50 Years Ago - July 2007
From 'The Portmuthian' 50 years ago
Editorial
The Public Schools have for some time been attacked by supporters of the Comprehensive System for being decadent and behind the times. This may be true of some institutions, but we at Portsmouth Grammar School feel that we are keeping well abreast of the times. I refer, of course, to the completion of the new Science Wing, which shows that we are going all out to meet the modern demand for more and yet more scientists.
But now that the tumult and the shouting has died, and a tangible structure stares us in the eye, some of us have already begun to view it with alarm and dismay, for it shows us — those of us who are Arts students — what a dominating position Science has gained and is continuing to gain in the School. In the old days it was different, for then Science was merely one of many subjects; we were vaguely aware that the scientists frequented laboratories somewhere in the Lower School, but they seemed remote, and anyway in those carefree days even History had a room to itself. Now, however, the situation has changed. Now Science actually commands a whole third of the School all to itself, and we learn that there will soon be three streams in the Science Sixth.
What, we ask, will happen if this process continues at its present alarming rate? Perhaps at some future date the Modernists (the Classicists having, of course, long become extinct) will be ejected from the Upper School premises, to provide a form room for Science Lower Sixth E, and cast out to dwell with the joiners and plasterers in the Barracks across the way, and the editorship of this magazine will fall into the hands of a board of physicists. But perhaps you may think that that wouldn't be such a bad thing at all.
Valete
BAILEY, J. R. (L). Sc.VIA. Entered Sept. 1950, left July 1957. Sailing club 1954-57; captain of School sailing 1957. Left for Central Electricity Authority via University (Civil Engineering).
CLEGG, P. E. (L). Sc.VII. Entered Sept. 1948, left July 1957. House prefect May 1957. School shooting 'A' VIII 1957; Scouts 1949-51; C.C.F., RN. section, petty officer; librarian; School dramatics 1956; VI form dramatics 1957; open exhibition in physics, St. John's College, Oxford, 1956. Left for St. John's College, Oxford.
FISHENDEN, C. J. (S). Sc.VIB. Entered Sept. 1947, left July 1957. 3rd XV 1955-57; inter-grammar schools' sports 1952-56; public schools' sports 1956; School athletics colours 1957; house athletics captain 1957; scouts 1950-56: patrol leader senior scouts 1955. C.C.F., R.N. section: petty officer. Stage electrician 1954-56; co-secretary of gramophone society 1956-57. Left for executive post in Civil Service Surveying and Engineering department.
FRITH, J. I. (W). Sc.VII. Entered Sept. 1949, left Nov. 1956. School prefect Sept. 1956; 1st XV 1955-56: colours 1956; School rowing IV 1956. C.C.F., R.N. section: petty officer. Left for career in industrial engineering.
GAYDON, R. M. (W). Sc.VIB. Entered Sept. 1947, left July 1957. House prefect Sept. 1956. Scouts 1950-54: patrol leader. C.C.F,, Army section, platoon commander, signals platoon; Cert. 'T'; Clarke-Jervoise Cup 1956. Ernest Edmonds reading prize, 1948; School dramatics 1956. Left for Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst.
GUNNER, M. R. (H). IVA. Entered Sept. 1954, left July 1957. McMaking entrance scholarship. Left for King Edward VI Grammar School, Southampton.
HANFORD, M. A. (L). G.P.VI. Entered Sept. 1951, left July 1957. 2nd XI 1956; junior colts' colours 1953. C.C.F., R.N. section: L/smn. Left for career in school teaching.
HASKELL, D. K. (L). Cl.VI. Entered Sept. 1950, left July 1957. House prefect Jan. 1957; 3rd XV 1956-57; shooting VIII 1955-57; Bisley 1956-57; House shooting captain. C.C.F., Army section: armoury sergt. Librarian 1954-57; editor of the Portmuthian 1955-57; secretary of the debating society 1955-57; School dramatics 1954-57; sixth form drama group 1955-57; Arberry prize for classics 1954 ; Bernard Wilson prize for classics 1955-56; magazine prize 1955; State scholarship 1956. Left to read classics at St. Catharine's College, Cambridge.
HAYWARD, A. J. (W). Sc.VIB. Entered Sept. 1949, left July 1957. School prefect Jan 1957 ; House captain 1957 ; 1st XV 1955-57 ; colours 1956-57; 2nd XI 1955; House rugby captain 1956-57; School and House athletics captain 1955-57; White City 1956; Hampshire County championships 1955: colours 1956-57 ; House rowing captain 1957. C.C.F., R.A.F. section, flight commander. Left for Royal Dental Hospital of London.
HIDE, B. L. (W). Sc.VIB. Entered Sept. 1953, left July 1957. 3rd XV 1956-57. C.C.F., Army section, corporal. Left to enter industry.
JOB, B. E. (G). Sc.VII. Entered Sept. 1950, left July 1957. Second prefect, May 1957; House captain Sept. 1956; 1st XV: half colours 1957. C.C.F., Army section: C.S.M., Jan. 1957; Cert. 'T'; School dramatics 1956; sixth form dramatics 1957. Left to read chemistry at Birmingham University.
JOHNSTON, D. A. (L). Mod.Vl. Entered Sept. 1950, left July 1957. 2nd XV 1956-57; School senior chess team, 1954-57; vice-captain 1956-57. C.C.F., Army section, L/cdt. President of the philatelic and numismatological society, 1956-57. Left for National Service and King Alfred's College, Winchester.
