No . 137
The Trusty Servant
John Leonard Thorn ( Headmaster 68 – 85 )
John Thorn died 20th October 2023 . The Trusty Servant offers some glimpses of a richly varied man .
The first thing that struck us when he arrived was of course that magnificent head of hair , especially when glimpsed by a raggle-taggle of hobbledehoys , gawping from a window somewhere high in the upper reaches of Flint Court . I can see him now , striding diagonally across the cobbles far below with an almost loping movement , his suit and gown elegant and neat but also flowing , and his head held slightly forward as though he were already savouring the words he was about to deliver .
His words – and I want to say this now – always seemed , and were clearly intended to seem , quite beautiful . At the time , I knew I didn ’ t always understand them , but they hang in the ear , 55 years later , and I still think about them .
John adored music and would often draw musical ideas into discussions most people would have thought nothing to do with music . Once , talking ( if memory serves ) of the power and importance of critical and creative decisions and the courage needed to make them , he lifted his eyes and smiled over our heads towards the back of the room : “ Like Beethoven , deciding to end the Fifth Symphony with 57 chords of C major !”
Now I might not have that figure right . He might have said 64 or 36 . And anyway , I ’ ve no idea how you would really count those famous chords , as all the instruments are moving at different speeds . But still , when he said that , he changed something - at least in the mind of one confused and adolescent boy . That ’ s real teaching . Or as Shelley put it , and as Elgar wrote at the top of his Second Symphony : “ Rarely , rarely comest thou , spirit of delight !”
JLT painted by June Mendoza , hanging in School
I remember one beautiful May morning … and Hills . The trudge along the tolling path beside the water , the fresh air , the crowds streaming through the brick tunnel underneath the old road and up the steep side of the chalky hill . And the wide horse-shoe shape we made on the sweet grass at the top , hundreds of us looking down across the ancient earthworks to the valley in the morning light and over the meadows which he loved so much .
And he was at the centre , quite far away from all of us as we were so spread out , and below us because of the slope . And I can hear his voice , his eyes glancing down from time to time at the little book in his hand , projecting the words with firmness so we all of us could hear them in the open air , yet also speaking with a certain fragile gentleness , so the sound of them floated over our heads and up towards the trees : “ I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills , from whence cometh my help .”
Gerard McBurney ( B , 67-72 )
One meeting with John transformed my life . The scene : his study in College Street in late November 1970 . As a 12-year-old pupil at Andover Grammar School , I had sat the Hampshire Country Bursary exam for state school pupils to be funded at Winchester . I must have done okay , but it was all up to the interview …… A week later ( and I ’ m looking at his letter now ) he wrote to my foster-mum Gertrude that I had actually been awarded a Winchester College Bursary . All fees paid . A first for a black British foster-child : a huge leap of confidence on his part .
I arrived in Beloe ’ s five weeks later , and for the next five years I knew that John – who wrote a school report every term on every pupil – was in the background encouraging and supporting . Filling in as an inspiring div don when staff were ill . Driving a car full of ‘ men ’ to Covent Garden and back late at night – my first opera was Boris Godunov in the Royal Box . John headed a cohort of remarkable dons and housedons . He wanted rounded individuals – bright , but richly creative in music , art , conservation : ‘ the appreciation of beauty .’ Using our privilege to serve others .
Wesley Kerr OBE ( K , 71-75 ) Trustee of the Royal Parks , Council Member Royal Horticultural Society , broadcaster , historian , journalist
I was at Repton School when John was Headmaster . On Sunday evenings , he would invite boys from Hall House ( which adjoined his own ) to listen to LPs in his sitting room . Veronica served smoked salmon sandwiches , John chose the records and talked briefly about the music . One evening he played ‘ Anakreons Grab ’ and ‘ Kennst du das Land ’ by Hugo Wolf . I ’ ve never forgotten the impact it had on me ,
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