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John Porteous and Catherine Porteous

Catherine’s earliest memories of the school. Visiting St James’ Park with Nanny. A visit by the Princesses to Westminster Abbey. [2:37] King’s visit to the Latin Play in 1937. [3:24] War and evacuation to Ireland, where she stayed until April 1940. [4:38] Wearing lifebelts on the boat back to England. [4:56] Staying at Lancing College. Listening to Churchill on the radio. Soldiers returned from Dunkirk sleeping in gardens. [6:25] Moved from the coast. Blitz begins. [7:42] Living in Herefordshire. The Blitz at Westminster School. [8:41] Herefordshire. A governess shared with the other Masters’ children. Rode a pony to school every day. [10:49] Made friends with an old poacher. [12:00] Moved into the town. More involved in the community there. Westminster boys learning how to live in the country. [15:18] Her mother, Mrs Christie’s, food parcels from Australia. Tony Benn helps her with her long division. [16:08] Learnt to swim in the river. [16:25] Awareness of war news. [16:45] Religious service and local vicars. [18:12] Excitement on D-Day. [20:42] Arnold Foster, Head of Music, organised a local choir and orchestra with the boys. Enjoyed by the locals. [21:27] Plays by the boys. Her first Shakespeare. [22:20] Vanessa and Colin Redgrave, who were also evacuated and joined their classes with the governess. [22:40] Masters’ wives and matrons worked hard to cater for the boys without servants. [23:49] Return to London. It felt dirty, broken and sad. [24:30] Masters’ children took lessons with a member of staff. [26:10] Living in no. 17. Cycling around on top of the water tanks in Dean’s Yard. [27:09] Hide-and-seek in the Cloisters. American soldiers. Playing around on the school roofs. [29:02] Bomb damage to the school. Impact on father’s health of the strain of war and school bomb damage. His illness in 1947. [31:35] Went to boarding school. [32:17] First saw John playing Gwendolyn in ‘The Importance of Being Ernest’. [33:47] Occasional returns to Westminster. The Greaze. Later watching her son in the Greaze. [36:00] Mother kept hens at school. Boys thought she was very eccentric. [37:15] Mother became very good at entertaining. Would visit boys who were ill. [39:50] Christie’s lasting friendships with the boys. [41:59] Catherine and John meet. [43:33] John’s experience of WWII. Tormore School Prep School. Trained for the Challenge quite intensively. [46:04] Many boys he knew from his prep school were at Westminster. [46:57] Westminster was very liberal after his strict prep school. Food at Westminster. An unpleasant experience with the school food. Post-war rationing. [49:43] Post-war Westminster bleak and dirty. The Abbey coal-black inside. Princess Elizabeth’s wedding. [50:50] The robes and huge jewels of the Indian Princes. [51:50] Smog and the effect of city living on the Westminster boys. [53:39] College was very ‘churchy’. [54:44] Found work too easy in the Shell. [56:20] They were precocious and gave themselves extra work in non-school subjects, for example learning Tamil. He learnt Anglo-Saxon. [58:08] Teaching classrooms. [59:20] Seen as infra dig to take A Levels. Trained for the Oxbridge exams. [1:00:51] Scared of John Christie, who taught them and made them learn Greek by heart. [1:02:25] Descriptions of teachers. Munck, killed in an aeroplane crash. Charles Keeley, shy historian. [1:04:01] Deeply churchy place. Prayers every morning. Some King’s Scholars considered becoming Catholic. [1:05:33] Description of the Westminster tradition of Decals and evening calls. [1:09:29] Initiation ceremony to learn Westminster slang. Changes in the tradition while he was at school. [1:12:31] Scholars all slept in the same dormitory apart from the prefectus, who had a separate room which had formerly been the bedroom of Catherine Porteous when she was younger. [1:13:42] Abbey an important part of Westminster life. [1:14:54] Queen Mary came to the Abbey when her favourite curate was preaching. Looked old-fashioned. The misbehaviour of Catherine’s sister on one occasion. [1:16:03] Eccentric Masters. Troutbeg, who wore tailcoats. Rugbig, who carried a cane. Simpson. [1:18:53] John Carleton, an excellent House Master and a huge influence on John. Remained a friend with Carleton. [1:21:17] Catherine was required to call all the Masters by their surnames, unlike the other Masters’ children. [1:22:39] Gradually starting to use Christian names for pupils. [1:23:53] The re-opening of College and the royal visit. John Carleton’s first year as House Master of College. Terrible acoustics of the new building. [1:25:16] The opening of College by the King and Queen. [1:28:58] An instance of John Carleton’s ingenuity. [1:32:59] House ledgers. John’s character as a young man. [1:34:40] Uncertainty what would have happened to him if he hadn’t won a closed scholarship. [1:36:43] Good friends made at Westminster. [1:39:31] Being in the 6th and 7th form at Westminster was very like university. Boys educated each other. Informal classes were like tutorials. [1:40:36] Debate with Eton. Etonians were more sophisticated. The Westminsters felt like ‘ignorant schoolchildren’ in comparison. [1:42:39] More difficult for John to make ends meet at Oxford than it had been at Westminster. [1:43:45] College was the elite. Very strong sense of cohesion as a house. The gowns meant they were more easily distinguished from the other houses then. [1:45:16] Catherine had lots of friends in Oxford. Sent to Germany by her parents, who thought she was being too frivolous and that she was getting too involved with Robin. Learnt German.