JONES, B. M. (S). Sc.VII. Entered Sept. 1948, left July 1957. School scouts 1951-55: seniors 1955-57. Left to read Electrical Engineering at King's College, London.
LEWIS, D. C. (5). Mod.VII. Entered Sept. 1950, left July 1957. School prefect Jan. 1957; House captain May 1957; head librarian Sept. 1956. Editor of the Portmuthian 1954-57. Debating society committee 1955-57. C.C.F., Army section: platoon commander. School play 1954-57; modern sixth play 1955; producer of the sixth form play 1957; Ernest Edmonds prize for speech and reading: inter 1954, senior 1956-57; Arberry prize for classics 1953-54; Canon Grant essay prize for divinity 1956. Left to read English at Jesus College, Oxford.
MAWER, R. (S). G.P.VI. Entered Sept. 1953, left July 1957. 2nd XV 1956; cross-country running VIII 1956-57; captain 1957; three School running records; captain House rowing 1957. C.C.F., R.N. section: petty officer. Left for career in Marine Engineering.
MCALLISTER, R. C. A. (G). Ser.Vl. Entered Sept. 1947, left July 1957. House prefect Sept. 1956; captain House rowing 1957. C.C.F., Army section, platoon commander: Cert. `T'. Left for career in army.
PEACOCK, C. D. (S). Cl.VII. Entered Sept. 1948, left July 1957. House prefect April 1957; 2nd XI 1955. C.C.F., Army section, platoon commander. Debating society committee 1955-57; School dramatics 1956-57; sixth form drama group 1955-57. Left to read English at King's College, London.
RAWLINSON, B. W. (S). Ser.VI. Entered Sept. 1947, left 1957. 2nd XV: colours 1955-56, 1956-57. C.C.F., Army section, sergeant. Left for career in army.
RICHARDS, R. T. (S). Sc.VIA. Entered Sept. 1950, left July 1957. School prefect April 1957; 1st XV 1955-56, 56-57: colours 1955-56, 56-57; 3rd XI: captain 1957. C.C.F., R.N. section: L/smn. Left for student apprenticeship with U.K. Atomic Energy Authority, Harwell.
SHEPHERD, M. E. (W). Sc.VII. Entered Sept. 1948, left April 1957. School prefect May 1955; senior prefect Sept. 1955; 1st XV and colours 1954-57; captain 1955-56; Hampshire public schools XV 1954; 3rd XI 1954-56: captain 1955-56; inter-Grammar School athletics 1955; School shooting VIII 1952-54. C.C.F., R.N. section: instructor petty officer Sept. 1955. Left to read physics at Queen Mary College, London.
SIMPSON, R. L. (G). Mod.VI. Entered Sept. 1951, left July 1957. House prefect Sept. 1956; 3rd XV ; sailing club dinghy captain 1956-57; School sailing team 1957. C.C.F., R.N. section: LJsmn. Left for career in accountancy.
SMITH, B. R. (L). G.P.VI. Entered Sept. 1948, left July 1957. Athletics team 1955; cross-country VIII 1957. C.C.F., R.A.F. section : S/cdt.; `B' gliding certificate. Left for Aeronautical Inspection Dept., Harefield, Middlesex.
SMITH, M. R. (W). U.V.D. Entered Sept. 1953, left July 1957. 4th XV 1956-57; cross-country VIII 1955-56; inter-Grammar School athletics 1954-55; Brighton sports meetings 1956-57; Hants schools championships I955. C.C.F., R.N. section: A.B. Left for career with Portsmouth City Police Force.
TIPPING, D. W. (L). Sc.VII. Entered Sept. 1950, left July 1957. House prefect Jan 1957; 1st XV: half-colours 1956-57. C.C.F., R.A.F. section: sergeant. State scholarship 1956; open scholarship in natural science at Christ Church, Oxford, March 1957. Left to read mathematics at Christ Church, Oxford.
WICKENS, B. A. (W). Sc.VIB. Entered Sept. 1947, left July 1957. House prefect April 1956; School prefect April 1957; 4th XV; School sailing team; dinghy captain 1955-57. C.C.F., R.N. section: petty officer. Left for R.N. College, Dartmouth.
Advice To A Third-Former
(If you want to gain credit, read this, and don't spread it)
Beware the Upper Fifths, my boy, They take a kind of brutish joy
In women, wine, and song.
But then the Lower Fifths, you'll find,
Are gentle, likeable, and kind,
And rarely in the wrong.
Of all the Sixth Forms you'll have heard
Their mental weakness is absurd;
I think of them with loathing.
A Sixth-Form boy upon a bike
Is anthropoid-gorilla-like,
Though wearing human clothing.
And do, my child, be warned by me,
And any prefects you may see
Avoid. And what is more,
If you among them shout or brawl,
Or misbehave, or caterwaul,
You'll find you're in E.4.
And if you all my words obey,
And keep my rules through every day,
You'll find, in little time,
That you'll have risen to power and fame,
And Third-Forms tremble at your name -
All through my little rhyme.
R.G.M. (L.VA).
Science Lower V1 B (1957)
The School Play: "The Knight of the Burning Pestle"
Director: A.J.Marsh, Esq. Settings of songs composed by E. Sutton, Esq.
80 years ago: The Opening of the present School, 1927
© Copyright The Old Portmuthian Club 2010. Last updated on 4 August 2007. 
