We had a teacher called Mr Vink, he was a Dutch fighter pilot and a fascinating old boy, but he did not suffer fools gladly. When he threw a blackboard rubber at you it was aimed to knock you unconscious, not to grab your attention. He punched my mate Rob unconscious, and it wasn't unknown for him to throw chairs and even desks at people. Did we complain? No, we sat there and bloody behaved ourselves. Sat outside the headmaster's office (again - I was always in trouble:frown waiting for my old man to arrive; the headmaster wanted to suspend me for fighting, and had to have a parent present. I wasn't too worried cos my old man was a bit of a softy under his hard exterior, so when he arrived I turned on the waterworks. His words to the headmaster went something like this - 'Don't suspend him, that won't do him any good, cane him - cane him until he pleads for mercy - as often as you see fit'.
Not disturbed, no. Valuable lessons in behaviour they were, however oddly they were taught. But the teachers that bit back were the ones I admired in later years. One teacher, Mr Day (or Adolf, as we used to call him) would just make you sit through breaks writing lines; he garnered no respect at all from the pupils, and to this day I still think he was a weasel. The teachers who bit back, like Mr Vink, got our respect. I can speak fondly of Mr Vink even though he tried to kill me. Kids will always play up. One of our teachers was accused of kiddy fiddling, another of car theft, several of beating pupils - all untruths made up by bored pupils. The difference then was it was dealt with directly, not dragged through a long-winded and very public legal process, and perpetuated by parents who think they can make a few bob out of it. So fucking what if the teacher taped their mouths - my mum would fill mine with soap if I swore - I still can't swear in front of her to this day, valuable lesson learnt.
said "you rotter"... I still remember the day, many years back, when I heard them for the very first time. I dont think ive ever laughed so much in my life and I enjoy a good laugh. RIP Pete and Dud, youve made me laugh and laugh and laugh, what a gift thats been.
Norman "The Spiv" Siviter. Used to bark at us - we didn't take it personally as he would sometimes bark at himself. And I mean "bark", I'm not using a metaphor. Woof WOOF. Highlight has to have been our first day at High School, when The Spiv started speculating on what one lad's (Chris) mum was like. We eventually found that Spiv's bark was worse than his bite (but not worse than his launched board rubber). Mad as a cardboard box of frogs.
The Mr Vink who used to smoke a pipe in the classroom? I remember hearing about him from a friend, although I wasn't there. It was a different world....!
That's the fella! He used to take his cat in the plane with him on sorties, but one day he got shot down. He managed to guide the plane into the drink, but his cat drowned. It was, he described, "The worst day of my life, I have never cried so hard before or since as the day I lost my cat", quickly followed by, "But today, young lad, you are making it a close second", before launching something hard in my general direction
