大象传媒

Of course, the war in the far east was still going on, although this did not directly affect those who had no family or friends out there. In the summer we took the General Schools Certificate exam. It is worth noting that you had to pass in English and five other subjects, all at one attempt: no picking up two here; one there and so on. You had to get a foreign language, maths or a science and at least one out of a wide group including history, geography, art and others. Our headmaster considered English Literature to be a compulsory subject, so we all took it.

Most of us were expected to take the maximum number permitted, nine subjects. I took the two English subjects, French, Maths, Chemistry, Physics, Geography, History and Art. Having dropped Latin earlier I had nine to offer, so I took nine, although I did not want to take History. Having little enthusiasm for the subject I failed it anyway. It seems remarkable now that we studied no history later than the 1832 Reform Bill. (I found history much more interesting some ten years later when I taught juniors). I got a Pass in Art, a Very Good (the top grade) in Physics and Credits in all the others, so I got exemption from matriculation should I have needed it. Everyone in my year got at least the basic six subjects: most got more so there were no failures. There was no great excitement about this. The teachers were pleased of course, but the implication was that we had only done what we had come for anyway. The Headmaster never let us forget that for everyone of us there were several others who would like to be in our places. We were privileged to be there and owed it to Society to make good use of our good fortune and not waste the opportunities we had.

At the end of that fifth year several people left to go into various jobs, some afterwards taking various more vocational qualifications, H.N.D. and the like. One made his career in the Army. Several of us stayed on into the Sixth form, roughly divided into Arts (mainly languages) and the Science. I took maths, pure and applied, physics and chemistry as did my classmates, except one fellow who wanted to do biology. Wartime staffing difficulties threw up some odd anomalies, like my brief, but useful, encounter with Latin. We had no-one able to teach biology beyond School Certificate level so the top science group took physics and chemistry as two separate papers, the middle group took a combined subject, physics-with-chemistry), the lowest group took "General Science鈥� which included some biology '" so only the least-scientific boys did any biology, and I never did any.

To study biology to Higher Schools Certificate level (approximately present-day A Level) our friend had to take lessons at Dartford Girls County School. The only practicable method of getting to and fro promptly was by motor-cycle, which meant all sorts of permissions, and the issue of a small essential-user petrol ration. I have included this tale to give an idea of some of the indirect consequences of the late war.

The war finally came to an end during the preceding school summer break. I was having a lie-in one morning, unusually for me when Dad came upstairs, full of excitement to tell me 鈥淭hey鈥檝e got a bomb equal to 10,000 tons of TNT". I immediately guessed that this must have been an atomic bomb, as the possibility of making one had cropped up in various articles with a science background, to say nothing of science fiction. Though not entirely surprised I do remember a feeling of unease, in case anyone else found out how to make one.)

Shortly afterwards Mum, Dad and I went to Eastbourne for a week, staying with an old family friend, an unmarried woman and quite a "character" - still something of a tomboy although she must have been in her sixties. It was during this week that the war ended completely and "VJ Day" was declared, to considerable excitement. I remember going to the beach, now open, that evening and seeing the unusual spectacle of sailors, including Petty Officers, diving into the sea fully clothed. No doubt they were "well-lubricated" as Dad used to put it. Of course, we were not to know what they might have been through. Airmen from the local radar station fired signal flares from Verey pistols, while thunderflashes, much louder than civilian fireworks, were set off continually. One curiousity I noticed was that they made a loud grunt rather than a simple bang: I reckon it was caused by a succession of echoes from the groyne supports. Later on bonfires were lit.

So ended our war, but the effects lingered on. No more alarms, no blackout, or even dim-out, but rationing got worse, not better. Even bread was rationed later on. Rationing did not end completely until well into the fifties, I had to take a ration book when I went to college in 1953.

National Service was brought in. I was deferred to take the Higher Schools Certificate in 1947 (I was 18 in the January) and did not a actually have to join up until November 6th, 1947 - another story altogether.

All the family survived the war, though not its effects. Tom, as I have said, was badly shaken up. Step-sister Winnie, a nurse had joined the "QAs" (Queen Alexandra鈥檚 Imperial Military Nursing Service) as a sister. She was sent to the Middle East, where the harsh conditions proved too much. She contracted TB and died after a long illness in the summer of 1947, aged only 31.

Before the war Dad, who worked at home, sometimes employed another upholsterer, or French polisher to help out at busy times. One such was a Mr King, a very good worker. He was later drafted into the Merchant Navy and went to the bottom of the Atlantic on one of the convoys.

So the war came quite close enough to us. It had its alarming moments, as when I was on the way to school on the top deck of a bus when we heard machine-gun fire. It was a cold day, with low cloud. It appeared that a lone raider had got lost and was taking pot-shots at this and that. He didn't come near us, but it left you feeling rather naked. On another occasion I was on bus when a rocket landed some half a mile away. The bus shook, but nothing broke. I lined up the column of dust and debris and when I got home lined it up with what someone else had seen. Looking at the map I estimated, correctly, that it had hit a junior school. Fortunately it was well after home-time, but I remember wondering about staff and cleaners. What happened I don't know. Damage, casualties and locations of "incidents" were classed as "sensitive information" in those days, of possible use to the enemy.

The more you write, the more you remember, but now I must stop.

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