Kenneth Redfern

[00:43] Family background and personal history. [03:15] Westminster Under School at Little Dean’s Yard. Description of College post-war. [04:25] Memories of sport - football at Grove Park, Vincent Square, Old gym in the Abbey. [06:14] Westminster at the end of Second World War and post-war years. Memories of science lessons. [11:16] Memories of History Master, and Master in charge of Gym. [12:25] Day boy at Busby’s. ‘Honorary King’s Scholar’, sitting the Challenge. Stayed overnight once, kept awake by Big Ben. [15:00] Rowing successes and failures. [17:02] Transition from Under School to Great School. New schoolmates and teachers. [21:04] Music lessons, piano duets. ‘Far too many plays’. Choir concerts. [24:30] Changeover of Head Masters from John Christie to Walter Hamilton. Dislike of the change. [27:05] Taught a maths class in absence of teacher. [28:14] Elizabethan. [30:29] College Street Clarion. Fisher as Housemaster. [34:28] Latin prayers. [35:38] CCF and Scouts. Scout arrested for dressing up as a girl. [39:40] School food, Free School Milk Act. [42:04] Divide between school subjects, hierarchy. [46:53] Trinity College, Cambridge. Election. Scholarship exam. [51:23] Rebuilding of College post-war. Temporary roof of School. [53:38] Knowledge of other houses. [54:50] Liddell’s. [58:50] Gym display, held in College Garden. Parents’ party. [01:05:40] Rowing, Godsey White’s attitudes to rowing. [01:19:33] Challenge subjects. Languages. [01:22:05] Russian, useful in Navy. [01:25:30] Strikes, walking to school.

