Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe
Old School Photos of the 1960s
LINKS
The inspiration for this website was the one set up by Tony Hare for the 1956 people: School Photo of 1956 - to Tony Hare goes the credit for dreaming up the idea of a website devoted to old school photos. Tony's site features a lot of other fascinating material devoted to the RGS in the late 1940s and 1950s (scans of old grey books, Gilbert & Sullivan opera programmes, etc). Back in 2003 I sent Tony an email saying how good I thought his site was - he sent one back saying "Why don't you do one for your era?". So I did.
Other websites with RGS High Wycombe content
- Ian Clark's superb RGS Old Boys' Website
- Visit the official school website
- RGS on Wikipedia
- Buy the book 'Images of England, Royal Grammar School High Wycombe' from the school
- Buy an old school tie! GA Wood Menswear, 5 Church Square, High Wycombe HP11 2BN, tel 01494 529693
- Ian Whitwham (RGS 1956-62) writes a humorous column on Sec-ed.co.uk in which he occasionally touches on his old RGS background ... exhibit A - here's a funereal article he wrote for The Guardian (26 April 2008). And a more cheerful one on choosing schools for children. And another - 'Dreaming Aspires'.
- rock star Ian Dury (RGS 1954-59) and his time at the RGS, as told in the book 'Sex and Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll: The Life of Ian Dury' by Richard Balls - read some of it here (but since when was ERT called 'Bertie'??)
- philosopher and writer Roger Scruton (RGS 1954-62) on the RGS (from his book 'England: An Elegy') - read a section here (p28: "... in the 'quad', as our playground was pretentiously called" - but there was no 'quad' until after Scruton's time and never a 'playground' as such anyway - comments?)
- more Scruton: from his autobiography 'Gentle Regrets: Thoughts from a Life' - read here (p28 reference to masters as 'beaks' - this Etonian term not known to me at RGS - any other OW remember it?) - one striking passage: "Returning to RGS to present prizes 35 years after my expulsion (an understandable response by Mr Tucker who, showing a distinguished guest around the school one Saturday morning, entered the hall to discover the stage on fire, a half-naked girl attempting to extinguish the flames, and that appalling boy Scruton standing listlessly in the wings reciting Samuel Beckett)...". This must have happened during the academic year 1961/62 - any eye-witnesses?
- Peter Colley (1960-67) was an outstanding sportsman while he was at the RGS and he has since gone on to a highly successful career in Canada and USA as a dramatist and screenwriter. His website gives some interesting background about his days at the RGS.
- Ron Laskey (F44 in the 1962 photo, D47 in the 1960 photo and C44 in the 1958 junior photo) is now a distinguished biology professor at Cambridge and also something of a folk singer (having recorded two albums called Songs for Cynical Scientists and More Songs for Cynical Scientists). He likes to entertain his students with a song at the last lecture of term. Enjoy one of his performances here.
- Ever wondered what the school's name is in Russian? It appears to be Хай Уиком Королевская школа грамматики - click on the link if you don't believe me. It will take you to Prince Oleg Volkonsky's memoirs of his time at the school in the 1950s. And it is in Russian. Best of luck... if you would prefer something in English about OV Volkonsky, try here, here or here.
- website of Paul Adrian Rooke, who was a music master at the RGS between 1967 and 1971. Quite entertaining.
- Christopher J Date (RGS 1951-59) is an acknowledged pioneer, specialist and author on relational database systems. There is some interesting background data on him at Wikipedia and also in this oral history interview conducted in California in 2007, and in which he mentions his schooldays at the RGS. He appears in the 1958 Senior School photo at E38, and in the 1958 Junior School photo (as a prefect) at B11.
Contact the headmaster of this website (just call me 'Boss'):