The Night Mail

[jamie92208]

2 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

I think Jimmy Edwards' wizard prang was when the Dakota he was flying was shot down over Arnhem.

I seej to remember  that he got quite badly burnt in that.

 

Jamie

[Tony_S]

Just now, jamie92208 said:

I seej to remember  that he got quite badly burnt in that.

 

Jamie

Our RE teacher at school had flown Dakotas during WW2. He got shot up and was quite injured on what was supposed to be the day after hostilities ceased. He must have always been in pain, he used to self medicate in his stock room. Someone met him some years later, he was studying law and seemed happy. He left teaching after the local newspaper mentioned driving under influence of drugs(prescription painkillers) and drink.

[pH]

2 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

I seej to remember  that he got quite badly burnt in that.

I believe he had scarring on his face from that (Wikipedia says he had plastic surgery) which he grew his famous moustache to cover up.

[Tony_S]

47 minutes ago, pH said:

I believe he had scarring on his face from that (Wikipedia says he had plastic surgery) which he grew his famous moustache to cover up.

We had a music teacher at school who had a large scar across his throat. He used to tell various tales of how he acquired it usually involving acts of wartime heroism. It was almost identical to the scar someone we knew had as a result of a thyroid operation. 

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, Tony_S said:

We had a music teacher at school 

So did we:

 

I'd swear he was Himmler's younger brother. (He certainly looked like him!)

 

Not a nice man by any means.

[simontaylor484]

Just been watching Salvage Hunters Drew went to a sculpture park in Surrey in there was a resin Polar Bear and a Hippo complete with its own little muddy hollow no sign of cake though only the largest collection of sanitary were in a former garden centre you have ever seen

[New Haven Neil]

1 hour ago, Tony_S said:

We had a music teacher at school who had a large scar across his throat. He used to tell various tales of how he acquired it usually involving acts of wartime heroism. It was almost identical to the scar someone we knew had as a result of a thyroid operation. 

 

Mrs H has that scar.  Surgeon wanted to do it higher where it would be hidden by the natural fold in her neck there, she was 'no way, my helmet strap will niggle on it - do it lower'!  Surgeon non-plussed, lady motorcyclists didn't feature in his world.  Turned out only half the thyroid was taken (pre-cancerous tumour) so the bit she still has works fine, thankfully.  

 

My music teacher was one of the few who were good at the old Grammar School, in fact very good, he instilled a love of music in me if not the skills to play anything very well.  He gave up teaching to play piano for Cunard on the QEII, Keith Trewhitt. 

 

http://www.boyshighschool.co.uk/people/staff/trewhitt-k.htm

 

[Adam88]

40 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

So did we:

 

I'd swear he was Himmler's younger brother. (He certainly looked like him!)

 

Not a nice man by any means.

 

We all knew that Himmler was similar...

[Dave Hunt]

But poor old Goebbels.........

 

Dave

[simontaylor484]

We had an English teacher at high school called Mr Goodwill he was a dead ringer for Gerry Adams. We also had an R E teacher Mrs Chipps

At uni I had a lecturer Dave walker who was a dead ringer for Warren Clarke and there was Ralph Horne who when clean shaven looked like Jimmy Somerville or with his beard James Whale.

Edited September 1, 2021 by simontaylor484
Further thoughts

[J. S. Bach]

2 hours ago, Adam88 said:

We all knew that Himmler was similar...

 

2 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

But poor old Goebbels.........

Dave

Thanks for the d@mned earworm!

[rockershovel]

On 31/08/2021 at 19:59, simontaylor484 said:

I once got badly cut in the last Rugby game i ever played. The scrum collapsed it was thought it was another player that had caused it with plastic  studs that had become worn down on a hard surface leaving sharp edges.

 

My Geography teacher at high school played rugby union for Pontefract and used to come to school in some right states

Those nylon studs were plain dangerous. 

[Dave Hunt]

The mojo is back! I managed a couple of hours in the railway shed yesterday and found that my motivation had recovered. All I need now is a cure for modelling incompetence. Anyone got one handy?

 

Dave

[Dave Hunt]

10 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

 

Thanks for the d@mned earworm!

 

Sorry about that, Dave.

 

Just in case it wears off -

 

" Hitler has only got.........."

 

 

Dave

[SM42]

One of my games teachers looked like Freddie Mercury. 

 

I was at that school from the age of 9 till 13. 

 

It closed a few years back in an education review and is now a barren wasteland as it was demolished so  a learning centre could be built     but there was no money to build it 

 

Before it closed they had an open day and unbelievably, the two games teachers were still there 35 years or so later. 

One had gone grey and put on a lot of weight ( he did teach maths as well, so had done some multiplying ) the other still looked like Freddie. 

 

As I recall, both had a slight sadistic streak, one in maths more so, but then again it was the 80s. Times were different.

