Sunday, 1 March 1964	KCT
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Once again various person's buttonholes started to sprout daffodils, leeks, etc, in honour of St David. It really is rather disgusting.

Before chapel, apart from trying a brain teaser in the Sunday times, I sent a letter off to Mum & Dad, and this took nearly all my time. Then I went to look for folder 24, and after looking through the whole lot of scobs, found Chivers, who said he had it in his scob, and gave it to me just before robing up.

The service was quite normal today, but I did notice some interesting looking girl looking round at the choir. I raised my eyebrows. She grinned. Chivers told me later that she was probably looking at Hurrell. Ah well, You can't have everything.

After that, went to the Wireless club and did a bit of work on realigning the PCR2, which is in a hell of a state, and this took me a hell of a long time, as once again the R.F. amplifier was not gaining. It turned out that the MW trimmer had come unsoldered. I must put a completely new coil in there soon. It should do it a lot of good. Also a 6BA6 or similar for the valve.

After lunch, went along to a music room and booked up for the afternoon, and took a room that Brown was supposed to be in, and started off on the flute, trying some Rodgers and Hammerstein stuff, 2 octaves higher. Ended up playing it on the piccolo.

After that, polished up my flute, which has started looking a bit chatty lately.

Then some Blockflöte practice, to the annoyance of Wadland, who wanted to use my Blockflöte himself.

Film in the evening, and was “The Colditz story”, all about escapes from the POW camps in the war. The number of escapes that actually did take place was amazingly high.

Then along to the wireless club, in order to connect up Woolacotts power supply to the 52, but could not work out which connector on the 52 was which.

After chapel, supper, etc, decided as usual to do some recorder practice with Chivers, but we were shortly joined by Wadland and Brown ii, and it became quartets.

Monday, 2 March 1964	KCT
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In breakfast this morning, both a letter (from Mum) and a parcel (the electric shaver). Not very well overhauled.

Polished up my case before assembly - it was looking rather chatty, and needed a polish.

French with Mlle. Soréreau first, and we carried on again with Mlle. Perle thank God. It is getting rather interesting. Also amusing is when 2 skivs came in to take the absentee return chits, as she only spoke french, and they only english.

Double physics, and we had some fun trying to do an experiment on the heating effect of an electric current, and, as usual, Poop spent the first period talking about what we were supposed to do with the stuff. Spent all of the 2nd period passing a current through an electric kettle element, 130 g of H₂O 8° C.

After break, French, with Skiv, and I got 26/40, which was considerably better than some.

Divvers, and we spent nearly all the time, after we had got our sheets of revision for the Acts, rereading the stuff we read last week.

After lunch, corps, and a hell of a bind, as I still have no boots. Anyway, did not have to clean my gaiters.

My belt is, for the first time since I have had it, looking worthy of anybody, apart from behind the brasses.

Inspection lasted for half an hour although it was bloody cold, and it was no wonder we all got low marks. After the post mortem on our field day last week, we had drill, in which I managed to lose my shoes twice, which nicely disrupted the drill, although it was not too comfortable on the feet.

We were allowed to change at tea, which was just as well, and 3rd period, in the woodard lower, was all about sending messages, which we had apparently done before. I did not know anything about it.

In hobbies prep, went to the wireless club, and tried to connect up Woolacotts power supply to the 52, and had to use the admiralty transformer for the LT on the thing, as the thing could only supply 100mA.

When I turned it on, it turned out that the first HF amp did not work properly.

Tuesday, 3 March 1964	KCT
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Still no mail today - I must be back on the 2 a week stuff.

After breakfast, I plugged in my shaver, turned on and - nothing. Absolutely nothing at all happened. Did not have any time to look at it then, but decided to look at it this afternoon.

English first, and we did not do much - carried on with Chaucer, but did comment quite a bit on the inaccuracy of the marginal notes in some peoples books, and Boris suggested putting something like “drivel” next to it, but dismissed on the grounds that the next mob might misinterpret it.