Lord Julian Hunt

[00:20] First impressions of Westminster School. [00:38] Masters very nice. Challenge anecdote. [01:09] Day boy in Ashburnham. [01:58] Lushington as form tutor. [02:12] Leaving to have operation. Away for a long time. [02:50] Couldn’t play football. Lots of swimming instead. [03:10] Commute from Putney. [03:30] Masters. John Morton Wilson. Latin prose. [04:30] Enjoyed science. [05:04] Cyril John Crumpler, science Master. Mr Foxcroft. [05:35] Another pupil by the name of Hunt, connecting water tap to gas tap. Fire brigade called. [06:18] Experiments. [06:30] False roof up school. Latin prayers. [07:07] Walter Hamilton. Greek. [07:48] Joined the Corps. War still felt close. [08:10] Mr Brock, housemaster of Ashburnham. Telling stories of war. [08:50] Demonstrations at Hyde Park Corner on Sundays. [09:05] Art teacher. Mr Spore. Wanted to talk about naval history. [09:42] Francis Rause, housemaster of Busby’s. Major in war. Told stories, told back to him in House play at the end of term. [11:10] Matthew Orr, played piano in Busby’s. [11:52] Boys climbing lifts in Busby’s. Used later while stuck in lift in France. [13:22] Noel Picarda, used to go up to Hyde Park Corner with collar back to front and give mock religious sermons. [14:15] Talks at political literary (John Locke) society. C.P. Snow, speaking about Russia. Ted Heath. [16:32] Choice of science. [16:43] Dropped Greek to do science, mother horrified. [16:55] 3 In Maths Sixth. 27 in Classics. [17:25] College scholars primarily classicists. [17:49] Theo Zinn classicist. Did music appreciation. [18:40] Classists saw themselves as the elite in the school. Seemed to be the way things were, no real resentment. [19:45] Labs in Sutcliffe’s on Great College Street. Nothing to compare them to. Not pristine, didn’t feel like it was a disaster to take risks. [20:40] Slide rules for calculations. [21:08] Lack of health and safety. No safety glasses. [21:30] Not too much building work. Felt done. Dorms of 17 in Busby’s. Throwing slippers. [22:15] Fagging. Appalling. Abolished at sixth form. Busby’s first house to do so. [22:44] Sixth formers only ones to use the lift. As prefect, let everyone. [23:40] Football. C.C.P. Williams. Broke a window in Vincent Square. Westminster not particularly successful in sport. Played Chelsea Colts once a year. [25:20] Sanger. Playing cricket. [25:50] Walter Hamilton. Left for Rugby. John Carleton’s takeover. Didn’t have the respect Hamilton had. [26:55] Confirmation, conversation with Head Master. [28:05] Respect for Walter Hamilton. Strong character. Carleton charming, liked by parents. Not by students. Surprising Westminster did as well as it did under him. [29:25] Lushington speaking after Carleton in staff meetings. [30:33] Fisher, teaching mathematics. Had been a bas headmaster of Busby’s, but good teacher of mathematics. Wanted students to go to Cambridge, measured progress by it. Deterministic. Connecting mathematics to the world. [32:27] Adolph Prag. Helped with archives. From Germany. Mathematics as patterns and logic and beauty. Class of three, later four. Had to explain proof on blackboard. [33:35] Henry Christie, master of the scholars. Keen on rowing. [34:05] Reading divorce cases in the Daily Telegraph. Westminster handled change easily. [35:10] Going to parliament. Concerts at Festival Hall. [35:48] Strength of connection between Westminster and Trinity. 10 boys in same year passed up to Trinity. Not much of a Westminster society there. [36:55] Went to Trinity to follow footsteps of grandfather and uncle. [37:20] Dan McKenzie most brilliant in year. One of the discoverers of continental drift. Divinity class. Dan state disbelief in God ‘because I am a scientist’. Became Cambridge professor and Fellow of Royal Society. [40:42] Science as a group. Keeley, gave classes in Urdu. [42:05] Science education post-Westminster. Dropped Greek. Science was a way of connecting things together. Royal Institute lectures. Felt inferior to scientists, decided to go into engineering. [43:45] At Cambridge. Engineering as ‘mechanical sciences’. PhD. More interested in environmental matters. Turbulent flows. Supposed to go to America, but met wife and didn’t want to leave her behind. [47:00] In America during Vietnam war. March on Washington. Science and politics. [48:18] Most Old Westminsters had standard careers. [51:22] The usefulness of scientific ideas. [53:10] More public understanding of science. More media coverage. [56:00] Much wider range of A Levels now, less specialised. [56:40] Far more pupils doing science at A Level. [57:10] Changes in science teaching. Less time to just experiment. Broader syllabus now, but strictly organised. [01:00:05] St Paul’s closest UK comparison to Westminster. Special. [01:10:18] Westminster very institutional. Used to it. Boarding school from the age of nine or ten. One younger brother enjoyed it, but youngest did not.

