12 minute read
Letters
Jowett bust and Biba
Dear Jeremy, I refer to the recent Spectator article in Atrium lamenting the lack of a statue to Benjamin Jowett (1829-36) at Balliol College.
St Paul’s School and Old Paulines were very proud of Jowett as they contributed to two memorials in The Great Hall of the West Kensington school which comprised an organ installed in 1896, I think nicknamed ‘the Thunderer’ and in 1904 a panelled organ screen with a central niche with a bust of Jowett, an inscription in gold letters and decorated with coats of arms including that of Balliol College.
I am reminded of a very poignant photo attached to an article by Paul Velluet (1962-67), entitled ‘The Last Farewell’ in The Pauline July 1969 which shows the partially stripped out Great Hall with the organ, screen and part of the wall mosaics having already been removed by, I assume, very appreciative antique dealers.
What I found interesting in the article was that the famous mosaics were not fixed on the walls but on removable iron panels and thus, could easily have been removed from the walls and been installed in the new school at Barnes. While the timber panelled front of the cantilevered first floor seating of The Great Hall, with a centrally located clock, found its way into the Biba Boutique on Kensington High Street. Regards,
John Dunkin (1964-69)
Where is the Boer War Memorial?
Dear Jeremy, I much enjoyed reading the latest edition of the Atrium. Several items triggered memories for me and I thought they may be of interest to some readers. Keith Pratt’s (1951-56) article on the two masters, Philip Whitting (History Department 1929-63) and Frank Parker (Modern Languages Department 1928-65), reminded me of my time in the Upper History 8. As a non-academic I generally floated in the lower quartile of the class. Despite that I benefited hugely from the teaching of Whitting, who was undoubtedly one of if not the best history teacher of his generation. I believe people like Hugh Trevor-Roper dedicated books to him. He did not just stick to the guidelines of the A level curriculum but taught us about civilisation, introducing us to a wide range of topics including covering such areas as Byzantine coins and classical architecture.
I was interested in the article about Pauline statues and Jowett in which was mentioned the fact that Cosmo Gordon Lang was a pupil of Jowett (1829-36) at Balliol. Although he became the Archbishop of Canterbury, he was born a Scots Presbyterian. His father was the Minister of the Kirk in the small village of Fyvie, deep in the Aberdeenshire countryside. During the Second World War my father, an Aberdonian, evacuated the family to Fyvie and there my sister, brother and I started our education in the village school. The discipline was strict. Punishment was administered, not by a cane but the strap, a long thick piece of leather which was applied quite viciously to the open palm of the hand; and we wrote on wooden framed slates not paper. These were the days when Scottish education was considered superior to that of many other countries, sadly not the case today.
The article on War Memorials was very interesting and mentioned that the Boer War memorial was eventually sold to an OP, who had it resurrected in his garden. That was Professor Alfred Ubbelohde CBE (1920-26) who was a very distinguished scientist and a governor of the School from 1966-71 and 1981-86. I was governor with him the 1980s. The Board of Governors then was a joint one for both SPS and SPGS.
What happened to the memorial subsequently was not stated in the article and it would be interesting if any OP has any information about it. With best wishes,
Mike Graham (1952-56)
Wrong set book – panic
Dear Jeremy, Your last edition of the Atrium records the inspirational effect of being taught history by Philip Whitting (History Department 1929-63) which I treasure.
But I have a contrasting recollection involving my A level Latin. The day before the exam, the master suddenly went white and announced that he was having to go and see the High Master because he had just noticed that we had done the wrong set book. On his return he explained that the exam board had been contacted. They had produced a draft syllabus and had changed the set book in the final syllabus; several other schools had also made the mistake of not noticing the change. In the circumstances the exam board had agreed to set papers using either book. Best wishes,
David Iwi (1952-1956)
Easy All
Dear Jeremy, I feel I must put non-rowers straight about Tim Cunis’ (1955-60) description of a cox as “a small loudmouth [who] shouts instructions at you while you do all the work.”