The books belonged to the school and were thus used by successive years' pupils.

Some people thought “to learn off by rote” meant “to learn all by a small harp”!

Divvers with Sykes was about as amusing, but he is always telling us to grow up, and behaves childishly himself.

Maths, and we got back to work, without much ado. Started my 7th rough book for this year. Am already ¼ way through.

Latin after break, and we had a blitz on derivatives, as Mansell reckons that they are exceptionally important.

Maths again, and I did not do much, but just carried on with O level papers.

In the afternoon, choral society practice, and quite enjoyed ourselves. Some of the high notes were a kill - quite literally.

Then a clarinet lesson, which I also enjoyed, and also spent a bit of time digging all the muck out of the speaker key hole, which certainly improved the B♭ in the throat, but the fact remained that the forked E♭/B♭ was still too flat. I must have it looked at when I am in France.

The instrument had a 7th ring (for left finger 3), controlling a vent between finger 2 and finger 3, and enabling a E♭/B♭ with fingers 1 and 3. Here an example. The vent is underneath the E♭ key between the middle (finger 2) and right-hand (finger 3) ring.

 

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Presumably the vent was clogged

After that, had a go at my shaver. What a complicated motor the thing has - capacitors all over the place. Finally got it going - it turned out that a spring to hold one of the soft iron cutout breakers had been dislodged. Put it back, and all was well, though it made rather a hell of a row. One thing I can thank Poop for - he told us about it a couple of weeks ago, with electric motors. Gives a good shave, anyway.

Double deutsch in the evening, and got our proses back. Goldie is now only 3 behind me. The exams are my only hope. I had better start working.

Wednesday, 4 March 1964	KCT
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Today started off being rather boring - no mail, etc. and had an argument with Green at breakfast. He told me that the east wing clock was going backwards. It was, too.

English first this morning, and carried on with Chaucer, and Boris did a bit of systematic alteration to the Vocab in the back in order that future generations would not think “rote” to mean “a small harp” when in the context in which we had it yesterday.

Then latin with Jones, and we finished off correcting the things we were given to scan. Jones wanted to scan as follows: ĕxĕrcītūs. I don't know how he justified it. In the end, we left that one out altogether.

Maths, and we carried on with the stuff we did yesterday, but it seems that we will probably have something else to do as well next time.

After break, chemistry, and Clod told us quite bit about the history of the school. Apparently the bottom fields used to be a racecourse, and when this school was built, it was called “Taunton College School”. This took up nearly all the period.

Deutsch, and, apart from a Prüfung, it was hellishly slack. It always is. I wonder why.

Trying to get Green to skiv the plates in lunch, but no luck. Chaun & I were thinking of telling Mott.

After lunch, did some recorder practice with Porter grinding a ground. After that, did some flute practice, and finished at about 1445, and went into the common room and tidied myself up, etc.

At 1515 not very precisely, we all set off, and got at St Audries at about 1550,

Google maps says that it takes 35 minutes in a car nowadays, so this is quite good. More likely is that I didn't get my times exactly right.

and were promptly ushered into some Common room, and then into the dining room, and were given tea by the girls. It really is unnerving the way they come up from underneath you.

After that, got down to the real business, which was to get up to number 38 of the passion. I don't know when we are going to do the rest, but I hope it will be next week. After being told to go immediately, we hung around and in general tried to stall for a time.

Left at about 1830, and got back in record time in time for chapel. Damn it.

Little happened in 2nd prep.

Thursday, 5 March 1964	KCT
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Practical wireless came this morning, and in it, apart from a set of alignment tools, and article on the “art of alignment”, and another on how to build an alignment aid to go with it.

After breakfast did little. Clod complained about barging, etc, after assembly.

Clod again for chemistry, and he came in, as usual, he came in about 10 or 15 minutes late,

sic

and promptly carried on correcting the stuff that we did last week.

For some reason, this took the whole (double) period, and I actually got one wrong. Towards the end of it, however, he gave us another thing to do, and I finished that in about 5 minutes.