Martin Boulton

[0:13] Why interested in teaching. Past teaching experience (Sherbourne) before Westminster, and why drawn to Westminster. Interested in somewhere more academic. Stayed for 12 years. Teaching Physics. House Master of Dryden’s. Didn’t miss having so much marking. [03:20] What defines a Westminster pupil? More demanding. Impolite – students correct mistakes on boards. Asked questions you don’t know the answer to. [04:24] Appointed Under Master. Working with senior management. Dr Spurr ‘runs a tight ship’. Changing of relationship with pupils – have a different view. [06:13] Moving on to Manchester Grammar School to be Headmaster. Different to Westminster. [07:00] Sport at Westminster. Took up climbing, had been a station with 12 pupils. Wanted to raise profile – now has 50 pupils and new climbing wall and expeditions across the world. [08:47] Changes in Westminster across career. More civilised. Pupils more polite. Just as interesting and academic. Now a nicer place to teach. Head Master sets the tone. Societal changes – intake of pupils and where they’re from. Westminster has always reflected the London society. Cosmopolitan. [10:12] Science in the school. Always been strong. Conversations on advanced science in common room at Hooke. Government influence (Michael Gove) pushing STEM subjects, national increase in science. [11:57] Working with the Common Room. Interesting conversations. [13:13] Token memory from Westminster. Experience in class room, teaching bright Remove sets. Ask the questions you want to be asked. Challenging and want to learn. [14:09] Wouldn’t change anything about time here. Never found time boring. Wouldn’t rule out returning. [15:00] How does Manchester compare to Westminster. Used to be pupil at Manchester. Encouraging students to make the most of their talent. [15:55] Involvement with Abbey and Collegiate body. One of the things to miss most. First year as Under Master – met Barack Obama, the Pope, and attended a Royal Wedding. Unexpected. [17:45] Led international applications. US university applications used to be written by hand, ended up writing 30-40 as House Master. Learnt a lot in the experience and used knowledge more widely to help students wanting to go to US universities. More Westminster students may be interested in accessing a wider range of US universities. [19:57] Most controversial time as Under Master? Most testing parts are behind the scenes – disciplinary matters with students or dealing with staff. If done well, no one knows what’s happening. Auction Scandal. Why became a news story. Internships for partner schools. [22:00] Influence of Westminster School on the wider community. Changed in last few years. Westminster House. Growth of civic engagement. Positive change. [23:20] Partnership with Harris Federation. Share expertise in teaching very bright pupils. [24:10] Most miss the once in a lifetime events at the Abbey. Meeting Royal family. Time in the classroom.

