King Henry VIII Grammar School

Hi Hugh. Interesting stuff. I don't think Bablake was any sort of soft option, and clearly it was of its time, but people I've spoken to over the years were quite surprised at just how some of the teachers at KHVIII conducted themselves, seemingly with impunity given the CBS regime. I'm sure you are right about the pupils winding the teachers up, and I did plenty of that. But the targets were usually the ones who we thought deserved it. Practical jokes were generally played on the ones who gave the kids a hard time. The disciplinary regime was certainly more formal than at KHVIII, where it was quite arbitrary and often instant. Some teachers, rather than send an offender to the head for formal punishment, would just set about them there and then, sometimes in the corridor outside. As for broadening interests, it was much the same at KHVIII. If you didn't like their limited choice of sports, there was nothing. Certainly not music, as that department consisted of a madman with a piano and some sort of tin drum. It's rather different now, I can confirm. Interesting anecdote about the German. As I recall, '66 wasn't a good year if you were German.

With reference to Mr D Di's comment about the 'Old Guard' and a comment which may be of some interest to Rootes66 - I recall the speech given during assembly by Mr Walker concerning his upcoming retirement. At the same time, two others of the 'Old Guard' were taking retirement - Mr Liddiard and another whose name has escaped me for the moment. Anyway, in the speech, Mr Walker said that the three of them had been 'at the chalkface' for 150 years between them, so they thought it was time to go!!

That is some number. I wonder how they worked that out? However, neither Frank Liddiard nor my dad were mathematicians. When he retired in 1974, my dad had been in teaching for about 43 years, so the other two must have done a phenomenal time at the chalkface if the maths is right. I knew Frank Liddiard as he did occasionally come around to our home in Earlsdon. I think he lived in Earlscroft. He was one of the few teachers I ever saw at the house, and I don't ever recall seeing Piggy Shore, despite the close working relationship with H. Walker. After they retired, Frank Liddiard became a family friend, and I remember him coming to our wedding in Edinburgh in the late 1970s. He went on a long time, and well after my parents died we would get a Christmas card and letter every year. I remember when the shapely Debee Ashby hit the front pages (or rather Page 3), Liddiard was apoplectic. "What is the world coming to? It's just as well your father isn't still alive. He must be turning in his grave." For this crusty old batchelor, it was definitely a case of "Does not compute"!

My experience (62-67) was pretty dismal and without exaggeration, psychologically damaging. I have always felt that I was the worst pupil that ever went to KHVIII. BUT I never experienced physical punishment - though I did get plenty of Saturday morning detentions. I did see 'The Wog' lose his temper on many occasions and I remember a history teacher called Thomson or Tomlinson lose his temper on one occasion. I think that on each occasion they were being deliberately wound up. I left having failed all of my O' Levels. I got an apprenticeship on the name of the school and as my career took off I attended Coventry Tech, I found that my in-depth knowledge was far greater than the boys that had come from comprehensive school. There was a huge gap between me and Herbert Walker but he never did me any harm. On one occasion I had several intense sessions with Piggy Shore but amazingly I found that deep down he was more human than his reputation suggested. One teacher that I have some pleasant memories of was Bert Stanger. I was downgraded from being in the alpha stream to the 'C' stream so I had to drop Latin and take on woodwork and that is where I met him. He always seemed very gracious to me. He was never allowed to attend speech day because he did not have a degree so couldn't wear a graduate gown. I eventually got a Bachelors and a Masters and am in the final stages of completing a PhD. I often wonder if things would have been different if I had gone to a different school-maybe not. Did I go to one of Jeff Vent's reunion dinners-wild horses would not drag me there.

Hi Bryn Thomas. I think the history teacher you're referring to is Bert Tompkins. Known to all and sundry as 'Foghorn' He would rant on during history lessons in one of the upper rooms at the front of the school,(the number eludes me) and he would write furiously on the blackboard at about 100mph in impossible to read writing! Naturally, when annoyed with a pupil, he would bellow at them in a terrifying manner, which fully justified his nick-name!

This thread gets better as more people join, and there's plenty of food for thought now! Vtopian recalls that parting speech, which was after my time. It is interesting to hear that Herbert Walker regarded himself as being at the 'chalkface' because I'm not sure how much chalk he would have used. To my knowledge, his only 'hands-on' teaching at KHVIII was the first year's RE, and as I said previously, he would send a senior prefect on at least half of the occasions he was supposed to be there. And I believe he held an administrative post prior to becoming head. I'm sure Hugh will correct me if I'm wrong there. Frank 'Moaner' Liddiard was a strange chap, and the chalkface is certainly appropriate as he always wore an old pale grey suit which was covered in chalk dust. I only recall being taught by him for a brief spell while a teacher was off sick. My other memory is that one lad, older than me, had been his punchbag over a long period. On this lad's last day, without a word he sought out Liddiard, punched him in the solar plexus, left him doubled up on the floor, and walked out of the school never to be seen there again. Bert Tompkins was also a legendary figure. A tall, hefty chap with a booming voice, hence the nickname 'Foghorn'. He was apt to lose his temper and shout a lot, but I don't recall him using violence at all. In frustration when people didn't understand, he would say 'I may as well go outside and talk to that row of trees!' Bert was an exceptional cricketer, always the best player on the staff team that played the first XI, much to the annoyance of the PE staff. His room, incidentally, was 103. I never really knew Bert Stanger, but it is true about his lack of degree. He was always listed in the staff rota with '(City & Guilds)' after his name. The only other similar case was John Stephenson (Art). It is quite disturbing, but not surprising, that Bryn thinks he was done psychological harm at the school. I would imagine he isn't alone. There were many kids who were cowed into compliance by some of the teachers and seemed to lack any spirit within them at all, other than to soak up academic information to pass exams. The school seemed content with that; what they hated was anyone who bucked the system. I lost count of the times I was sent to Piggy Shore because I wouldn't cut my hair short enough for his liking.