Physics next, and Poop told us what we were supposed to do on Monday night for prep, and we did it in class.

After break, Skiv test, and I did not do all that fabulously, and then he gave us yet another stinking prep - 60 words (nominal - actually about 70) to learn.

Then maths, and as we have now finished calculus, we went on to trigonometry, and started off with basic principles, and carried on with things in the 3rd & 4th quadrants. Quite like Vector diagrams.

Wind band after lunch, and, when I had retrieved my key-ring from the wireless club, I discovered that my reed-cutter had disappeared from the case of my clarinet. I must investigate.

Then turned up for pioneers, and discovered that the cement mixer was going again, and Callow and I operated. Brunt, as usual, made one hell of a nuisance of himself, and refused to take a couple of barrowloads of concrete, and as a result we knocked off late.

After tea, latin, and Mansell gave us an unseen to do - supposedly an easy one, but we found it pretty average muck, and as a result, made a pretty average balls up of it. Meanwhile, Mansell carried on with eradicating all that he he had on his AO and A level entry forms.

Deutsch, and we got our last Prüfung back, and I did not do particularly well - only got 15. Nevertheless, I am now 7 ahead of Goldie, and should be more with the Diktat that we did.

Not much happened in prep - spent nearly all the time thinking about falling stones, etc.

Friday, 6 March 1964	KCT
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Straits Budget arrived this morning, and spent most of my time reading it.

First lesson was french, and Skiv was busy, and as a result he gave us a prose to do while he did whatever he did, and I probably made a hell of a mess of it. This, perhaps fortunately, took up all of the period, and it meant that we would not be tested on our prep.

PE was next, and just before I went into a music room to put some Vaseline on my lips and had a conversation with Chivers while I was at it. Very cold day - snowing at odd intervals. Circuit training for points - our team was Robinson iv, Lennox and me.

Latin, and we were allowed to finish off our unseens, and as a result we wasted (to all intents and purposes, anyway) another period.

Maths after break, and we carried on with trig, and had a test in which quite a few got 100%. There should have been more.

Chemistry was, as usual, dead slack, and Clod managed to abscond PDQ on some pretext about seeing a police inspector about bicycles.

After lunch, wrote a letter to Dad about his letter of the other day.

Pioneers in the afternoon was, as usual, dead slack. We only made 5 mixes in all, and this was helped by the fact that Brunt was not there. I hope he is in the san, or is in some such way afflicted, so that we won't have him for quite a while. However, I had to do his job. As I only did that, however, I did not mind particularly.

Supposed to have a flute lesson this afternoon, but just as I was about to turn up, I noticed that it had been cancelled until Monday.

Deutsch, and Tyson is having some films on Sunday. At one point he lost his temper. “Shut up. Damn you, when I say shut up, you bloody well shut up”.

English, and we carried on once again with Chaucer, and also a discussion about the précis.

In choir practice, we managed to spread the scandal about Grant kicking bladders [?] out of the Meynell study room.

Saturday, 7 March 1964	KCT
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At breakfast this morning, yet more mail - first a book about Malaysia, and then a letter from Mum, in which were some photos of Bev, including one of her on a camel - don't know where she got it from. Also one of her with Sharrifah [sic] Endah.

Latin first lesson, and we were given an unseen to do, in which the heel fell off my shoe. Mansell got a bit of a shock when he saw it sitting on my desk. It was also a bit difficult to walk like that.

French after that, and this time we spent all our time going though the prose that we did yesterday, and, thank God, there were no marks for it.

Next was physics, and Poop, being pedantic, started from first principles, and as a result none of us got it right, because it seemed that he knew less than any of us.

In break, went along to the linen room to have my shoes seen to, and in the meantime I had to wear gym shoes. What a laugh!

Music after break, and after listening to “Till Eulenspiegel” by Strauß, we heard a recording of St Johns Passion by Bach (the one the choral society is doing) but to different words.

