This week – completely unexpectedly and totally out of the ether – I heard from two of my old school days friends from my boarding school; Billy and Adrian. Both mentioned the cartoons and caricatures I used to habitually draw (and which got me into quite a lot of trouble way back when – including the first of my four expulsions…but that’s another looooong story amigos!). Anyway, specifically for Adrian – and anyone else who may be interested – here are a few of my cartoons from our years of incarceration!
(Most of these caricatures are charcoal on paper – unless stated otherwise. No limited edition prints have been issued as yet…but perhaps if you ask me nicely I’ll see what can be arranged!!….)
This one’s my Housemaster, Fred (below).
This one is Malcolm. He used to teach Geography.
This is Mr C-B (the English teacher who followed on after Tim Suter). I’d like to type his nickname for you – but this is a family-friendly blog amigos!
This is Bugsy (that’s a nickname BTW!) – another English teacher.
This is Liz – one of the girls. They introduced girls into the 6th Form for the first time ever during my time at school – strange exotic creatures they were too!
This is Sally. I used to fancy Sally. About a year after I was kicked out for the fourth (and final) time, I met her by one of the weirdest coincidences ever at Vauxhall tube station in an absolutely bizarre encounter (…but that’s another story too!). (This one was Rotring pen on paper).
This is Sally at the school bar (…the bar was a ‘treat’ for the 6th formers). She’d just changed her hairstyle. I think I captured it rather well 🙂 (This one’s biro on a scrap of lined notebook paper!)
And here’s a self-portrait of Yours Truly from much the same era. (Yes, I still had hair in those days. As Billy said – it all seems such a looooong time ago now!!)
Simon's Little Bastard 
Fantastic, Si. Poor Malcolm shot himself dead several years after he became housemaster at School House. You missed out some of the favorites such as Mr. Ford the football fan who did not drive carefully. (Drive safely, drive a Ford !)
You did a sketch book for me, which I kept for many years, but it got misplaced after moving many times during these years. I hope I will find it one day and e-mail some of the cartoons back to you.
Adrian
hi Si,
Brings back a few memories. Poor Malcolm, I wonder what happened to Fred? I can still forge his signature. 🙂
P.S. thanks for leaving me the school snare, it came in handy for many years
hi nige 🙂 many thanks for posting – hope you’re well and glad you enjoyed seeing the sketches 🙂 also pleased the snare drum came in useful 🙂 btw you’re not the only one who can still do the fred signature! (not me of course!!) cheers si 🙂
Hi Si – just came across this whilst googling Tim (“Sweaty”) Suter. Always wondered what became of him…anyway, fantastic stuff – you were way ahead of the boys at Viz. I recall that we had a french teacher called Mr (Boring) Talks as well as a Welshman who required me to pull up the chickweed in his garden. Can’t remember his name but he might have been the same guy that made me stand on the desk in front of the entire class and recite my times tables. There was also Mr BroadBENT, the dubious violin teacher. Nuff said. Lastly, your drawings of the Dean girls brought back memories of Amanda McKay and Philippa Browning. Amazing how those memories persist. I wonder where they are now…
Take it easy pal.
Hi Dave. Hope you’re well – and thanks for posting on the blog. And many thanks re the kind comments re the cartooning. I was curious about ‘Sweaty’ too! Can he be the same one that has since become a media heavyweight – ex-Ofcom/BBC etc?! Did you find anything following your sleuthing?! I well recall ‘Stick’ Talks (as we so kindly called him!). He features on a painting I did called ‘The Masterpiece’ (ho ho!) – which I still have. The Masterpiece has quite a few of our old teachers on it. I’ll see if I can photograph it (it’s about 3 feet by 5 feet in size!) and post it here sometime in your honour! I also remember ‘Chickweed’ as we called him – but can’t recall his actual name either (…only that he lived in Hillmorton Rd and had you “pickin’ up chickweed!” in his front garden on several occasions!). He really seemed to have it in for you, for some reason! (Made a change from them all picking on me, I guess!). The violin teacher was seriously scary – exactly like The Childcatcher from Chitty Bang Bang come to life! I’d rather get stuck in a lift with Freddie Kruger!! I certainly remember Amanda McKay – tall, thin and I used to fancy her from afar! Although Sally was the one that really captured my teenage…er….imagination! Funny how people crop up though – I was in a local pub a few months back and Selby Balfour suddenly spotted me and came over! I was amazed he recognised me – considering I’ve no hair left these days and it must be nearly three decades since we last saw each other! Most impressive spot by Selby! Anyway, I’m due to clear the attic soon – if there are any more pics lurking in there I’ll post ‘em for you! Cheers Si. 🙂
Hi Si – I have only just seen this reply from you so sorry for the incredibly late reply! Selby Balfour – wasn’t he the one who used to hang around with Adrian Faure, who I distinctly recall swaggering around Tudor with his thumbs tucked into his trouser pockets, fingers out? I think we used to practice in their cellars where the odd discarded porn mag would heighten our enjoyment of the practice session! I also now remember “Wetty” Winter (acne, very subdued, dull) and “Killer” Pattinson (pure psycho). Forgotten most of the rest although I did see a film on youtube about boys from a comp in Birmingham (I think) doing an exchange with their Rugby counterparts in the late 80’s in which Malcolm Lee and a couple of others appeared. Fascinating. It was like looking back into another world and time (which I suppose it is). Remember Alan Hunter and Robin Winskell embracing in the centre of the quad? That night that Norton was hissed out of the canteen (whatever they called it)? Smoking B&H from the offy on Railway Terrace at 50p a packet of 10? Aaahhh! Take care my friend.
Hi there Simon, love the pics, especially one of me. There was lots of chat about them the other night. I think I may use mine as this years christmas card, maybe hang some baubles off those enormous boobs. What was with the extremely phallic nose? Liz Legum x
hi liz 🙂 great to hear from you and tx for posting 🙂 glad you like the pix 🙂 dave sanger has asked me to post some more so I will have a rummage in the attic at some point to see what I can find. re yr pic: sounds like you will have to send ME one of yr xmas cards if you do that!! 😀 re the schnozzle: it is the sacred duty of the caricaturist to exaggerate…as I recall you had a perfectly nice nose then and i’m sure you do now as well 🙂 btw I will email that pic of you across to you sometime soon so you have yr own personal copy (will send 2nite or fri). Sx