Wish I could remember who the third man was. I have the impression he taught languages, and had white hair (obviously!). I apologise for getting Mr Liddiard's name wrong - mixed him up with Prof Lydiatt from University of B'ham - whoops! Mr Liddiard never taught me, so I cannot recall his teaching style. One thing that might not have been aired about Mr Thompkins (whose first name was Brian, not Bert!) was that he was a keen and very accomplished bridge player, and outside of the classroom I found him a very cultured and interesting man. Mr Stephenson taught me art, and although I have no natural ability in this field, he showed us tricks that enabled even a duffer like me to convincingly render a wine bottle or whatever else was to hand as still life. I still have a wooden pencil box made under the tutelage of Mr Stanger, and it still holds pencils admirably!

Lots of memories being stirred from these posts I was in the Main School 1958-1963, in Kings House First form master was Hayter who took us for Latin in room 5, where we also had Moaner Liddiard for French who taught us to sing Fr

Well most of those masters were still in situ during my time at KHVIII which was 1967-1974. The only ones I don't recall are Hayter and Blackwell. Joe Soap could be pretty scary to an 11 year-old... especially if you didn't know the correct mix for making the colour light-blue! Bugsy Leachman, Bunny Burrows, Ernie Shaw and Foghorn all attempted to educate me over the years. 'Modern' maths was in its early stages during my school career and 'Tramp' Edwards, whilst probably a mathematical genius, had very little time for pupils (me included) who did not have a natural ability for maths. One or two of the younger masters were far more approachable than the majority of the 'old school', Rod Dunnett, Pete Jones and PB Rippon spring to mind, but generally the staff seemed to have evolved from a bygone era and like Mr D-Di I was hauled up before Piggy Shore to remove my hirsute appendages!! Incidentally, Pete Jones endeared himself to us 15 year-olds by smoking a cigarette and grinning at us as he made his way, in his gown, to the stage at Central Hall for School Speech Day circa 1972... sensational stuff!!

I went to sleep last night singing 'We are the school at the top of the hill that Henry the King did will, John Hales so to found when he got him his land and his coffers with treasure did fill. Henry the King, John Hales the clerk to us did richly give, Religionii et Republicae with us till the end of life.' What are you guys doing to me? I then thought of two more characters. One was a Arts Master and the other was a fellow pupil. I wish that I could remember the name of the Arts Master. He was unbelievably mild, drove a bubble car and had badly deformed hands. There were all sorts of stories about how his hands had been deformed ranging from '?he had been in the SAS during the war and the Gestapo had tortured him', '?he had been a bomb disposal expert and had an accident diffusing an incendiary', '?he had rescued a family from a burning house'. I just remembered as well that he was a leading light in Coventry Toc H. The pupil was Graham Stevenson. In our first year we had to sit in alphabetical order and so we sat together. His mother committed suicide and the school had no idea about pastoral care. He decided to wear a totally black-tie (I can't remember whether he was in Hales or Kings). Given the circumstances, Piggy allowed it. When Graham got fed up of that tie he wore his dad's shiny blue tie and nobody had the heart to challenge him. He became a Young Communist and started selling the Morning Star and went on to sit on their national committee. 25 years after I started at the school I received an invitation to a reunion dinner and in the paperwork there was a list of all other boys that had started with me but there was no sign of Graham Stevenson's name. Did KHVIII not want to be associated with an active Communist, God forbid that he chose the same route as his mother but who knows!

There is ample supporting evidence that the KHVIII 'regime' were at the bluer end of the political spectrum. I cite the fact that an 'International Society' existed, but that it held meetings off the school premises (draw your own conclusions - I did not realise what it even was, so I never had the opportunity to draw any of my own conclusions). Also, when a group tried to set up a unit (chapter? cell? branch?) of the 'National Union of School Students', all those involved were told that they would be punished if they met on school premises - how did the authorities even know it was going on? Let us track down the mole!! Now it may be the case that there were right-wing associations which attempted to form, and which were cruelly nipped in the bud by a non-partisan but ruthlessly apolitical governing body... we may never know!