In the afternoon, the pioneers were supposed to be having a day off, so I turned up and helped Jones, and was promptly shown about 5 tons of earth to move. I don't think he expected me to do it, but he got rather a surprise after about 15 minutes when he looked round to see how I was going. He soon put Cole to help me, and between us we managed to move the lot. Jones was delighted. He reckoned that each of us was doing more than a whole ag. party.

We knocked off at 1545, and I turned up at the wireless club at 1600, and promptly got down to the business of working out the capacitance relay. Finished off the next stage, and tried to fix up the 52, but without much success.

Did, however, manage to tidy up my bench, and it is now in much better condition.

In the evening, looking at the power supply for the capacitance relay. Also listened to Phillip's crystal set - first time I have ever heard one work.

Sunday, 8 March 1964	KCT
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Thank God for Sundays! That is the way I feel about today, and as a result I did little, apart from rest.

The Sunday paper had nothing of interest in - I wonder if I ought to get the Observer next term. Might be more interesting than the Sunday Times.

Manage to get Stanley i's shoes after breakfast, and they were rather dirty, and difficult to clean. Still, they keep my feet clean, if not warm.

Chapel was rather boring. I have been singing tenor for so long that I can hardly sing alto.

Nevertheless, I had a bit of fun squeezing a rather annoying pimple which had sprung up from on the side of my nose, and more or less emptied.

After chapel, went along to the wireless club with intent of aligning my PCR-2, with these Practical Wireless objects to the same purpose, and managed to get the RF circuits into better alignment as well.

At any rate, when you tune 300 metres you get something like 1 Mc/s.

After lunch, Chaun asked me to go for a walk with him, and so, for the first Sunday this term, I accepted. Finished off “On her Majesty's Secret Service and played “Negara Ku” on the flute to see how it sounded. Not at all bad.

By 1430, Chaun had also got Walker D.I [?] to come with us as well, and so the 3 of us set out.

Conversation started off about public schools, and wandered, inevitably, to women, and then onto cars, etc, and meanwhile we walked all over the place.

At 1530, went into the wireless club and decided to put a BFO into the PCR, and first of all took all the rectifiers off the spare octal base, and suspended them in the air, like so many other things in that part of the reciever.

Then got round to trying to put a B9H socket in an octal hole, and finally succeeded, Then connected all the things up (I was using a PCC84, and had to put in a special 7.3 V to warm it), and it was oscillating at the wrong frequency. I must investigate tomorrow.

Deutsch films in the evening. Not bad.

Monday, 9 March 1964	KCT
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No letters, which are about the only thing that cheer me up on Monday mornings, today. I suppose I can't complain. I have been getting enough lately.

French with Mlle Soréreau this morning, and once again we carried on with Mlle. Perle. It is getting more interesting, and she also told us her views about Muslims, dozens of wives, “une véritable village”, etc.

Double physics was one of these wasted periods more typical of Clod. We started off revising electrolysis, and we learnt all about what we already knew.

After he had then told it back to us, he promptly gave us some exercises to do on it, and left us to it in peace. Lennox and I promptly got down to doing the co-op type of stuff, and then polished off ½ a packet of watermelon seeds. I suppose Lennox will eat anything.

Flute lesson instead of French with Skiv after break. Started off with the Händel stuff, and then had a look at the head joint of the flute, and decided it could do with something - what, I do not know. Divvers and rather amusing, for the amount of time I was there.

After lunch, Chivers wanted me to have a look at is variations on “Die Gedanken sind frei”, and then at his Blockflöte Sonata. Neither of them particularly wonderful, but he might be able to improve on the variations.

Then, inevitably, corps, and after the inspection we were taken down to the bottom fields to do some range-finding - Lennox & I decided to pace it out. Then drill in second period, and I was given separate treatment.

After tea, yet once again in the Woodard lower and compass bearings or some such rot. I sat down in one of the rear benches and went to sleep, and pretty well got away with it.

Choral society practice in the evening, and carried on with the other ½ that we did not do last week.