As one such loudmouth, regretfully not at St Paul’s but subsequently at St Peter’s, Oxford and later in the RAF, if that is the appearance we give, it is because we are permanently in a state of incipient nervous breakdown whilst on the water. Coxing a rowing eight is like navigating a high-speed supertanker up a narrow twisting canal blindfold: minimal manouvreability and massive stopping distance even if you can see when to stop round the eight large bodies in front of you. The engine room will only respond to very loud and precise instructions, although not always, with various consequences.
Fortunately, in my time I only had one serious mishap, when I turned my college eight slightly too late above Iffley Lock and we were swept broadside into a pile above the weir. The boat could have snapped in half – but (as Pooh might say) did not. Slightly less serious incidents were commonplace, such as slamming on the brakes when other craft “accidentally” crossed your path, or when the keel dropped off halfway through the Head of the River race and the boat started to zig-zag wildly, to the amazement of spectators on Hammersmith Bridge. And then of course choreographing the corps de ballet to lift the boat in and out of the water so that it is not dropped or the riggers knocked off.
So, I think we do our fair share of work to keep the crew on course, swift and safe, be it in the muscles of the head. Any shouting is done with the mildest and most benevolent of intentions, which is remarkable considering we suffer sharp blows in the small of the back every five seconds or so with each stroke. As regards small, I have to admit that I was an outlier in this respect: I was often scarcely a few pounds below the weight of some of the crew; how they all must have cursed.
Best wishes,
Rupert Birtles (1963-66)
Longevity brings some fame
Dear Jeremy, I have just received my copy of Atrium and wish to thank you for your article “Father of the House”. Longevity brings some fame. With luck I hope we will be in touch again on my 105th. As ever,
Dennis Frank (1930-33)
OPC reforms are long overdue
Dear Jeremy, I write to you, both as the Editor of Atrium and as one of the working party who strove tirelessly to bring about the much-needed reforms to the OPC.
As you know, I had been asked by the Main Committee to carry out a similar task – some seventeen years ago. My working party spent very many hours over more than two years thrashing out the ways we thought the OPC might become more relevant to ALL its members amid the changing needs of the 21st century.
My eponymous report found favour with very many on the committee and underwent several drafts and alterations. However, a small but vocal minority to whom any change was anathema managed to cause such delays that it was eventually, as they say, kicked into the long grass.
I was therefore delighted when your working party was set up to revivify these ideals and was heartened by the approbation given at the various meetings I attended on Zoom over the past fifteen months: there was (inevitably) some disagreement but arguments on both sides were clearly presented and votes taken accordingly, with the vast majority favouring the necessary reforms.
That these reforms were then ratified at the SGM in December means that at long last the Club can move forward to meet the needs of the ever-growing and very diverse membership. No longer will decisions be taken by a narrow gerontocracy but by a vibrant and much more representative committee.
These changes have been carefully thought out and extremely well-presented. They are long overdue and I now have every confidence that the Club, about to be renamed to mark the important 150th anniversary, will be able to thrive and prosper. Yours very sincerely,
Mike Seigel (1964-68)
Luca Marino
Dear Jeremy, Having reread my article in the Autumn/Winter 2021 Atrium, I realise that I forgot to mention on page 39 that Luca Marino (2016-18) also took part in the International Mathematical Olympiad, representing Norway. My apologies to Luca. Best wishes,
Owen Toller (Mathematics Department 1977-88 and 2006-19)
OPC’s SGM
Dear Mr Withers Green, I have been a member of the Old Pauline Club since leaving the School in 1962, i.e., for nearly 60 years. I have participated occasionally, rather than regularly, in the Club’s activities, but have always valued my membership as a way of keeping in touch with the School itself and with the doings of my contemporaries.
