40s and 50s Memories
safe enough so that, when, after 44 years of
service, I was eventually offered reasonable
severance pay and a decent pension, I accepted
it gladly. So, at the age of 60 and a half, I
commenced my longest and most enjoyable
holiday, one that I intend continuing for many
years to come. If I am asked if I had any regrets,
I must tell you the answer is a big no! There is
a life after work and I'd advise anyone to grab
the time that you have left, get some interests,
some hobbies and travel.
My retirement has been filled with DIY,
gardening, motoring, travelling through most
of Europe, including a Danube river trip and
Budapest by floodlight; and in the USA, the
Niagara by helicopter. I am also what you
would call an amateur genealogist, unearthing
scandals and skeletons in cupboards. You
would not credit the stories I could tell, and I
must thank David Bromwich OA who has given
me a great deal of help in this.
What did I gain from my time at King's? Let me
say that it was an all-round education and one
which may have given me an edge over my
colleagues. As I said above, I think it enabled
me to meet and work with the general public
with comparative ease.
Would I have chosen this career again?
Sometimes I would say yes, but then again,
sometimes no! With tongue in cheek one could
always say it was somewhere to go when the
pubs were shut! Sometimes I ask myself "Why
did I choose this particular career?" Well, I have
always had this overwhelming desire to create,
build, make, decorate or even write, in short,
to be able to stand back and say "I did that!"
There is a term not much used these days -
"Job Satisfaction."
Through my family history researches I have
proved beyond a shadow of doubt that I am a
direct descendant of Thomas Morse who was
the tailor and shoemaker of Porlock in west
Somerset in 1585. Then there was a direct line of
tailors/shoemakers and master-weavers living
in Watchet. In fact there are ten generations of
Morses who were Master Tailors, Builders in
General, and Printers and so one can see why
I was not afraid to get my hands dirty, though I
wish I had inherited their skills. I do have though a vast collection of tools which I will leave to my
son. Some are indeed museum pieces.
One last thought though, one should not look
back in anger when one has made a choice on
how to live one's life. In my case it has been
quite a roller-coaster ride but I have enjoyed
every minute of it!
M. OLDS
Bishop Fox 1958
Mike Olds was an English-Speaking Union
Schoolboy Exchange student at King's Taunton
during the 1957-58 academic year. Prior to
coming to England, he had graduated from
the Loomis (now Loomis-Chaffee) School in
Windsor, Connecticut. He was a member of
the Bishop Fox House and served as Prefect for
his last two terms. He played on both the rugby
XV and seven-a-side teams under Mr. Morgan,
never having played either sport before coming
to England. He believes he passed the Oxford-
Cambridge 'A' Level exams in history and
english and 'O' Level in french. Michael Toland,
Jeremy Gilchrist, W.A.M. Davies, were friends
he remembers, together with others whose first
names he cannot recall, Kirby, Booth, Bishop
and Vodden. Among fond memories were trips
to the Bristol Old Vic, where he saw several
performances (e.g. Romanoff and Juliet,
Hamlet) featuring the up-and-coming young
actor, Peter O'Toole.
He recalls that Michael Toland visited him in
Brussels, where his diplomat father was then
stationed. He in turn visited Michael and wife
in London when he returned to England four
years later after graduating from university. An
avid tennis fan, Michael took him to Wimbledon,
where they noted another rising star, Billie Jean
King (then Moffit). He never returned to King's,
unfortunately.
Of his later life he writes:
After leaving King's, I returned to the United
States to enter Princeton University, graduating
in 1962 with an AB degree in International
Relations from the Woodrow Wilson School of
Public and International Affairs. I spent three
years in Taiwan, teaching English at a university
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