Matron was chasing me all over the school in the evening, to give me back my shoes.

Tuesday, 10 March 1964	KCT
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Letter from Mum again today, and not much of interest. Not a very interesting thing.

English first in the morning, and we did not do much - just carried on reading through the prologue [to the Canterbury Tales], commenting about all the odd types, and the opposition of the Miller and the Reeve.

Divvers, and we were told to revise, as Sykes wanted to do some correction. Got into a conversation in the middle - he admitted that he did not know the difference between St Matthew and St Matthias - this to Popsy, whose answer was a straightforward “Ahhhhhh - No”.

I have a vague recollection that this was his standard response.

Maths after that, and after a bit more progress, we had to do some excercises from the 'O' level paper on it.

Latin after break, and Mansell first of all blew us up regarding the 'O' level exam, and then revised gerunds and gerundives.

More maths, and I managed to fiddle it so that I finished off my maths book by the end of period - only started it last Tuesday.

In the afternoon, I copied out “Negara Ku” for solo instrument, and started the accompaniment. Then did a bit of reading a bit abut Malaysia. Called across to Tarr to ask if I might go out, and then went out.

Clarinet lesson was rather normal, and carried on for a while, and demonstrated Wadland's recorder to Mr White, and he said it was the first time he had ever heard a recorder.

Double Deutsch in the evening - spent the first period going over our prep, and then took until the Pause.

After the Pause, the examination Nacherzählung. Nice and difficult.

Tarr told me that he was giving me 40 lines for “insolence” in rest.

In the 5 minute break, got the paper, and promptly went and complained to Mott. He did not let me off, but he did not double it - i.e. he agrees with me, but it looks bad to let somebody off.

Wednesday, 11 March 1964	KCT
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Today started off fairly normally with a card from Mr. Philips to say that I had an appointment with him next Tuesday.

First lesson was English, and we got onto the Summoner and the Pardoner, and all that remained was “Oure Hooste.”. However, we managed to natter about all sorts of things, including how a fellow in III a broke Boris's pointer, and then shoved it behind a map of Blackdown common.

After that, Latin with Jones, in which we had to do the verse that we had “prepared” on Saturday, and which I had got Green to do for me.

Maths was a test on the cosine rule. Easy enough, but so many people did not know it that Jimmy threatened a detention to anybody who did not know it by tomorrow.

Clod did not come in to Chemistry until about 12.10, and spent the last 5 minutes talking about Grahams laws of diffusion. Deutsch, Nacherzählung back. Got 25/30 - same for every Nacherzählung.

After lunch, had to do about a dozen things at once, and Tarr managed to squeeze 3/6 out of me, damn him. Then went and changed into my Sunday suit, came back, had a shave, and started on Tarrs 40 lines.

The bus left at 1515, as it did last week, and this time, Chivers came as well, and we had a rather interesting conversation about the Lehey family on the way there.

From the context, this must have been a rehearsal for the St John Passion at St Audries' school.

Tea was not so good as last week, but not bad nevertheless. After that, we got down to singing, and then, in the Pause, Chivers, Barret and I looked round the school and ended up in the chapel, with Newman playing “We have no king but Caesar” [from the St John Passion] on their rather tiny organ. Then a pop group, in one of the common rooms.

When we got back, Rose told me that one of the best clarinettists in England was playing at Bishop Fox's tonight, and I managed to get permission from Tyson to go, and by no means regretted it, although I lost my supper. Got his autograph as well.

But not his name, at least not here. A comment on 14 March 1964 indicates that it was Gervase de Peyer.

Got back at 2145, and decided to get up at 0700 hrs tomorrow to do my prep.

Thursday, 12 March 1964	KCT
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As intended, I got up at 0700 hrs this morning, in order to do last nights prep, and finished off the chemistry and some of the french.

No mail at breakfast, which is unusual for a Thursday. I must write a few more letters myself.

Finished off the maths after breakfast, leaving only the french and the deutsch to be done.

