King Henry VIII Grammar School

After saying that I never remember having my photograph taken at school I think MR has found one. In the Junior School Prize-giving I believe I am in the 4th row from the front, 2nd in from the left shown full face. Gob-Smacked.

I'm not aware of featuring in any school photos. Were form groups ever taken in the early 70s?

Looking at that old photo of the school, with the building and wooden plaques on the wall, reminds me of the 1948 film The Guinea Pig (aka The Outsider), with Richard Attenborough. The irony is that in the initiation ceremony, where Reid is told to "bow to the founder", the statue of the founder is none other than King Henry VIII. I do wonder where they got that idea from. I believe the film was shot at posh school in Dorset. I too have no recollection of ever being in a school photograph. Which suits me: I have always hated being photographed, and have never liked, nor understood, fuss, ceremony and public displays of pomp, even as a young boy.

Moderators' note: This thread has been in lock-down pending discussion amongst the moderating team with regard to recent posts regarding certain teachers and their behaviour and practices at the school in bygone years. These have all been previously the subject of members' input - more recent posts made mention of this. It is felt that the forum in general, and this thread in particular, gain no benefit from this further discussion about Kolisch, Skermer, Fisher, etc. which is well documented earlier. We are happy to unlock the thread for further discussions about the school other than those subjects mentioned above.

Personally, there was a form photo taken in Transition (1954/5) and another in 1A (1957/8). From 1958 onwards I do not recall any photos taken in the Main School - whether they continued in Junior School after 1957 I cannot say. The 1962 Junior School prize giving photo (courtesy, Coventry Telegraph) which I recently posted on here suggests that they did, but we need younger forumites than me to answer that.

Maybe there will be some pictures taken of speech days etc.? I simply don't remember any pictures of forms being taken, though I do remember some sports groups being taken. My days there were late 60s early 70s.

I believe the Evening Telegraph covered speech days in years gone by, but I think the photo accompanying the report would usually show the "dignitaries" on the stage of Central Hall

I think if you were in one of the rugby or cricket teams or you were a prefect, your picture would have been taken for including in The Coventrian magazine. Not being a member of any of those groups, my years at KHVIII went unrecorded photographically which I think is a shame. I have several photos of my primary school classes and also of my university groups but nothing from KHVIII.

I started in 1961 in Transition and genuinely do not remember ever having my photograph taken a school - hence my shock at the one MR found. I may also have been photographed in the Transition play - in which I played "The Rain" Feel free to insert your own jokes here. Rex Harley played "The Sun" and Ian Wooldridge played "The Boy" These were the only 3 speaking parts as I recall, but there were 14 other boys who played the rainbow fairies.

Roger, From my moniker I think you know who I am. My parents fled from Czechoslovakia in late 1938 and came to Coventry in 1942. This was so my father could take up an appointment as a master at Henrys. He applied to teach Latin but AAC Burton was desperate for maths teachers and "persuaded" my father to try his hand at that subject. Most certainly English was neither his first or second language but needs be and his phrases were legendary - "open the door while I pass out" - is one that I will never forget. I know a number of pupils didn't like him, some of them told me so with their fists, but I believe his teaching methods were not unusual for the time and a lot of students quite liked him, even those who went on many a wet day to collect the milk from the milk shed!! Thomaaas

Talking of Maths teachers, does anyone else remember young(ish) Dr Rasmussen? The guy really knew his stuff, but had no idea of how to control a class. I remember one lesson where we were above the Head's study. As usual we were playing him up and making a right racket, when the door opened and in walked Herbie. The atmosphere rapidly changed. But I do seem to recall a banana skin in full flight that hadn't cottoned on to this change; it hit Herbie full in the face. - Of course, my memory may be flawed...

That's really funny. I would love to have seen that.

I remember when I was in the errrrr 4th form I think it was, there was an Australian Maths teacher who was at the school for a year or may only have been the Autumn term. I can't remember his name but we always called him Skippy, I know originality wasn't a strong point there. He was a young guy, tall skinny with blondish hair and glasses and exceptional halitosis, we gave him an onion for Christmas. Anyone else remember him? It would have been around '71/'72.

Sounds just like Fag Barker. He spent the whole double physics period mumbling to the blackboard, chalking away loads of advanced equations that were way above a fourth year's head (well, mine, anyway). By avoiding eye contact, he could pretend to be blissfully unaware of the mayhem going on in the room. I felt sorry for the ones who were interested in physics, and who were going to pursue the subject. I'd had a year with Ron Hough in the third form, and thoroughly enjoyed and understood physics, getting good marks and in the top few. Very early on in the following year, 3 weeks of Fag ensured that my interest in physics ended there. There were never any practical experiments, to make it interesting, just chalk and talk. (Well, he was fresh out of university.) I suppose I should be grateful to Fag for shaping my future career. Or maybe that should be angry...? Who knows. Unlike today, where everything is being constantly assessed, boxes ticked, forms filled in, surveys carried out etc., it seems that in those days, if you applied for a job in teaching and had your degree, that was it - it was assumed you'd automatically be good at it, and you had the job for life.