King Henry VIII Grammar School

Does anyone remember the rice puddings ? A bowl of warm milk with large gobs of congealed rice floating in it known naturally as 'ricebergs'. Also following the very cold and long winter of 62/63 a potato shortage meant we had to make do with bits of stale sliced bread to accompany Monday's splodge.

In my time, the sandwich room doubled up as a gambling den. A popular item was poker dice and much of the lunch break was spent on hands and knees beneath tables trying to locate them after some excessively flamboyant throwing. I can't recall if actual money changed hands, or if it was played purely for the love of the sport. Like rugby. I confess to suffering from 'lunchbox envy'. Which can be interpreted in a number of ways. Some lads used to have all sorts of goodies provided for them, whereas my mother operated on a strict rotation basis for her choice of sandwich fillings. One day it was fish paste, the next it was Dairylea cheese, and so on. Not a lettuce leaf or a cucumber slice to be had. I was also given a whole tomato each day. I think she sliced and sandwiched it at one time, until I complained of sodden bread. On reflection, I reckon uninspiring home-made sandwiches are the reason why Greggs outlets now dominate what remain of our high streets. They recognise and cater for our lunchbox insecurities; which all began at school, sitting next to a boy with a well-stocked one..

Hi Inkers. Gambling was actually quite widespread at KHVIII when I was there. I think this has been mentioned before on the thread but the biggest 'book' I was aware of was run by a very enterprising lad who took up his regular lunchtime place in the library every week to take bets on that night's 'Wacky Races' show. He knew how bookmaking worked and had an account with at least one local bookie when he was about 15, apparently making money at it. The school betting he organised also included horse racing and I can remember him having radio commentary of the 1970 Derby during one of Bugsy Leachman's geography lessons. Bugsy was deaf and oblivious to it all. There were certainly card schools at lunchtimes where various games took place, including Knockout Whist, Solo, Brag and even Bridge. Money certainly changed hands in some of these games. I do remember poker dice and even owned a set, but have no idea if it involved serious gambling. It wouldn't surprise me, given the number of moneymaking schemes and initiatives around the school in those days. You just had to make sure you didn't get caught.

Poker dice, I had and still do. We also used to play a cricket type game called 'Howzat' which was a two 'dice' type of game. We regularly played cards (Poker, Brag to mention two) and money definitely changed hands. It must be said though, a fair amount of cheating took place. The fee to use the 'sandwich room' was obscene and the myriad of ways that school had to fleece parents never ceased to amaze me. My one enduring memory of Skermer was when he caught me outside the Rocket pub without my cap. I refused to give him my name, stuck two fingers up at him and legged it. Next morning he stood watching as we went into assembly, but couldn't identify me.

Howzat was a regular game played mainly throughout the summer. The two 'dice' were a batting one, (1, 2, 3, 4, 6 & Howzat) and a bowling one (Caught, Bowled, Stumped, LBW, Not Out and No Ball). The game could be played surreptitiously in class but you risked the game being confiscated if spotted. The way round this was to put the scoring onto 2 pencils which were rolled. Full games took place in lessons, occasionally for 6d or 1/- a time. I agree that there were many ways to fleece parents and boys of money. Another was the school magazine which was compulsory every term. Provision of bits of equipment was another, I recall that we were all required to buy a slide rule at an extortionate price in the second form. In biology we had to buy a cheap and nasty dissecting kit, and there were various other bits and pieces such as a maths 'magazine' that Kolisch insisted we all had to buy every month. Your Skermer story is typical of him. He was a sort of self-appointed staff 'prefect' who roamed the playground and elsewhere picking on young boys for minor misdemeanours. The pavilion was a favourite of his, not surprising given his proclivities. Us older lads stood up to him and he got more than he bargained for with us. Thoroughly nasty piece of work who got away with it for 30 years!

Played this for hours on end - two hexagonal pieces of (?) steel, each one marked as you say, came packed in a blue tin if I remember correctly Usually ended up with an unreal scorecard, where the last pair put on over 400 runs, whilst the first nine "wickets" went down for 20-odd

It was in a small blue tin MR.

There was another game called 2 up. 3 of you tossed a penny and the odd one out kept all 3 coins. After a very short time you can reliably toss a coin and know what it will show, so all you need then is a partner who will throw the opposite to you. I recall myself and a lad called Stan Ingram doing this.

Thinking back I believe there were 5 'houses'. Kings (blue), Hollands (red), Sherwyns (yellow), Whites (white) and Hales (green). I was in Hollands, but never knew anything about how or why the house was so named. Can anyone share the reason/rationale behind the names? I also believe that Kings house is no longer. Again, can anyone share the reasons why? In fact, just thinking about my question(s), I realise that I know almost nothing about the history of the school at all. Is it a case that we were told and I didn't pay attention?

An interesting question bohica to which I cannot give you an answer, except to say in my case that this was just another in a series of schools that I was "sent" to, supposedly to learn "stuff" to what end nobody ever explained, certainly there was no direction to anything called "careers". Tradition certainly wasn`t mentioned beyond the knowledge that "Henry the king did will". Perhaps I had poor parenting, my father and his brother both went to Bablake and KHS was looked upon as some sort of poor relation anyway. But you have posed another question in my mind. Do all schools have the "house" system? I certainly know that Caludon Castle did right from the start, my father taught there and he was "Preston" house, but where that name came from I haven`t a clue Funny how curiosity and questioning authority arrives in some as they get older.

I can tell why King's House is no more. It was decided that five houses was an awkward number so they would reduce it to four a few years ago. The lowest performing house in various sporting and academic contests over a set period would be abolished. That turned out to be King's, despite them having been previously one of the most successful. I'm sure someone explained this earlier in the thread which is what I'm basing this on. I do remember that when I was there, five houses made it difficult to organise sports events as there was always one 'qualifier' to get to two semi-finals. I believe some former members of Kings House were not pleased at its demise. I would presume that when the change was made, the members of King's were allocated to the other houses, Hales, White's, Holland's and Sherwyn's. Was this the case? I think most schools had houses as it encouraged competition. I had several friends at Binley Park and I think they had about eight houses, named after various figures such as Hunt, Aylward and Spence.

Whites was after Sir Thomas White, he of the statue on Greyfriars Green. Sir Arthur Holland was an early headmaster of the school. Hales was Sir John Hales, an early benefactor of the school and the man who made the bet with King Henry upon which the school was founded. Kings was after the King and I can't remember who Sherwyn was, sorry.

Hi all Thomas Sherwyn BA (Oxon), former headmaster.

Not sure John Hales was ever knighted, or that the school came about as the result of a bet

Hi all Only a thought! At the time of the foundation of the school, people like John Hales were possibly in complete disarray. Their livelihoods so linked to church activities, which were at that time being turned upside down. One speaker at one of the school speech-days likened it to a lot of monks that had been made redundant. So what could monks do if redundant? Possibly teach, as they could at least write & do sums. Only a thought!