (Gubby), J A Barnes (Be Bop), J P Bedford, C E Bellamy, M D Blackwell, A E Burrows (Bunny), P Cater, A R Chapman (Arsey), H H Cork (Pop), A J Crocker (Alfie), J E V Dawson (Dicky), F R C Dunn (Fred), A F Edwards (Tramp), D W Fryer, M Gordon (Maxie), J K Hale (Sarky), R E Hill, D R Hughes (Slug), R J Irwin, E B Jenkins (Bart), E Kendrick, E Kolisch (W*g), M C Lane, G H T Leachman (Bugsy), F J Liddiard (Moaner), L K McGawley (Thunderguts), A Morgan, K R Morgan (Krum), D J Morris (Dan), E A Nicholson, E W Norrish (Droob), A J Perry, D G Powell (Dick), W E Rose (Willy), F L Scotford (Fossil), B Scott (Jock ?), E R Shaw (Ernie), B Stanger (Bert), N D Stears (Bronco), J Stephenson (Joe), B J P Tompkins (Bert), R R Tyler (Bob), J B Vent (Jeff), J W Watson (Jasper), T C Watson (Tick), L J Wrench (Jack), R D Wylie, J B Young-Evans (Pip)

"Sooty" Blackwell was our form master Percy Cater?

Hi all One name that I cannot see is Mr Brotherwood. I remember him with affection, as he used to come to Paybody hospital twice a week to give me one to one tuition, over a period of many years. On a couple of occasions it was Mr Leachman that came. I was in the same prep school class as his son. Mr Brotherhood's care did not stop at that either. Whilst doing accountancy, I was struggling with some of the more complicated mathematics, & so whilst I was home on hols, I went to visit him at his home around Christmas time 1963. I was warmly greeted at their door by his wife, who led me in to see this man, horizontal, lying on a metal bed, with a dialysis machine pumping away. I wanted to withdraw & go home, but he insisted on helping me, as he did. For all of its & my warts, King Henry VIII set me with the best start in life that I could ever have dreamed of, a life that I am still able to enjoy now well into retirement.

Hi Bumblyari, I think I can add a few nicknames to your excellent list. R J Irwin (Froggy) E A Nicholson (The Ice Warrior!) and A J Perry (Fred).