Words
Oxford – The Summer of 1917 Desmond Devitt is editing Skipper’s War, a twice-weekly bulletin from an Oxford school community in World War One On Saturday 10th June, the Betjeman Society held its AGM at The Dragon School, Oxford. This marked the centenary of the poet’s joining the school, which was commemorated by a plaque unveiled by the Headmaster, John Baugh, and a Year 2 pupil, Charlotte Austen. Betjeman recalled the war years in his autobiographical Summoned By Bells, and particularly the then headmaster, the legendary Skipper Lynam. ‘Before the hymn the Skipper would announce The latest names of those who’d lost their lives For King and Country and the Dragon School. Sometimes his gruff old voice was full of tears When a particular favourite had been killed…’
John Betjeman was a pupil at the school from 1917 to 1920. Disliking sport, the future Poet Laureate achieved distinction at the Dragon by his performances in the regular school productions of Gilbert and Sullivan and Shakespeare. His own gift for poetry was soon recognised and his first published works were in the school magazine, The Draconian. This magazine is one of the reasons why the school’s history is so well documented, but, unlike most school magazines which were the work of the school itself, The Draconian was the idea and work of three former pupils at Winchester College, Robert Johnson, Robert Holland and Henry Spurling, who wished to keep in touch with fellow Old Dragons and issued the first edition in 1889. Their stated objective was ‘to tighten the bond of union between friendships that would otherwise be severed…’ – the Facebook of its day. Not surprisingly perhaps,
Autumn 2017
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