Think I was lucky...I somehow sneaked into a decent Grammar School in Streatham, where the teachers were all pretty good and some younger, more liberal attitudes. But as a less than super-academic student (to put it mildly), I fortunately won the 'good at sport in a sporting school' lottery - so pretty much from 14 I led a charmed life - even somehow getting me a route through to A levels. Not because I had great O results - but because by 16 I was captain of the cricket team and also playing first team football. The biggest risks I ever faced was when Tulse Hill or Elliott thugs wanted a day out 'blazer-bashing'
My 1st year at secondary school was ok but the next we went comprehensive with the grammar school opposite , as far as I remember only a handful from each year managed to get into the higher streams and not one ex grammar school pupil went lower , it was a two tier school , the head was ex grammar school all of the ex grammar teachers still wore gowns and morter boards and if you did get one to teach your class the feeling was that it was beneath them
The Teachers did wear gowns for formal occasions like assemblies and ****, but not otherwise. As a contrast, I do remember we had two young teachers, both of whom had gone to two of the toughest Comps in S London, but had achieved academic success against the odds. They were two of the best teachers we had. We certainly weren't a 'posh' Grammar, like Emmanuel or Kingston - more like a Comp with the wrong name!!
Reports back from a mate who is 'doing' the 4 The Damned gigs in Europe, that there has been bugger all change to the set list since the Japan/Australian tour at the beginning of the year. Of course, those locations that are getting their first shows in a few years are going to get 'the hits package'. However, having the official website asking people to email in what they'd like to hear at the concerts, then changing absolutely **** all, is a bit rich. Hopefully, they'll do it differently in the UK and chuck the fans something for shelling out £50+ per ticket. We went to see the boys at Concorde 2 in Brighton, the year before Covid struck and they threw in half a dozen rarities, including 2 tracks they'd never played live before. Come on boys....
please log in to view this image Then, the ****ers went and did this!!! The day after my birthday, I was going to be lying in a Glasgow Premier Inn bed, looking forward to a Scottish fry, with the square sausage, black pudding and all. Now, at 7 am, I'll be in a cab, heading for the airport for a 9 am flight to Luton, so we can drive to Milton Keynes and park on someone's driveway (only 12 minutes walk to the bowl and only £7.52 for the day - very reasonable). It's The Damned....doing The Black Album...with all 4 of the creators in the band. You think it can't get any better, until The Furs are on the bill...and 3 or 4 others. I'm not entirely sure about Kraftwerk as a headliner, but we shall see...
Having invested money and time in getting ourselves from Glasgow to Mton Keynes on a Sunday morning, to be greeted with the 'news' that The Furs had pulled out of a festival named after one of their albums, was not great. It seems that ain't so, they are still playing. HUZZAH! Whilst Bela Lugosi is dead, Pete Murphy is just very unwell and regrettably won't be playing. Mrs B is most disappointed...it's most definitely a 'Kick in the Eye'.
I am another who had dislike of school in what I would call the 2nd and 3rd year my attendance was very poor, I got to the point where I realised that although skipping the whole day was ok, the lack of notes or the promised phone call from my mum to explain my absence was starting to be an issue I took to being at school for registration and at lunchtimes and just going out to skip the lessons I really disliked! This came to an abrupt end when a friend of my Mums saw me wandering around Canterbury went home and told her, she promptly called the school to find out why I wasn’t there! I was promptly summoned to meet my year head who was actually one of the few teachers that I had a rapport with, he didn’t actually punish me as such I wasn’t allowed out at lunchtimes for a couple of weeks I was meant to sit outside his office but I actually spent of the time talking to him about music! He liked Jazz and big band music as did my Dad so even at 14 I could talk about people like Gerry Mulligan and Dave Brubeck with some clarity. The one thing he did you was make me get the teacher to record that I attended each class so I actually attended in my 4th and 5th years (‘O’ levels) on a far more regular basis. My greatest achievement at school (My ‘B’ in English aside) was getting the school library closed! I spent a lunchtime in the library relocating books from a whole set of shelves to various other parts of the library to the point where when I left there was just 1 book on each shelf. The next morning in assembly we were told that the library was closed due to the theft of a number of books!! It was actually closed for nearly a week and when it reopened there was no mention of where they found the books. There was a further irony that when we left ( I left in June 1980 2 months before my 16th Birthday) we had to get a signature from the school librarian stating that our library record was clear, mine had a list of books as that filled the page that I had supposedly booked out and read and as he signed he said ‘Well at least you are a reader’ though if he had actually looked at the books listed they were all made up book titles mainly lifted from popular albums of the time compiled by a mate of mine who had been a library ‘helper’
Your source was correct. A magnificent night out to cast away the disappointments of the weekend, and I almost discovered the Bat Cave on the way home.....
Great pics. Do you have a high quality camera on your phone? My source was Captain. Who was waxing effusive praise for Rat's drumming and that the elusive 'swing' was back with his return. That said, a mate was at last night's Wolverhampton gig and said that it was extremely flat. Even Dave mumbled something to that effect and that the audience were light on numbers and lacking the usual good time vibe and bounce. I've been to the venue on question, to see Siouxsie's return gig. It's extremely expensive for beer and merchandise and not much to write home about otherwise. This morning, I read The Yorkshire Post's review of the Leeds gig, the night before Nottingham and they loved it...so, maybe it's just a Wolverhampton thing. It's always struck me as a heavy metal town, with little punk heritage. Just so long as they're back on top form for Friday, Saturday and next Wednesday and Thursday!!! I have my concerns about Southampton. I've seen them at the venue before. It was OK, but not much more than that. Still, lots of London based fans are making trip, so we shall see....
I have a Pixel 9 which does take a good picture! Yep, the crowd were well up for it that night, and there was quite a diverse set of accents around me. I walked back to the car park with some blokes from Bristol who'd come up for the show. It is a great venue and I have travelled up there before for gigs when I used to live in Hertfordshire. I was only saying to people in the office today that it was one of the best gigs I'd been to in a loooooong time. Great night out Mmm now I've never been to Wolverhampton so I can't comment but yes, more Black Sabbath territory I believe. Saying that I love a bit of Slade...
I used to date a girl from Wolverhampton (between Mrs B I and Mrs B !!) - her flat was so close to the stadium that you could see part of the pitch from her room. I saw Gary Glitter and Spear of Destiny up there (not together) but sadly not Slade in their own backyard nor Black Sabbath.
Are we allowed to say we've seen Gaz? Caught Slade years ago just before Noddy gave it all up. Still one of my fav Christmas songs....
