40s and 50s Memories
in the Bahamas and five years in Barbados while
my younger son lives and works in New York
with his Venezuelan wife. Great for holidays!
I got divorced after 25 years of marriage and
have since married again - to a lovely lady from
Esso. Beverley is wonderful with the children
and grandchildren and life would be a bed of
roses if only she hadn't succumbed to a virus
that destroyed her kidneys nearly five years
ago. Dialysis rules our lives at the moment and
we pray for a transplant.
Given an early retirement package at 55 I
needed to do something else and I set up as a
recruitment consultant. The first assignment I got
was with Unilever which extended for five years,
and the second was with Shell, where I lasted
for twelve years. I have interviewed graduates
on just about every major UK university campus
and been responsible for the hiring by those
companies of some really impressive talent.
For the last few years all my work was on the
telephone, interviewing graduates from almost
every country in the world. I had a huge phone
bill every month and I always wondered what
MI5 would have thought if they had looked at
the bill! Who is this person who calls people in
Russia / Iran / Egypt / Algeria / Peru / China, etc
for a whole hour and never calls them again?
Highly suspicious! It was wonderful work and
because I was scheduling it all myself I could fit
it all around our social life.
I gave up paid work at the age of 69 and now
only do pro bono jobs for education or charities.
Something I do enjoy now is bridge which I first
learned at King's where we often played during
study periods. I was a dab hand at whipping the
cards under the table as The Weed opened the
common-room door while showing prospective
parents around.
So, how did King's influence my life? I loved the
CCF and the Xmas camps on Dartmoor; I loved
the Rover Scouts and the trip to Corsica. Art
and music appreciation classes led eventually
to my willingly and happily going on many
cultural holidays in Tuscany and Rome and to
my present love of opera and classical music.
I developed a very keen sense of humour at
King's and I particularly love the quirky written
and TV work of Jonathan Meades (OA). Chapel
was good too and so was woodwork; my oak table which sits in our drawing room is now an
antique - thanks, Jimmy James! And I loved
the dances "against" the girls of Gardenhurst,
St Audrey's and Bishop Fox Schools too! On
the other hand, academically I don't think I
was pushed anything like hard enough and I
was allowed to drop one of my 'A' Levels on
a whim that an extra 'O' Level in a science
would be more useful than a third 'A' Level in
history. Nobody tried to talk me out of it. And
I was allowed to leave school with absolutely
no careers guidance at all and none from my
parents, either.
If, back then, somebody had told me that I was
perceived to have potential and that the best
way to exploit that potential was by doing x, y or
z, who knows where I might have finished up?
I would surely have got my degree seven years
earlier and if I had joined a major corporation at
22 instead of at 30 maybe I would have risen
even higher than I did. I'm not complaining
because I've had a great and well rewarded life,
but writing this has caused me to think "what
if..?"
R. POULTON
Woodard and Carpenter 1956
Richard Poulton came to King's in 1951 and was
originally a member of Woodard House before
moving to Carpenter House, where he became
House Captain. He was also School Captain.
His account remembers Julian Pytches and
unsurprisingly Richard was Chairman of the
Historical Society.
I left King's in December 1956, happy to
leave but very happy to have been there. Two
'definites' awaited me: National Service, which
I genuinely wanted to do. I had indicated a
preference for the RAF Ground Services so
that I could learn something technical; and then
Pembroke College, Cambridge, entry to which
had been suggested by Julian Pytches. It was
his idea that I could have a "trial run" in 1954 prior
to a serious attempt at a scholarship in 1955,
my 'A' Level year. Unexpected acceptance
after this first attempt caused a problem. What
was I to do between my 'A' Levels which I was
taking at a young age and eventually entering
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