I learned from reading the November/December edition of the newsletter that far-reaching changes affecting the Club were under consideration. I also became aware that a number of members, some of whom had given long service to the Club, had misgivings about the proposals; and were concerned about the short notice and inadequate publicity given for the Special General Meeting (SGM) on 14 December at which they were to be discussed and about their compatibility with age discrimination legislation. I later discovered that a resolution had been tabled asking that the SGM should be postponed. I therefore registered to attend the SGM by Zoom, hoping to learn more about the potential impact of what was being proposed. I was surprised and dismayed at the way the meeting was conducted.
I had expected that there would be a full presentation by the advocates of the changes explaining in detail why they were considered necessary and what their implications would be; together with an opportunity for those opposed to them to explain their objections and for members less familiar with the issues to ask questions. Instead, the Chairman announced at the outset that he wanted the meeting to be as short as possible and refused to allow any interventions to be made. No reference was made to the resolution asking for postponement. Most requests to speak, mine included, were rejected and a vote was taken without any prior discussion of the merits of the rule changes involved. The meeting was over in 15 minutes.
This is surely not how a responsible association should conduct its business. The changes affect not only the governance of the Club, but also its character. Yet the proponents of them seem to have acted in a way which deprives ordinary members of the opportunity to understand what their long-term impact will be. Refusing to allow any comments to be made or any questions asked at a Special General Meeting is extraordinary. I am puzzled as to why the Old Pauline Club should behave in such an authoritarian way. Yours sincerely,
Paul Lever (1957-62)
Terrible behaviour has entered the public discussion
Dear Jeremy, Theo Hobson (1985-1990) gets a number of things wrong in his article in musings on toxic masculinity. There are the undertones of generational superiority (he somewhat sanctimoniously compares the fact that he was learning magic tricks aged fourteen rather than posing on Instagram) and the mischaracterisation of feminism as a movement which teenagers can be ‘semi-excused’ for seeing as ‘bossy orthodoxy’ to which they may refuse to submit.
My main issue however is that a good deal of the article is spent investigating the potential causes of a perceived change in sexual harassment in recent years, with the implication being that because of the rise of movements such as Everyone’s Invited (or MeToo perhaps, by extension) there has been an increase in such behaviour in schools such as St Paul’s in recent years. This misses the point entirely and seems like an astonishingly naive oversight. It is not the case that sexual harassment and abuse have increased in recent years (“Maybe things have changed since the late 1980s. Maybe today the culture of sexist banter has become more harmful, and more likely to lead to abusive behaviour”), rather the fact that sexual harassment and abuse has always occurred and it is only now that such terrible behaviour has entered the public discussion, and women are being encouraged to come forward and share their experiences.
As a recent leaver I understand the easy response might be to write me off as a Gen Z snowflake, however some of Mr Hobson’s points are so far off the mark that I would hope their misguided nature would be apparent to older readers too.
Who was Philip Whitting?
Dear Jeremy, Like many of Philip Whitting’s (History Department 1929-63) former pupils I enjoyed the recollections of him in Atrium. He was a great teacher and it is fitting that he is commemorated in the Philip Whitting Lecture.
As the founder (with his encouragement) of the Historical Society – which I believe survives to this day – I had another dimension in my relationship with Philip. It is interesting that even in those days we speculated about his past. There was no mention then of him being an RAF pilot in the War and flying Churchill about the world.
Physically Philip looked like a professional wrestler. It was widely believed that he had been an amateur one. On one Historical Society outing to St Albans, I recall asking him if it was true that he had once fought the then world champion known as ‘the Terrible Turk’, and that he had not denied it.
As for Philip’s George Medal, our belief was that he gained it by defusing a bomb on Hammersmith Bridge, which later struck me as plausible.
My surmise now is that Philip had a policy of never denying these schoolboy rumours or myths about his pre-Pauline life. They added to our awe of him and doubtless helped to keep us in good order. Still, it would be interesting to know the truth. With best wishes,