Singing the School Song, Bryn, does sound like you might have been "psychologically damaged" by your time at Henry's. Although I went to Bablake where we had some even more bizarre school songs, I did have friends at KHVIII and remember they used to sing "We are the dump at the top of the hump". Mister D Di was asking about my dad's background before becoming headmaster in 1950. I did some "homework" and found a copy of the school magazine "The Coventrian" from November 1950 which has a biography. He got a degree in German from London about 1930, and taught German in Nottingham until the early 1940s when he was recruited into the War Office in London. In 1945 he was sent to West Germany as part of the Control Commission involved in restructuring the education system. So as Mr D Di said, it was administrative and not at the chalkface. Apart from (occasional) RE teaching, I think he also taught German in sixth or upper-sixth forms. I don't remember Seaborne or Ted Burrough doing any teaching at Bablake, the head's job was largely administrative. From the mid-1960s onwards, my dad got very involved with defending and promoting the selective Direct Grant Grammar School system against the trend towards Comprehensives. KHVIII was earmarked as the Earlsdon Comprehensive. I imagine that diverted some of his energies away from the school. The 1950 Coventrian is a period piece with several pages of adverts for Coventry shops. Sometime I'll scan them and post them on here as they are fascinating. Back to the School Song, I found this page in a history book about KHVIII. PhilipinCoventry will be able to accompany you...

Well, lots more to go on. It's amazing how the memories of others actually prompt your own. This will hopefully run and run! Beesman, you mentioned Bunny Burrows, who was one of the most liked and respected teachers at the school. I recall really ehjoying being taught by him. His English room was Room 7 in the corridor alongside the playground. A friend of mine kept in touch with him, and he had to take early retirement due to health problems, and sadly died in the last couple of years. I have less fond memories of Bugsy Leachman (deaf as a post) and Ernie Shaw (totally humourless man who didn't like me because I questioned everything in his RE class.) Bryn, the teacher you refer to is T C (Tic) Watson. He was indeed tall, and drove a bubble car, although I have no idea how he got into it! He taught English as well as art, I believe, and there were all sorts of stories about what happened to his hands. Some sort of wartime heroics were spoken of, as you say. Hugh, thanks for that. I recall having read a similar CV of your father and do recall that he had been in Germany after the war. I'm not sure where I read it but it may have been an obituary in the Coventrian. I am not surprised his post was largely administrative, given what was happening in education in those days, and so his efforts must be regarded as a success. It's just a shame the day-to-day stuff was in the hands of a man like Piggy Shore. There is an anecdote I recall from when I was in 3A, aged about 12. MY father was quite concerned I was struggling in maths, having always done well before. He eventually got it out of me that the problem was Dr Kolisch, who was giving me a really hard time rather than helping me. So he made an appointment with Herbert Walker to get an explanation. The head effectively admitted that he was not a good teacher as he struggled with communication and didn't really like kids. But the extraordinary thing was that he said Kolisch should have allowances made for his conduct because of his advanced age! Here's the thing... Kolisch was certainly born in 1910, and I believe Herbert Walker was born in 1909!

I too was taught in room 7 ("The Hutch") by "Bunny" Burrows, and it certainly is true that he was a very knowledgeable and able teacher. At the drop of a hat, he would deliver what he called "The Burrows Potted Shakespeare", where he would summarise an entire play, all its main themes and the central characters in the space of a few minutes! Unfortunately (for me!), he took a dislike to me over a trivial incident, and thereafter never missed an opportunity to get me into trouble. It was a shame, really, but I think I had a (completely undeserved) reputation, and some of the staff could not see past that. There was a brief mention earlier in this topic of KR ("Krumbo") Morgan, who in my day was 'senior master' (sort of deputy-deputy head), which gave him certain disciplinary responsibilities. He only taught our class once, standing in for Rod Dunnett, and I recall there was a difference of opinion as to how certain latin words were to be pronounced! I imagine this scene played out in many schools at around this time as the new pronunciation began to take over from the older traditional pronunciation. Krumbo, unfortunately, bought in to the 'rebel' image of me, and I used to be dragged (literally!) to Taff's office to be questioned about the latest episode of evil which had ocurred somewhere, and mostly there was an atmosphere of disappointment between them when it emerged that I knew nothing of the incident and had an alibi! Incidentally, among those of you who remember Taff, was it also your experience that he deliberately called you by a version of your name instead of by your actual name? I say deliberate, because it ocurred to me that he did this to give himself the psychological 'high ground'. What do you think?

Just caught up on these fascinating recollections. It appears that the changes in the school started about 1970 which obviously coincided with the school becoming independent and the introduction of girls. The working class lads [paid for by the LEA] which I suspect most of us oldies were, slowly disappeared. A couple of further anecdotes which the thread has reminded me of: the reference to Frank Liddiard becoming 'apoplectic' reminded me of an occasion when a lad said to him in RE that he didn't believe in Joan of Arc [ a pretty remarkable thing to say about a person who has quite definitely lived] but it turned Frank absolutely red in anger. I also agree that the pupils did often get their own back or took their resentment out on vulnerable teachers. I remember Tony Burrows starting back at the School after University and I am afraid to say we used to put books and even a waste paper basket over the door to await his arrival. Finally ' Bert' Tompkins is still around: I often see him in town with his shopping bag!