Fifty Years Ago. Wednesday, 23rd June 1976
I talked on TMP.
French: Catman hadn’t got my exercise book. For a while I thought it had gone missing, but I eventually found it in Room 2. Books, pens, rulers and sports kit are forever disappearing and turning up somewhere unexpected. It is either my carelessness or somebody else’s mischievousness.
Divinity: I handed in work on Pontius Pilate. I quite enjoyed doing it. I enjoy the historical side of Divinity – real people, real events and real places – so long the difference between fact and fiction is recognised. The Bible is more interesting when you think about the people in it as historical figures. You need to understand where the fantasy takes over.
Latin: I got another piece of Divinity work back. Both subjects are taught by ordained chaplains. How this means you can hand in Divinity work and receive it back during Latin, or vice versa, I don’t know. Clearly some exchange goes on in the staff room. In which case why not Geography essays returned in Biology, English prep handed back in Chemistry, or our efforts in Metalwork appearing during Physics?
Whatever the system, I got 19 out of 20, which was the highest mark. I was pleased with that. I sometimes wonder whether the Rev F wanted to demonstrate that in his classes at least I could do well, because in Latin, taken by the Rev W.C., I rarely manage a mark in double figures.
If a visiting alien examined my school reports, he would probably conclude that I am destined to become a mathematical theologian – despite being an atheist – with a particular interest in maps and drawing.
Music lesson: I was introduced to something new, although it was also old – it was Elizabethan music. It reminded me of Jethro Tull. There is something about the melodies that feels alive rather than dusty and historical. It makes me imagine being able to extemporise on the flute while standing on one leg, just as Ian Anderson does on stage. Not that my flute playing is remotely in that class.
Biology: We made notes on keys. The teacher got angry. Some masters are permanently annoyed. It is as if they arrive already cross before anyone has had the chance to do anything wrong.
A number of the masters we had when I first arrived have already been replaced, and perhaps rightly so. Their time seems to have come. Being knowledgeable and being able to teach a class of teenage boys are not the same thing.
I spent some time reading the Atlas of Exploration. Looking at maps of journeys across Africa, Asia, the Arctic and the Pacific is like travelling there yourself. Livingstone, Scott, Shackleton, Cook, Marco Polo, Columbus – all of them appeal to me. I can sit for ages imagining being part of an expedition heading into unknown country, making maps of places nobody in Europe has seen before.
Swimming: inter-house league competition.
I swam 31.00 again for Front Crawl. Exactly the same time as before. It is a fluke when that happens but there’s no reason to think I’d achieve a PB. I also did 44.9 for Breaststroke. I wind the front crawl.
I was swimming for Winder. We have several of the school’s squad swimmers in the House team, so we tend to win outright more often than not. The same goes for water polo. House competitions are taken seriously, each House and Housemaster likes to chalk up their wins.
After swimming I practised my flute. I had been inspired by the music lesson, which is not always the case. I spent some time trying to play an Elizabethan tune while balancing on one leg like Ian Anderson. Whether the music improved as a result is doubtful, but it amused me.
A good day, all told. Highest mark in Divinity, swimming well, an interesting music lesson and some time spent travelling the world from the pages of an atlas.
What strikes me in this entry is how clearly three future Jonathans are already visible: the historian fascinated by Pilate and the great explorers, the swimmer obsessed with times measured to a tenth of a second, and the creative storyteller who can leap from Elizabethan music to imagining himself as Ian Anderson. Fifty years later, all three are still recognisably there.
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