No.128
Rob Wyke (Co Ro, 85-15)
takes up the tale for the late ’80s:
I was appointed by John Thorn from
Campion School, Athens, to be Head
of English from Short Half 1985. I
succeeded Michael Nevin who had
become Housedon of Beloe’s. Michael
had succeeded Tommy Cookson
when Tommy became Housedon of
Hopper’s. The English Department
seems always to have contained
former Heads of it.
In this period, numbers taking A-level
English increased somewhat (there
were 36 candidates in the summer of
1985 and always more than that in
the following years); larger numbers
of Collegemen were allowed to take
the subject in both years of VI Book
rather than just in VI Book 1; and a
steady stream of Wykehamists went
on to read English at university.
Preparation of set texts happened
entirely in VI Book 1 and O levels
were largely taken early, so that
pupils (and dons) in Common Time
and Cloister Time of V Book (the
Transition Year) and in the whole
of VI Book 2 were happily free of
the constraints of any syllabus but
the one we devised. This meant
that sets could read, for example,
the whole of Paradise Lost or most
of The Canterbury Tales; they might
encounter Michael Ondaatje before
he became famous; they could explore
The Trusty Servant
the world of the Restoration and then
of Pope; they might lose themselves in
a big 19th-century novel; they could
learn the techniques of close-reading
– all this before they embarked on
the special work of A and S level (the
latter usually in tasktimes or special
classes in the evening).
Every pupil took English Language
O level. Arrangements for English
Literature developed during these
years, but the most interesting aspect
of that side of English at Winchester
was the plain-text O level we used:
candidates took their texts into the
exam, the introductions and notes
having been made difficult of access
by means of elastic bands put round
them by a small army of div dons
commanded by Simon Eliot and
based in the changing rooms of the
PE Centre. Trusting days!
Most of these O-level arrangements
were swept away when GCSE came
in. Assessments in English came to be
made for the most part at the end of
Cloister Time in V Book (the freedom
of VI Book 2 continued), but we were
able for a time to combine the two
sides of English (Lang & Lit) in a
folder of coursework. Winchester had
always linked the various aspects of
the subject – rightly.
One significant moment was the
founding of the William Empson
Society in 1985. Christopher Ricks,
who might be called the re-discoverer
of Empson, the great OW poet and
critic, gave the Society’s first talk (on
Beckett and Death) in February 1986.
A series of distinguished speakers has
followed over the years.
In September 1985, the Department
was staffed by distinctive individuals
such as Joe Bain, Barry Webb, Peter
Harrison, Christopher Tolley,
Lachlan Mackinnon and those
already mentioned (departmental
meetings happened regularly now
and could be most entertaining – as
could gatherings in the Wykeham
Arms). In JP, MP and V Book, English
continued to be taught for the most
part in Div, but the Department
became more involved in this area as
time unfolded. In the last two years of
the decade the Headmaster managed
to recruit to the Department such
remarkable teachers as Adam Crick
(1990) and Geoffrey Day (1989): the
latter had so relished the experience
of talking to the William Empson
Society about Sterne (and the dinner
afterwards) that he decided that,
opportunity arising, he would like
to join us. In Short Half 1990, I
became Housedon of Hopper’s and
the Headmaster was able to appoint
Simon Taylor to succeed me as Head
of English.
God, Sport and Win Coll
The Reverend Justin White (Chaplain,
2006-14; 2018-) gave the following address
at Winchester Match 2019:
‘Twenty-two was played every year on
the Fifth of November; made famous
in the early years of the century by
the chaplain who regularly preached
on that day: “Dark was the night,
dark was the lantern, but darker the
deed.”’ From A History of Winchester
College (1899) by Arthur F. Leach. deed.’ I wonder whether the boys
remembered any more than that.
I am trying to imagine Chaplain
Watkins, a Victorian predecessor of
mine, climbing into the pulpit every
year on Gunpowder Day, the day of
22s, and preaching the same sermon
year after year: ‘Dark was the night,
dark was the lantern, but darker the ‘He was a tall silvery-haired
handsome man,’ a Wykehamist of
the time records, ‘remarkably like
recumbent Jesse in the east window of
Chapel: he intoned the prayers with
a celerity which I have never heard
equalled.’
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