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| The blue door on the far right of the picture was one of a double-door entrance leading to a staircase with direct access to the upper floors. The doors referred to in the following tale were located a few feet with- in the alcove beyond the railing. None of these buildings exist today |
WILLIE RUSSELL was how we referred to him at school. A head teacher, if I recall correctly, who had an emaciated, hawk-like appearance. He was also a Justice of the Peace, and I suspect that the experience of having people 'at his mercy' in court rather appealed to him. He was possessed of a severe, dour demeanour, and though I don't remember ever being in his class, he struck me as rather an unpleasant person.
He confirmed it for me one day in the following manner, which is, I think, the only time I ever had any direct experience of him in my entire time at secondary school. I was approaching the doors of 'New Block' and caught sight of him coming up swiftly behind me in the refelection in one of the door's glass panels. I opened the door and stepped aside, showing due deference to my elders as I had been taught by my parents.
However, because the doors were set in an alcove, I could only stand back as far as the side wall allowed, which meant he would have to detour around me by a couple of inches. Instead, he grabbed me by the shoulders and contemptuously flung me aside. I stood, literally stunned by the man's rudeness and aggression, as I watched him stride down the short corridor beyond the doors and, as he turned the corner, glare back at me through the thick-rimmed spectacles perched on his beak-like nose as if I were a bad smell.
It was probably my experience of similar bad attitudes during the impressionable years of my life, both in and out of school, that eventually made me determined to stand up and confront behaviour of this kind whenever and wherever I encountered it. Once upon a time, I was bewildered by such misanthropic manifestations and didn't quite know how to deal with them. Nowadays, at the first sign of them, I tackle them head-on. I sometimes ponder whether that's a good or bad thing though.
THOMAS MORELL once said that "The first great gift we can bestow on others is a good example." I sometimes wonder what kind of impression it would have left on my young psyche had some of my teachers (and other adults) practised such a philosophy in their day-to-day dealings with me.
THOMAS MORELL once said that "The first great gift we can bestow on others is a good example." I sometimes wonder what kind of impression it would have left on my young psyche had some of my teachers (and other adults) practised such a philosophy in their day-to-day dealings with me.
I'm probably not the only one, eh?
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| Mr. Willie Russell, I believe |
"SCANDAL : INNOCENT PUPILS THRASHED BY BRUTAL HEAD-MASTER!"
ReplyDeleteOn your other blog, I have previously told you about my demon head-master, "The Pig"( who coincidentally was ALSO a magistrate!) , well this incident didn't happen to me, it is simply one that I witnessed that has stuck in my mind for nearly half a century as an injustice committed by the Pig, who I now name and shame in front of millions as MR. WILLIAM RICHARDS aka Billy The Pig, in order to right a wrong done and redress the balance!
One day, in between lessons, the next master was late arriving, and, boys being boys, we started gossiping amongst ourselves. Hardly the crime of the century, you might think, but in our school you were supposed to sit in silence. All of a sudden who should waddle past the corridor, only the Pig! He stood in the entrance to our formroom and immediately everybody clammed up and stood up. But on the other side of the room, two of the nicest, quietest pupils there ever were , were a little too slow off the mark, so he singled these two out for punishment and marched them back to his study. Now I've got to stress these 2 boys didn't have an enemy anywhere and had NEVER done a single thing wrong - EVER! They were 2 of the gentlest souls and, to make matters worse, one of them had recently lost his Mother! They both had lily-white virgin arses that had never even been SLIPPERED, so they wouldn't half feel the cane! Well they both returned to the class in tears, ( sorry we all laughed, lads, but that's NOT how you take it!), and in between the next lessons, we made them drop their strides to reveal the Pig had given them both a couple of "sergeants" ( 3 stripes ).
Well I'm stating now that they didn't deserve it! Not then! Not Ever!
The Pig always took great pride in his work, he would bleet, " I'm now going to give you a damn, good thrashing!"( as if you didn't know, whilst you were bent over and he was doing Douglas Fairbanks, Jnr. swashbuckling impressions around the room!) And after your thrashing, you had to say, "Thank-you, sir"!
Aahh, school-days! - The best days of your life!
But, then again, if you were a masochist, that school would've been just the ticket, eh? Seriously 'though, I'm glad the cane had gone by the time I was a schoolboy, that's all I can say.
DeleteKid, I'm over 7 years younger than you but the cane was used in my school ( I was never physically punished though) - corporal punishment was abolished around 1982 when I was 16. Like you, I wouldn't put up with rude aggressive behaviour now but during schooldays I just didn't dare answer back. I'd love to be able to go back to those days but with my modern attitude and give those teachers what for. As you've demonstrated in your posts they often didn't know what to do if a pupil actually stood up to them. But that was typical of all authority in those days - you doffed you cap and knew your place.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if Scottish schools ever had the cane, but they didn't in my time. (Perhaps public schools did.) Some teachers were mental, CJ - if a pupil did stand up to them, they'd have likely received a cuff on the ear (at the very least). I was lucky that I didn't encounter any like that, but there was at least one at my school.
DeleteMy father was in school (in Glasgow) from about 1931-41 and I think he said the instrument of physical punishment was a leather strap - he might have called it "the cat" but I can't quite remember now. I don't think he ever mentioned the cane though.
ReplyDeleteYup, the strap, the belt, the tawse, etc. Different words for the same thing.
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