 

Andy

[Northmoor]

I don't remember any of my teachers looking like anyone well known (although one was called Peter Kay), but we did have two woodwork and metalwork teachers who these days would likely be invited to seek an alternative career path.  The metalwork teacher spoke in a series of monotone grunts and I never saw him smile in 7 years.  The woodwork teacher was quite possibly a psychopath; he had his little fan club (the lads from the remedial classes who only seemed to be doing woodwork at school and laughing at his "jokes") but he really enjoyed threatening kids until they got visibly upset.  He would do things like be in the middle of telling some kid off (for a trivial thing) then bang his metre stick on the bench to make them jump and usually get them crying.   He spent one lesson looking in vain for the metre stick, because yours truly had turned it to dust in the power sander.

[SM42]

We had the traditional chalk thrower. 

His aim was deadly accurate, but on one occasion he was not impressed when the inattentive pupil targeted,  without breaking his conversation  with his class mate,  deftly leant back as the chalk sailed across the room and the innocent at the desk behind caught it on the forehead. 

 

It was genius and pure comedy. 

 

Andy

[Joseph_Pestell]

11 minutes ago, SM42 said:

We had the traditional chalk thrower. 

His aim was deadly accurate, but on one occasion he was not impressed when the inattentive pupil targeted,  without breaking his conversation  with his class mate,  deftly leant back as the chalk sailed across the room and the innocent at the desk behind caught it on the forehead. 

 

It was genius and pure comedy. 

 

Andy

 

We had a similar incident: Mr Bennett (science). The guy sitting behind the miscreant had his mouth open and swallowed the chalk.

[polybear]

13 minutes ago, SM42 said:

We had the traditional chalk thrower. 

His aim was deadly accurate, but on one occasion he was not impressed when the inattentive pupil targeted,  without breaking his conversation  with his class mate,  deftly leant back as the chalk sailed across the room and the innocent at the desk behind caught it on the forehead. 

 

It was genius and pure comedy. 

 

Andy

 

Chalk?  Peanuts.  It's when they chuck the Board Rubber that you need to be on your paws....

[Tony_S]

5 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

Chalk?  Peanuts.  It's when they chuck the Board Rubber that you need to be on your paws....

Our first biology teacher used to wander round the school grounds at lunchtime killing squirrels with a catapult and take them back and dissect them. He also likes hitting people with Bunsen burner hoses. He hit one of my class with the end with the Bunsen once. After he left without having time to say goodbye the new biology teacher (an excellent teacher) was overheard asking about the storeroom full of preserved squirrel parts. 
Tony

[PhilJ W]

At my school we never had metalwork classes as we didn't have a teacher in metalwork. The woodwork master who's name I can't recall was quite elderly but extremely patient with the pupils but the cardinal sin was to misuse or mistreat any tools. He had 'come off the tools' and gone into teaching for health reasons. He was very popular with most of the pupils and he retired shortly before I left school.

[SM42]

1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

 The woodwork master who's name I can't recall was quite elderly but extremely patient with the pupils but the cardinal sin was to misuse or mistreat any tools.

 

 One of our woodwork teachers spent his lunch hour sharpening all the chisels. He was not happy when on the first lesson after lunch, a pupil used one to try to dig a nail out of the bench, rather than listen to the lesson

He grabbed said pupil by the tie and had them bent backwards over the desk with the chisel under his chin  asking if he should see if it was still sharp. 

 

The rest of us never saw a thing. He want the most popular of classmates. 

 

Happy days

 

Andy

[polybear]

4 hours ago, Tony_S said:

Our first biology teacher used to wander round the school grounds at lunchtime killing squirrels with a catapult and take them back and dissect them. He also likes hitting people with Bunsen burner hoses. He hit one of my class with the end with the Bunsen once. After he left without having time to say goodbye the new biology teacher (an excellent teacher) was overheard asking about the storeroom full of preserved squirrel parts. 
Tony

 

Wicked b'stard.  I like squirrels.

[New Haven Neil]

I hope that those here who taught did so in such a way that did not mimic their own experiences!  Maybe it made better teachers of them?  

 

We had a really accurate chalk thrower, head of RE, turns out his son is on here......but not an ER.  He turned up at 'old work' as a customer and had a distinctive surname so I asked! He's a modeller in indoor and outdoor scales and a decent chap indeed.  I don't think he throws anything though.  The most accurate and deadly board rubber 'killer' was a friend and neighbour's mum.  As she taught French, and languages were and are my weakest subject, I got to experience it frequently! 

[SM42]

Our Freddie lookalike used to deal out unusual punishments for coming last, like dancing with a girl (ugh!)

Well I was only 10.

Rebecca Smith (also came last)  was better at dancing than me.

 

Another favourite was "red legs"

Playing football on a cold day he would try to kick the ball hard against your leg to leave a nice red circle. Success was announced with the cry of "RED LEGS"

 

On one memorable occasion  he had had enough of one of us who was messing about rather than play cricket and picked him up by his collar and shorts waistband and threw him  at the open changing room door. 

Unfortunately, or maybe not, he missed the door.

 

We took all these things in our stride and considered all this to be normal. 

 

How times have changed. 

 

Andy