Did the french in double chemistry - and little else. We did, however, correct the stuff we did last time. Chemistry is getting slacker and slacker. I really must protest. Physics was a little more interesting, and we got on to the business of simple cells and so on, and Poop made one to illustrate his point.

After break, french, and Skiv came in and promptly gave us our 'O' level trial Dictée, which was bloody difficult. I hope I did not do too badly.

After that, Maths, and I brought everything with me for once.

Spent the whole time doing more problems about radians, sectors of circles, etc.

After lunch, there was a choir practice, and as usual on such occasions, I arrived late. Then I was supposed to go to a wind band practice, but decided to do some recorder practice with Chivers instead. After that, we had the confirmation service, which was quite interesting, but could have been more.

Most of the time was taken up by the fellow saying “Defend O lord this day thy servant.... and so on for about 60 people in all, including a few from Pyrland, and 1 or 2 who were just plain outsiders.

Pyrland Hall is the prep school for King's College, Taunton, now apparently called King's Hall School.

After that, we had tea, and then the time was ours until 17:15, and so Chivers and I went to the fuck shop [sic; I'm not sure whether this was deliberate or just my bad handwriting] and bought some food, went down to room 24, and ate it. Then got him to test me on my strong verbs.

Deutsch, however, was a Diktat, and apparently for much the same purpose as french this morning. When that was over, met up with Chivers again, and apart from getting “Schillers Werke” out of the library, he also gave me some cake that he had pinched.

Friday, 13 March 1964	KCT
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Despite the date, today was particularly insignificant.

Started off with a letter from Mum describing all her social life since last time she wrote, and nothing else.

French first, and Skiv came in quite late, and, in Cloddie fashion, immediately asked if there were any things that we did not understand, and of course, the questions took up the whole period. Almost like Cloddie.

After that PE, and I was feeling rather lousy, but it turned out that all we had to do was to go round the training circuit, and I simply went round slowly. Knocked off at 1020, and had a conversation with Chivers after I had changed.

Latin, and Mansell went on with, and finished, gerunds and gerundives.

After break, maths. Quite a few people were rather annoyed at the absence of the bolt on room 28 fort.[toilet] I only hope they do not find out that it was I.

Chemistry was as slack as ever, and we did not go in for the first 5 minutes, and when we did go in, the basin was fuming with some organic compound of sulphur. I do not trust Shaw.

After lunch, got Drax's permission to watch the house matches, and finished off Tarrs 40 lines. Then went in to a music room, had a go on Hargraves Oboe, and quite enjoyed myself. Then met up with Chivers and headed down to the bottom fields to cheer our respective houses. Joined up, however, with Bott, Startup, Evans, Cressy and mob, who were shouting gibberish at various houses. Startup started up shouting “Cynthia Beatt”, and it turned out that he is violently in love with her. I told him he should have come to Netherton House last holidays. He nearly did kick himself.

Diktats back in Deutsch. I got 17/20 against Goldies 13, but the marks are to be halved. I must beat him hollow in the trial run exams.

Then english, and just plain talking, but managed to carry on until 1805.

After supper, choir practice, and after that finally managed to get “Die Verwandlung” by Franz Kafka out of the library after it. Quite interesting. When I came into the UCR [Upper Common Room], Zebedees desk was littered with books about Kafka. Obviously popular.

Saturday, 14 March 1964	KCT
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QST came today - average issue, I suppose. I must start getting “Radio, TV and Hobbies” again. Probably a damn side better than Wireless World, or some such pommie trash.

Latin first, and Mansell finished off gerunds and gerundives,

Again!

and went on to some unearthly things called quomcus [?] and quin, and was particularly upset that I told him that I had never heard of either.

Then french, and Skiv gave us a Nacherzählung in french (une Réproduction, I suppose it would be called). I intended, as advised, to keep it short, but managed to write 3½ of tripe ebenso. I wonder if I will do as well as in Deutsch.

Physics was all revision, except for us being given a quick idea of the exam paper.