Martin Rogers

[0.53] Why he became a teacher. Had worked in industry selling nickel alloys – always had teaching in the back of his mind. Father did not want him to teach – did not pay well enough, and would never see real world outside of schools. [1.53] Taught chemistry. Studied natural sciences, but had broad education which was helpful. [2.20] How he came to teach. Chemistry master suddenly had to leave – sudden vacancy was lucky since he had no qualifications other than degree. Had joined CCF (Combined Cadet Force) but disliked. Enjoyed rowing, tied in well with job. Easier to get there in those days. [3.50] Enjoyed ‘God Soc’, good link to the Abbey. There are now nearly sixty such societies. [4.50] Houses. Originally tutor in Busby’s from 1956. House Master of Rigaud’s in 1964. Master of the Queen’s Scholars in 1967, liked connections with Abbey. At the time Master of the Queen’s Scholars was Under Master. Got to know parents well. Asked to become Master, no application process. [7.30] John Rae. Rogers becomes Headmaster of Malvern in 1971. John Rae became Head Master year before Rogers left for Malvern. Knew him well from Somerset. Extra work with change of Head Master as Under Master. Controversial figure but did much for the school. Always seen on television, helped to raise funds etc. Parsimonious place, ordeal to move out. Jane Rogers had baby in hospital as the House Master’s bedroom was insufficiently private! College much more private. [13.00] House in College much more spacious. Ground floor for music practice and bookbinding; drawing room and upper two floors for them. Top floor is now an additional flat. No ghosts ever spotted. [15.10] Lodged first female pupil at that time in spare room. Had family connections to school – brother there too – but apprehensive to walk out into Yard. In 1970s girls primarily came for supplementary science lessons. [17.40] Science teaching. Mentions ‘Crump’ (Cyril John Crumpler), Geoffrey Foxcroft, Muffet (David William Muffett). Science still considered by older teachers to be inferior (to classics. Subject still developing at Westminster despite its being around on the curriculum for a while. Rogers enjoyed science very much, especially the practical aspect. Facilities not impressive by modern standards, but improved a lot and modernised during his time. Parents came to science open days. Only footage of science then is film of Queen visiting Sutcliff’s – greater event then than now. [23.55] His idea to begin Film Society, based in Busby’s. Started off as Busby’s affair, spread throughout the school. John Carlton at ease with cameras. Contrast with predecessor, Walter Hamilton – though he was nice too, first took him on as a teacher. Resentment (mocking) when he left for Rugby. By modern standards seven years is reasonable. Teachers staying too long has a ‘deadening’ effect. Hamilton returned to Magdalene College, Cambridge after Rugby. [29:50] Under Masters. Now expected to move on and become heads after five years. Not standard in Rogers’ time, but happened on occasion. [31:00] Jim Cogan. Could be very brusque – Rogers did not experience this, but may have been concentrating more on moving. Big decision for John Rae to appoint successor as Under Master. [33:00] Staying at Rigaud’s for only three years was the wrong thing to do – for children and parents. [33:55] Different houses had different characters. College particularly different – special responsibilities. Defining feature of Rigaud’s ‘totally mad cook’ – huge underground kitchens dripping with water, rodents, gas leaks. Many foreign staff, tenuous jobs. [37:55] Spanish cook in Busby’s could be bribed to drop teapot in important moment in prayers, sing songs. One Finnish maid amongst them. Broke hand cleaning early in morning and had to wake House Master up – most dramatic thing to happen. [39:20] Busby’s. Enjoyed working for House Master (‘boss’) as tutor. Had to stand in once for him – would now be called Resident Tutor. [41:00] Could park in Great College Street without a problem – unthinkable today. Unlike other boarding schools, Westminster was relaxed and not isolated. [42:00] Lycée Janson (Lycée Janson de Sailly) used to come each year, once found climbing out of Dean’s Yard to get out instead of opening the gate. [43:00] Footage of one pupil saying ‘there are no bounds’ at Westminster. Provenance unclear. [44:00] Different and freer atmosphere with less security. Used to run out at break to get theatre tickets. [46:00] Much more difficult to discipline – Westminster on doorstep, how to find anyone who has left? This liberalism is generally positive. Academic pressure has forced structure. In past five/ten years this has accelerated; greater risk of failure. Consequent loss of breadth. Sport has improved, if not main attraction. [50:00] Scholars particularly musical, Rigaud’s good jazz band. Can remember Roger Norrington conducting as a pupil. [51:20] Main differences since ‘60s. New buildings are main difference– out of Dean’s Yard makes it less centralised and less frantic. Actual classroom activity largely unchanged. [53:10] Election. Only half school around by the end of Election Term due to study leave. Election Dinner return from School to College Hall. Trying to slim down excess – music in particular: ‘vested interests’. Trying to bring more in from Westminster – had to reduce numbers of teacher as Common Room grew. [58:00] Yard cricket/football controversial since surface is being redone. Conspiracy theory has that surface is being changed in order to prevent Yard games. Cobbled pathways to stay. Rigaud’s has been cleaned and is very bright; some wish it hadn’t been cleaned. New sports’ centre – art deco building, mainly used by Under School. [1:05:00] Much more weekly boarding at Westminster than other boarding schools. [1:06:00] Decline of corporal punishment. Much more difficult to get rid of at Malvern; occasionally used at Westminster. Much more progressive attitudes in city boarding school. Two demonstrations in ‘60s, largely diffused by John Carlton. [1:08:00] Thames flood. Woke up once with loudspeakers bleating ‘danger of flooding’. Barrier erected to prevent floods. [1:10:20] Tyburn constantly dripped in Rigaud’s basement. Now Under Master’s house. Gutter went through house and discharged rainwater. [1:14:45] Commem. Thinking of making compulsory – not same atmosphere without whole school. [1:16:45] London makes big difference to school. New Head Master (PSJD) has much experience but none in London. As mentioned, much more liberal. Head Master and family living in Vincent Square – ‘radical change’. Headmasters have not lived in Little Dean’s Yard since David Summerscale (1986). Much more like normal house than awkward atmosphere of Lord North Street. [1:23:25] School has no longer any property on Eccleston Square. All moved to Vincent Square. Big expansion in property owned by school, especially along Victoria Line. Lord North Street property and 4 and 5 Barton Street have been sold.

