Part I: Seals teeth and whales ears - Scott Polar Research Institute ...

The old school buildings were in Cumbrian stone and slate, but some new prefabricated
wooden buildings took care of the necessary expansion. The Headmaster
of the joint schools was A K Wilson, on the surface a bit of a disciplinarian, wielding
the cane as necessary - but essentially a decent, kindly man. Later on when I was in
the sixth form and a prefect, I led a revolt over the school meals, particularly the
lunches, and had a confrontation with him. I then realized how difficult his job was,
as there weren't any real sanctions he could apply against firm informed pressure,
and between us we resolved the problems in discussion and negotiation. I suppose I
was equivalent to Head boy, although there was no such title. Perhaps this was the
beginning of a strong-minded approach to authority, and readiness to fight for what
I felt was right. It was an attitude that led me into some difficult situations during
my career! After his retirement Wilson went to live in Kenya with his daughter and
her family.
A school report for December l940 indicates that I was doing particularly well in
Geography, and I was no longer taking Biology or Drawing. As it was wartime, our
teachers were either women or men older than service age. Mallinson and Miss Joslin
were still there and our pretty young Belgian French mistress. Miss Gent taught us
Latin. We had a very pretty blond History mistress (Jean Humble - called "Blondie"
by the boys, after a then current comic strip). She was the subject of fantasies by us
teenagers, had earlier been engaged to the legendary rugby three-quarter Prince
Obolensky, and later married the school chaplain, Charles Hay (The Reverend
Canon A C de P Hay), much to our surprise. He was a well-liked master,
scoutmaster, and a keen rugger player who had played against (or was it with?)
Obolensky when he had been an undergraduate at St John's College, Cambridge.
When he let this become known it greatly enhanced his reputation, at least among
the sportier types. I cycled across the Pennines to attend their wedding in Newcastle
in April l944.
The chemistry teacher was Mr McKissock; he had a dry sense of humour and
made chemistry interesting; we experimented with ‘bangs and smells’ and he called
his blackboard duster after the Russian Field Marshall who was prominent in the
news at the time – “chuck me Timoshenko's vest" he would say. Physics was taught
by Mr Pennington, a small, wiry, hyperactive and very fit man who enjoyed rugger
and fell walking. I suppose the teachers who had most influence on me were Charles
Hay, Mallinson, and Miss Joslin (whose brother had worked in the Colonial Service
in Nigeria; one of his postings was to the northern town of Jos - so he became known
as ‘Jos of Jos’).
I musn’t leave out Mrs Friend, who taught us art for School Certificate. I owe a
great deal to her influence; she stimulated and developed my early interest in
drawing and painting. This was helped by the fact that the Royal College of Art had
been evacuated to nearby Ambleside and its students held an annual exhibition of
their work. She took some of us to these exhibitions which I found 'eye-opening' for
the quality and diversity of the work, in a whole range of media and techniques. By
then I had begun to do small flower and bird paintings and keep an illustrated
nature diary with drawings and small watercolours of flowers, birds, butterflies and
other insects etc. She also taught me to do calligraphy and encouraged me later
(l943) in writing a book "Green Gables: a Nature Diary" in calligraphy,
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