Bleep…Bleep…Bleep

Did you know that London bus drivers are not allowed to reverse their buses? If they get into a jam they can either go forward or just stop until the specially trained driver comes from the depot.

This may sound mad, but almost 25% of "vehicle at work fatalities" come as a result of reversing manoeuvres. This figure is from an article in 'Baltic Briefing,' the Journal of the Baltic Exchange, on Chris Hanson-Abbott (Tr 1947) who was responsible for discovering and marketing the bleepers which signal that a lorry is reversing. You can read the article here.

Hanson-Abbott was on a business trip to Japan in 1976 and heard a lorry bleeping as it reversed. He tracked down the inventor to a small factory in the countryside and bought 50 units to market in the UK. The rest is history. His firm, Brigade Electronics, now sells much more than simple reversing bleepers.

I wonder if they invented the hideous things they have on the recycling collecting trucks in the London Borough of Haringey, which have recorded voice saying "Danger! Vehicle reversing!" over and over again.

MS Haileybury

Brain Fawcett writes

Your 'blog' mentioned streets called 'Haileybury'. During World War I there was also a Merchant Navy vessel called 'Haileybury'.

The Pikersgill Yard in Sunderland
I cannot find a picture of MS Haileybury, but this is where she was built

The only information I have found on the internet, about this was vessel, is  on the website  'World War 1 - British Merchant Ships Lost at  Sea 1914-18'. It shows:

   

'Haileybury'  2888 gross registered tons. Defensively armed. 22 February 1918.  15 miles SE by E3/4E from the Maidens. Submarine.   No warning.  Torpedo.  2 lives lost,including Master.'

I did write to the National Maritime Museum,Grenwich for further information,but they said I should visit the archives. This could possibly be another history project?

MS Haileybury was lost off Scotland in the North Channel

Fr Luke Writes

The wreck site is noted on a web page here. This adds that MS Haileybury was a cargo steamer built in 1902 by William Pickersgill and Sons of Sunderland, and owned by Galbriath, Pembroke & Co Ltd of London. At the time of her sinking the ship was owned by Wm Thomas and Sons, timber importers, but she was carrying a cargo of coal. She was sunk by U-91 (Alfred von Glasenapp).

Kapitainleutnant Alfred von Glasenapp

Things Called Haileybury

A  Guest Post from Brain Fawcett (Ha 1952)

Following on from your 'blog' and streets called 'Haileybury',are you aware that there were

trenches in WWI named after Public Schools and one of which was called 'Haileybury Trench'?.

I  visited the Imperial War Museum,London, some time ago whilst researching another topic,but their trench maps do not name all the trenches. Unfortunately I do not know  exactly where this trench was located, in the Somme area I think.

Maybe someone who is interested in WWI can find the exact location and the next time I am in the locality I can visit it.  Another thought  is that,when the Removes have their annual visit,they could possibly locate the area.   A topic for research for those taking History as a  subject?

Fr Luke writes:

I found a book on Amazon here which may have the information, but it is a bit costly on the off chance it may be in there. There is an article on trench maps here. For those with an interest in slang there is a piece on the specialised language which developed in the trenches here. 

Streets Called Haileybury

Roger Woodburn, the Associate General Secretary has given me a fascinating side line on the Streets Called aileybury series. In Bangkok the main road is called Sukhumvit. It was the first tarmacadam road in the city and was named after the fifth chief of the Department of Highways, Phra Bisal Sukhum (Hi 1915). Sukhum was only briefly at Haileybury, arriving for the Lent Term 1915 and leaving in the same term a year later. The story is that he broke his leg, left to have it set, and never returned.

His name became Sukhumvit on his assumption of a Thai Title in 1965. The road named after him is also calle Thailand Route 3, and is over 400km long. There is a full description on Wikipedia here.

In lieu of the usual map here is a short video.



Here are some pictures.

Car Wash

Last weekend the members of the Lower School were busy washing cars. It was all in aid of the Haileybury Youth Trust.

Before

After

More apologies about the lack of posts recently. I have loads to post, but time has been limited. Tomorrow an intereting take on the Streets Called Haileybury series.

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.