We Know The Answer, But What Was The Question?

Yesterday at match tea after the Saturday games there was quite a Hailey reunion. Peter Ansell (Ha 1976) was there with his sister and nephew who is at Merchat Taylors and who had been playing in the matches against Haileybury. Also there was Peter's father, John, (Ha 1945). We showed the chaps from Merchant Taylors that, yes, you can speak into the corners of the Hall and be heard by someone standing in the diagonally opposite niche, and reminisced about the New Guv's test.

Pete remembered a question about the obelisk. Something about 'where will you find a needle?' Neither of us could remember what the question was, but were sure the answer was the Boer War memorial. Can anyone remember the question?

New Guv's Test and Random Recollections

Gerald Wilson (M 1962) sent an email with some more memories of the New Guv's Test, as follows. Note his last paragraph about the memorial service at the National Memorial Arboretum on 7th May. If you can come then do be in touch with the Society. I'll write a note about it maybe tomorrow, but you can follow the tag on the bottom of this post to earlier posts about the NMA.

Gerald writes:

Your blog item on graces struck a chord.  I was asked to say grace for my wife's aunt's 90th birthday a couple of weeks ago.  I decided against the well remembered Latin grace from school and went for the more familiar English translation.  The Haileybury version was somewhat shorter than the one trotted out from memory by Sir Richard at the Foundress' Feast last week.

 

Looking back at the blog items about New Guv Tests I wonder whether beaks are "ticked" any more (a sort of diminutive Hitlergruess!)  Other questions I remember from the New Guvs test were on house colours, heads of houses, housemasters and beak's nicknames.  I remember Hiker (WG) Thompson, Blimp (BG Wennink), "Dick" Richards, "Pussy (EW) Williams, "Dangers" Daltry (pronounced with a hard G), "Bogue" Manning (apparently bogus was a favourite word), "Hanc" Nurden (Latin & Greek beak), Harry Hotplate (Hargreaves, chemistry beak), Herr Mueller (Mr Miller, who may have had a slight speech defect and sounded a bit German), RJ (for Mr Rhodes-James, also occasionally Rhodeo-Joe but not, I was told, in his house Melvill). 

The Boot?

 

Of course there was also the Boot for the Master, which was originally the nickname for Canon Bonhote.  Imogen Thomas's book records this as a corruption of his surname, though it was always said amongst the boys that it related to a predilection for corporal punishment.  The nickname was transferred to his successor Christopher Smith, who I experienced for 12 months.  Though a distant figure I remember him with affection and respect.  He knew the name of every single boy in the school and their parents.  My parents & I had met him once when I sat the scholarship at Haileybury in November 1961.  On entering Quad in September 1962 he instantly  greeted us by name.  When William Stewart became Master in 1963 he was known as "The Boot", though due to his loud voice and custom of addressing any boy within 50 yards (a stark contract to his predecessor's unassuming manner) "The Boot" was often transmuted into "The Boom". 

 

I wonder if you will be attending the Haileybury memorial service at the National Arboretum on 7th May.  I am about to put in a late booking.  I haven't been to the National Arboretum yet, but my first alma mater was St Christopher's School in Alrewas (long since closed, but the buildings were still there when I visited 10-15 years ago) so it seems an appropriate opportunity.

 

Master

The answer to yesterday's question was that there is only one Master - the rest are Beaks. Today however, there is one Master and the rest are Teachers. Beak is no longer used. I discovered this a couple of years ago when I used the term in a sermon and was quietly told afterwards by the chaplain that I was showing myself to be deeply out of touch at just the point at which I thought I was being relevant. Another example of the decline of slang in the modern school world about which I have blogged in the past.

Part of it may be that the staff is now, as is to be expected in a coeducational school, about half women, and maybe Beak seems a bit masculine. When we were in the process of appointing the new Master, there was some discussion in the interview panel about what Council would call the post should the successful candidate be a woman. It was pointed out that Cambridge Professor Sandra Dawson was until recently 'Master' of my other alma mater, Sidney Sussex, and that the name need not necessarily change.


Gerald Wilson, who gave me the question about Master(s) writes: "just after Christmas I reviewed a book on Amazon about the post-war aircraft industry.  Before doing so, I perused the other reviews and saw one from someone who recalled a lesson at school where everyone's attention was drawn from the "beak" droning on about Caesar's Gallic Wars to watch the latest fighter jet passing the window.  I e-mailed him to enquire whether by any chance he had been to Haileybury and it turned out he was in my house, Melvill, a year after I left."

New Guv's Test again

I gather from the General Secretary that there has been some interest in the New Guv's Test to the extent that someone has been in touch to ask for a copy. Sadly there is no such thing extant, and possibly there never was as it seems to have been a Haileybury institution differently administered in each House.

Haileybury Masters by RB Payton (Hi 1922):
HB Dawes; WR Lloyd; CW Adams; RF Atherton

Some people have said that their recollection is that the test was administered by the Head of House or a Prefect. I am pretty sure we went to the House Master. The questions would have been different in different places as well I guess.

In an email, Gerald Wilson (M 1962) remembered that there were some straightforward factual questions in the New Guv's test "like where is the KBM block, where was the White City (just destroyed at that point in time) and which study block was which."

He has another of the more tricky ones which I had forgotten or did not know:

How many Masters are there at Haileybury?

Answer tomorrow.

