“In 1956, at age 11, I was sent to an all-boys boarding school in the midlands of England,” writes Michael Dunlop of Surfers Paradise (Qld). “Boarders were only known by their last names, Smith, Jones etc. If there was more than one Smith, initials were used; Smith AB, Smith JR and so on. I only knew my friends by their last name and in some incidences, never came to know their first name! Junior boys had to fag, but that’s not what you may think. Fagging entailed cleaning a prefect’s study, cleaning their shoes and other tasks. It was well into the ’60s, and after I had left that things changed. The school went co-ed, fagging was no longer practised, and prefects could no longer dish out punishments. Has anyone had a similar experience at school whether in Australia or overseas? C’est la vie!”
“Did Geoff Bartlett (C8) check his postie every day and find that he was always male?” wonders Jock Brodie of Port Macquarie. “Was that a representative sample?”
We’re thinking it’s time to mute the advertising jingle thread (C8) in light of the troubling volume of C8-ers developing earworms (no, not JFK Jnr) but first, lets mute Col Burns of Lugarno: “I’ve been forced to belt out the Blue Clinic ‘wash your hair, too clean for dandruff’ jingle when cleansing my thinning locks because, according to my wife, my ‘de de de Decoré’ performance is grounds for divorce.”
In 1984, Unkle Cyril of East Corrimal “was having a shower, singing La donna è mobile, while my daughter was outside saying ‘I’m bursting for a pee and Dad’s in there singing the Leggo al Dente song!’”
Maggie Hamilton of North Sydney notes that “talk of Emma Chisit (C8) prompted memories of the book Let Stalk Strine by Afferbeck Lauder. We still mention turning on the egg nishner when it’s hot and Gloria Soame when we’re house hunting. Side note, apparently the author (real name Alistair Morrison) was involved in designing some of the first Australian decimal currency notes.” This is true, it scored him an Order of Australia (AM).
Proving that some hobbies can get you in a hole, Sue Casiglia of North Ryde says: “So, with the intense popularity of collecting pins – in this instance Olympic pins – my 1981 Smiggin Ski School Gold and Silver Racing Team pins must be spectacularly popular and valuable.”
Column8@smh.com.au
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