40s and 50s Memories
Brooke Longbottom and Alan Cooper becoming
Greyhounds, and to Alan going on to make the
Varsity side, and get his Blue the following year.
In fact Alan joined the staff at King's to teach
mathematics after his graduation.
Two years National Service then beckoned for
me in 1952, and I played for the Mediterranean
Fleet vs the Home Fleet when in Malta. The
Commander in Chief of the Mediterranean
Fleet at that time was Lord Louis Mountbatten
and I can recall now the immense array of
medal ribbons and decorations spread across
his chest when he came aboard our ship on
a Fleet visit to Istanbul. Lord Louis was later
assassinated by the IRA in 1979.
At the end of my National Service, having been
promoted to Lieutenant RNVR, I was faced with
a decision either to opt for a career in the Navy
or to rely on my Oxford Chemistry degree to
secure me a job in industry.
I chose the latter after being head-hunted
by Shell, and I joined them to become an oil
technologist for what proved to be a relatively
short time at Shellhaven. Then, after switching
direction into the commercial side , this led
eventually to my becoming a commercial
manager in Laporte Industries, and to marketing
of Shell's petrochemical products.
In contrast, my college room-mate, Peter
Gardiner, who had played with me in the
1950/51 Queen's College rugby side, as centre,
opted to become a Bevin Boy, and spent two
years down the coal mines in Nottinghamshire.
Coincidentally, after retiring we now live in
Collingham, Nottinghamshire.
J. C. Q. ROBERTS
Woodard 1950
John Roberts came to King's in 1946 and spent
his four years in Woodward House. His studies
were directed towards languages, which proved
a major determinant in his later career.
Of his later life he writes:
I was called up for National Service in 1951,
about a year after leaving King's with reasonably decent Higher School Certificate results in
latin, french and german, but with no university
plans. I chose to spend the compulsory two
years in the RAF, partly since I prefer blue to
khaki; also maybe, because of having enjoyed
the books of Captain W. E. Johns. Thanks to
my linguistic record I was soon drafted onto the
very first intake of the Joint Services Russian
Interpreters' Course at London University. It
was launched as part of the Government's
response to the Cold War getting ever colder. I
was happy to be out of the scratchy uniform and
into slightly less scratchy civvies, seemingly
left-overs from 'demob' stores. We were ranked
as officer cadets so, as 'young gentlemen' we
were also issued with trilby hats for raising to
the ladies.
David Cornwall and J. C. Q. Roberts
O tempora! O mores! Towards the end of our
very intensive course, and encouraged by my
mainly university-bound fellow cadets, I sat for
Oxford entrance, with Russian and French, and
gained a place at Merton.
I graduated three Cold War years later to find
there was no queue of potential employers
begging to take me on for my knowledge of
russian language, history and culture. So I
joined Shell International where I helped 'Joe
Shell', as we personalised the Company, by
promoting his affairs initially in East Africa
(adding Kiswahili to my talents) and later in
Vienna. This was only five years after the
1955 signing of the Austrian State Treaty and
the departure of the Soviets and the others.
My office looked out across the Ring onto the
Soviet War Memorial, all in concrete. The
Viennese joke was that the Red Army Man atop
72