Music after break, and we were forced to listen to a very average recording of the Brahms quintet for clarinet and strings indeed. Could hardly recognise it as the piece that Gervase de Peyer played on Wednesday.

Then the St John passion excerpts, and got on as far as no 47.

After lunch, pioneers were supposed to watch the OA match, and as a result I decided to do some clarinet practice, and quite enjoyed myself. I must improve on my tongueing.

Then the OA match, and it was deadly boring. Left Chaun, with whom I went down, fairly soon after the beginning, and started talking to Morely.

The match finished late as usual, in fact at 1600 hrs, and as soon as I had got my mac, boots, etc, off, I went along to the wireless club, but did very little until after roll call.

Then, I started trying to strip the BFO, and I may put in some other thing on the hole, preferably with an octal base. Then did some work on the capacitance relay, but did not get particularly far.

After that, pulled out some organ pipes of Barrets, and had a look at their waveforms on the oscilloscope.

After supper, went along again, and had a go at putting a condenser across the soldering gun switch, which makes it a lot less annoying to Woolacott.

My watch is on the blink.

Sunday, 15 March 1964	KCT	Images for 15 March 1964
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Sunday again, thank God - Life is getting more and more boring, and any change relieves the boredom.

Before breakfast, I decided to sort out all my magazines, which were cluttering up my scob, and once I had found my key (I had left it at Gatcombe), I had to go and get the things into the Wireless club - all 40 odd of them.

The morning service was a pretty average type of service, but as it was passion Sunday, all the crosses in the chapel were covered with a purple veil. Wadland was carrying the cross, and I could not restrain a laugh as I went past him during the processional. Not all that much in the way of good hymns, and the old priest (Father whateveryoucallhim) was doing the thing, so we had not the slightest idea what was going on.

After chapel, to the Wireless club, and did very little except for wonder what I was supposed to do, as I had very little on my plate, and tried out the capacitance relay, which is not yet oscillating. I must put a condenser from anode to grid. Then built a transistor amplifier for the PCR.

After lunch, did some recorder practice on Wadlands recorder, and then, after telling Chaun that I could not be fagged to go for a walk this week, I did some flute practice.

Finished this at about 1500, and tried to persuade Aston to play Hennessy's clarinet, and before long it was 1520, and he still was not to[sic] sure, but nevertheless surer than before.

Then the film, “St Francis of Assissi”, which was very good, my only objection being that it lasted a hell of a long time.

When we finally did get out, back to the wireless club, and built a transistor power supply, connected the amplifier up, but it did not work too well. Must investigate tomorrow.

After supper, Chivers and I did some recorder practice, which became pretty free, and before long we were playing “Baa baa black sheep” (in deutsch):

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Very amusing.

Monday, 16 March 1964	KCT
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Letter from Mum to Bev this morning - I only got it to know what Bev had been doing, and what Mum thinks of it.

After breakfast, we had exams, which was at least a change, and it meant that we did not get french.

The first exam was english, a précis, in which I wrote (apart from my name, date, etc), exactly 200 words. I wonder what significance that has. Probably not much. Then I thought we were to carry on to the next question, and by the time we had to stop, I was nearly finished it. Something about the annual Slad [?] choir outing, when the whole village came along with them.

After that lot, we went along for break, although it was only 1010, and Deutsch at 1030, and rather a difficult paper about a ghost story, when this fellow goes along to a party, and somebody tells a story. The hostess quickly breaks up the party, however, just as it was getting interesting.

The prose, however, was quite easy, but I will probably drop a few marks somewhere. Finished the whole paper in 40 minutes, and had 2 hours to do it in. Spent the rest of the time reading the other unseen.

After all that fun in the morning, in the afternoon, we had, as usual, corps(e).

The inspection was one of the longest I have ever had. I trow that it lasted a full half hour, and after that all our keys were taken in.

Then a bit of fieldcraft, and we did bugger-all. Lennox was the only fellow who did anything. By 1600 hrs he had to see Saies 3 times, Fuller twice, and Mansell and Nicolas once. Drill helped him in that, and we quite enjoyed ourselves.