Boxes Trunks and Packages

We are in the throes of moving to our new house. This is why blogging has not been happening. As yet we have no phone and no internet and everything seems to be hidden behind and in pikes of cardboard boxes. In the days when I packed up all my chattels at the end of each year to move to a new study it seemed a lot in that it filled the boot of the car. Now it has been a huge organisation. We will all be glad when everything is straight. Please bear with me. Normal service will be resumed soon.

The answer to the New Guvs' Test question was, of course, that there are no tiles on the food of Edmonstone because Lawrence is on top. In these more expansive days Edmonstond has a fine new building with many tiles on the roof. Lawrence still has the same number of tiles on it's roof but hiw many that is I do not know as that question was not on the test.

Lift Up Your Hearts

Apta Camenis means "Fit for the Muses." At least, that is what I was taught.

The Muses are personifications of inspiration for aspects of poetry and the arts. For the Christian, to be Inspired is to have been touched by the Holy Spirit, to have been given a charism, a gift of God which enables some action or work.

Part of the work of a school is to enable children to come to recognize their gifts and to make best use of them. A Christian school will teach that the best use we can make is that to which God calls us. In a recent list Haileybury came out being among the best independent schools at bringing 'value added.' Value added is a horrid phrase, but it refers to the extra that the school brings to the child beyond what he or she would have achieved anyway, so that selective schools are put on more even terms with non-selective schools in assessing performance.

Value Added is what Grace is about. God gives us what we need to do His will, but calls us to co-operate with Him, to work with Him and to be obedient to His call, in short, to bring Value Added. Christians assert that to act in this way makes a person happy and fulfilled, even if it may seem that he or she has chosen a path the world would not recommend. A Christian education seeks to help souls be open to this.

If the ancient Greeks personified artistic inspiration they were beginning to apprehend the truth that the gifts we have come from beyond ourselves. The concomitant is that we should use them well. Are we fit for the muses?

New Guv's Test 4

We have had a dayoff from the test. On Tuesday the question was "Where are the Penthouses at Haileybury?" The Penthouses are grander than they once were. They used to be two bits of corrugated iron forming a sort of metal ridge tent. They still serve the same purpose: to provide a dry place to put your tracksuit and other kit when you are playing sport in the rain. The answer is "On the edge of XX Acre."

I promised that the next question would have a musical flavour. I think this is one which Roger Bass, (HM Hailey 1986) added to the test as he thought that we should be able to answer the query of any bemused visitor who looked at the panel outside the music school and asked what it all meant.

"apta camenis"

The words come from a poem written by EH Bradby and carved in panels round the Bradby Hall. When the new Music School was opened in 1979 the 'Bridge of Sighs' was built to join it to the Bradby. The panel was removed to allow for the bridge.

Your question is: What does the writing on the panel mean?

Choirs and Orchestras

The great Jack Hindmarsh would test the New Gu'vs for the choir. We queued up outside the vestry of the chapel where there was an upright piano. He would play a note or two and the boy had to sing it back to him. To those with musical talent and the desire to join the choir he gave a full music copy of the hymn book (Hymns Ancient and Modern Revised in those days) and sent them up the stairs to the gallery. The others were given a melody only book and sent to the pews. I had not finished "singing" my note before I was off to the pews with the melody only book in my hand. I am always in awe of those who can sing and play.


I gather much the same music test is done today for girls and boys on entry to the school. Many many of them do make the journey up to the gallery. The music department at Haileybury should be proud of the young people who performed at last night's concert in S John's Smith Square. It was a wonderfully varied programme: saxophones; piano; jazz; orchestral music; voices, even a drum solo. Lots of parents and OHs were there as well as other friends of Haileybury. It was in aid of the Attlee Fund to provide bursaries for pupils to go to Haileybury who would not otherwise be able to do so. As one who himself went to Haileybury on a bursary it is a cause close to my heart. You can support the fund here.

The answer to yesterday's New Guv's Question will be given tomorrow; and the question after that will have a musical flavour…

New Guv's Test 3

The answer to question 2 is "Under the Tables." The benches, tables and chairs in Hall were all carved by Robert Thompson of Kilburn, N Yorks, whose signature was a mouse on each picee made. He coloured the oak he used by 'fuming' it, which gives the rich colour and draws out the grain. Despite the heavy use it has received, the furniture in Hall is enduring as ever.

Question three of your New Guv's Test is: Where at Haileybury are the Penthouses?

New Guv's Test 2

The answer to question 1 was, of course, seven. There are seven small lawns, or 'blades' on the Quad. The four main ones; two small ones either side of the chapel apse; one in the corner formed by the path from the Old Studies to Clock House.

The New Guv's test was perfectly above board. New Guv's had a week's grace in which to learn their way around. In that time they did not get into trouble for being late for lessons, and were given leeway on not knowing school rules and customs. At the end of the week we went one by one to the Housemaster's study for the New Guv's Test. It was a conversation with the Head of House in the presence of the Housemaster.

Here is a second question.

Where are the mice in the Dining Hall?

New Guv's Test 1

Not sure where the apostrophe should go. It seems not only the test, but also referring to pupils in their first term as 'New Guvs' and to those in their first year as 'Guv'nors' has gone. So for those who never sat it, and for those who did, here over the next few days are some of the questions I can remember being in the New Guv's Test.

Question 1.

How many blades of grass on the Quad?