St Mary's August 2018 Parish Magazine

In My Day
the ramblings of Hubert James
In my day it was about this time of
year that us kids would get our first
taste of school uniform after taking
the 11 plus.
We never had uniforms when we
were younger. In junior school we
wore our ordinary clothes, so moving
to senior school was even more of a
huge change. Us young lads found
ourselves kitted out with long
trousers, blazers, ties and caps. So
even before we got to continue our
education we had to learn how to tie a
half Windsor knot.
I know children today still have to
master this skill, but what they don’t
have to do is wear a school cap. They
should be thankful because they were
a total waste of space. If the school
bully didn’t grab it and sling it up on
the school bus roof, then wear it in the
rain and it was guaranteed to shrink.
Actually, I shouldn’t be to disparaging
about them because they did inspire
our local dentist to invent a ground
breaking technique for saving teeth.
Let me explain.
The first dentist we had in the town
was a chap from the Deep South
called Dennis E Williams. In those
days dentistry was a savage
occupation of extractions, false teeth
and fillings. Until that is, Dennis,
peering out of his surgery window
spotted us lads climbing aboard the
bus. Eureka! He had a brainwave and
he wasn’t even in his bath or at the
seaside.
He could see that the school cap
fitted snugly over the young bonce.
“What if…” he thought, “you could
cover up a decaying tooth the same
way?” He set to work and began to
experiment with a hollowed out false
tooth that he attached to a crumbling
blackened molar using a tube of
Bostik. It worked! He shared his
invention with the world of dentistry
and soon, thanks to the school cap
the world of pulling teeth was
revolutionised. Cavities were sealed
for life and smiles saved.
Course, those of you that avidly read
The Lancet will probably know all
about this having seen Dennis E
Williams’ article; Cap on a Rot-tin’
Tooth.