Michael Garnett and Will Stevens

[0:30] Joined Under School 1988, up School in 1993. Wren’s and Grant’s, didn’t board. Slept on people’s floors occasionally. Enjoyed breakfast and supper – incentives to stay the night. Boarded during A Levels – came to arrangement with Busby’s House Master. Didn’t want to go home and get asked how exams were doing. [3:00] Carvings. In the Remove. Sense of crescendo. About to break up for half term, had come to same idea. Commemorative things being planned. Plans around Little Dean’s Yard from lots of students. [04:20] Weekday night, got up 1 or 2 in the morning. Staying in the Dungeons in Head Boy’s room. Eddie Smith, Deputy Head, ‘fierce policer’ on patrol. Had to coordinate. Midnight? Would have had more chimes to strike chisel. [06:04] No gate to Dean’s Yard. Laxer security. No key codes on doors. Jumped wall. Preferable to put names on main arch, but needed to be hidden from Little Dean’s Yard. Gate to School locked at night. Took tools and provisions. [07:26] Previous prank. Busby’s students ‘abseil’ into Common Room through window. Take packets of prawns, hide around Common Room. Started to rot three and a half weeks later. Boys had worn ‘SAS black ninja suits’. Garnett and Stevens inspired by dress. [08:55] Meticulous about preparation. Took an elastic band to hold Maglite. Did art and experienced in manual work, but little stone work experience. Garnett practised on red brick in father’s garden. First time carving on ‘proper stone’. [10:52] Showed other people, word got around. Returned many years later, Bursar hadn’t known it had been done. [11:55] Other things going on that night, detracted from the carving. Door slamming and shrieking all night. Spraying silver graffiti in Little Dean’s Yard. Sound of scraping stone above – got porcelain toilet up to corner of the Old Library, above Burlington Arch. Affixed to stone with ‘industrial cement’. [14:40] Chiselling too loud. Brought a mallet, but couldn’t use. Bought chisels from Tottenham Court Road and wrapped in cotton wool and tape so could strike chisels with palms of hands. Still loud – covered by noise of Big Ben’s chimes. Increased as the night went on. Resorted to scraping, not traditional technique. Finished at half five in the morning. Gloves in tatters, bleeding knuckles. [16:50] Took masking tape, chalk, and printed out ‘MG’ in Times New Roman. Marked out between parallel lines. Took rubber to rub out chalk. Stevens’ not marked out. [17:57] Eddie Smith summoned Stevens to office. Had discovered. Stevens’ name was removed. Attempted four initials while Garnett did two. Had planned MG 99 but ran out of time. No punishment. [19:35] Post-Westminster. Garnett to Cambridge, to reach Architecture. Stevens to Ruskin School of Art. Read about ‘night climbing’ tradition, tried some out. Inspired by name carving. [21:50] Post Westminster. Garnett working as architect. Stevens painter, studio in Paddington, in gothic church crypt. Odd jobs. [23:22] Told Andrew Bateman, art teacher. Would have been far easy to carve when originally laid as far softer, but had hardened over time.

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