No.129
The Trusty Servant
Vox Senum
Angus Watson
Robert Bottone (Co Ro, 70-06) remembers:
Angus was the right man in the
right place at the right time, an
era when the arts in education
gradually became an adventure
rather than a battleground. He and
John Thorn collaborated to lead this
transformation.
It helped that any unreconstructed
Housemasters found it difficult
to digest that this self-contained,
quietly powerful, articulate and
socially acceptable individual could
actually be a musician and only
slowly realized that Angus seemed
content to live on a diet of family
(but what a family) and music. This
made him a great schoolmaster – his
total commitment was infectious
and his huge intelligence a match for
even the most creatively awkward
Wykehamist. They countered by
practising imitations of his rich, fruity
tones and ‘Monstrous’ and ‘Cosmic’
soon became adjectives of choice. I
think they would have been surprised
that, at home and relaxed, he was
great company and could reduce a
table of friends to helpless laughter.
Many people will remember his
love and performances of chamber
music. I don’t think I’ve yet quite
recovered from the 10 Beethoven
violin sonatas performed in the
middle of the half within a fortnight
– he was tougher than I was! But
perhaps his most memorable legacy
is the operas – Purcell, Mozart and
Beethoven. Founded on Julian
Smith’s seemingly endless flow of
inspired singers, they were exercises
in total community immersion from
the youngest Quirister to the powerful
bevy of wives and mothers who held
sway backstage. For King Arthur John
Thorn and James Sabben-Clare were
assistant producers, Paul Williams
was stage manager, Kenneth Kettle
ran the box office, the young Patrick
Gale and Nicholas Boles sang side
by side in the semi-chorus and
Richard Manley ran the bar. When,
in The Magic Flute, Winchester was
mercifully unable to field a Queen of
the Night a student from a London
college was sourced. Susan Bullock
was to become Covent Garden’s
Brunnhilde. No one doubted that all
this was totally worthwhile in a world
where academic pressures seemed
mild enough to give the illusion of
easily available time and space.
I sensed that all the boys who
experienced Angus’s drive and single-
minded sense of purpose during these
productions felt not only awe but also
a slightly bemused affection for him.
I would love to read some of their
reminiscences in these columns.
‘Bogling for Ekker’
Richard Griffin (D, 91-96): I note
correspondence in The Trusty Servant
about ‘Bogling for Ekker’ (TS128),
in which Hubert Montagu-Pollock
wonders how much long-distance
bogling at Win Coll there is now.
While not evidence of contemporary
bogle use, I can relate that one day
after A levels in June 1996, just for
fun I cycled home to Oxford. I set
off very early and arrived in time for
breakfast, returning in the afternoon
in time for tea up to house - a round
trip of 125 miles!
England’s Soul
Warren Hibbert (B, 60-65)
offers the following poem:
LARK ASCENDING (V-W)
Those first three chords
Are for me
England’s soul
Also found on cricket ground
Where various fools
At public schools
Are taught to play
The only way.
Haircut
Angus with Robert Bottone and Lisa Wilson
21
(reprinted from The Telegraph)
Nick Holdsworth (H, 55-60) dreams:
SIR – Once the over-70s are totally
confined to barracks, presumably
visits to the barber will be non-licet.
I look forward to my still-hirsute
friends re-emerging in four months’
time as resplendent as they were in
their Rocker days.