After tea, we had some more stuff inside, thank God, and we did not do much, and all that really happened was that Saies blew Lennox up, and quite amusing was that.

Choral society meeting for tenors, and I had to find half of them.

Spent all of prep studying up physics. Even managed to get off russian, although it was the last lesson of term.

Tuesday, 17 March 1964	KCT
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Letter from Dad this morning. He wants me to send him a copy of my calculus and trig notes.

Exams again today. First of all physics, which was quite easy, and I even decided to have ago a the heat question, which was particularly easy.

Others were about pumping air into a tin can, etc, and proving Boyles law. We had that last summer, and I did it then as well. Also one about electromagnetic induction, which was quite easy, but the optics one was more difficult.

Very short break indeed, and I managed to find Skiv, but Green had my exeat. Anyway, I told him about it. Then french, and we had 2 hours to do the thing in.

One prose, and two unseens to do, but, although they were pretty easy, and I had them finished in about 40 minutes, I do not think I did exceptionally well in it. And it carried on until 1315, and we turned up late for lunch.

After lunch, I and to go over to Gatcombe to get my exeat, nobody was in the study, so I could not put my name in the exeat book, and I could not get my medical card from the general office.

Nevertheless, at about 1510, I set off to town, and on the way in left my watch to be examined, and then had a long wait in Mr. Philips waiting room trying to carry on a conversation with a fellow speaking Zumerzetese, and when I was finally examined, there was nothing wrong with me.

Collected my watch on the way back, and it was fixed, and no charge.

Callow has got his privelige - wonders will never cease. After that, had to have a revision, and I started writing out my coördinate geometry notes for Dad. Left at 1700 hours for a clarinet lesson, and quite enjoyed myself. When I got back, carried on, but only got about half of the straight line done.

In prep, however, I concentrated all my efforts in writing out the notes, as I did not really need to revise for chemistry. Carried on to 1915, and all of second prep on it. Pidler gave me 40 lines for asking if we could have the windows open.

Wednesday, 18 March 1964	KCT
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St Gabriel's Day

I read somewhere that this was St Gabriel's Day, but I can't find anything to confirm it in 2017.

Letter from Mrs Treays this morning. She is going to arrange it all for me, and I will probably be meeting her in London on 1/IV/1964.

This was the upcoming holiday in France.

Only one exam today - chemistry, and that was easy enough. Vb [class], however, as I suspected, had done it before, and so had to be given a different one. I had done the 1st question for Cookson, but it was one of those things that could crop up in my paper - 2 metallic, 2 nonmetallic oxides, and such rot.

We were only allowed to do 4 questions in all as we were only given 2 hours to do it in instead of 2½. Nevertheless, I had it finished in 1 hour, and spent the other hour checking, but discovered no mistake.

Our break coincided with normal break, and Chivers and I retired to a music room, where Lewis was displaying his new Conservatoire oboe. It really is a work of art.

After break, we had revision until 1300 hrs, and I spent about an hour of that time writing out the maths notes, and finished them - together with the 2 appendixs, it came to exactly 50 pages.

Then checked on the chemistry, on a couple of points about which I was doubtful, and discovered that I was right - I made substance melt at 112°, and the book says 112.8°, but I don't think he will worry about it. Finished Pidlars 40 lines after lunch, and then went out and got my musical instruments, and before long, Chivers shew his ugly mug, and came in and accompanied me on the piano to my flute et Clarinette, the last pièce being a crappy funeral march by Mozart, after which we both went and had a good crap.

St. Audries came at 1600, and were promptly taken to the black hut, where Cressy and mob gave a recital (if you call such things recitals).

After that, got down to the business of singing, and we are, thank God, getting somewhere at any rate. Barret was making a few dirty comments. After that, spent about 20 minutes tidying up chapel.

Supposed to revise for English lit in prep, but could not concentrate, read “The atomic neucleus[sic]”.

Thursday, 19 March 1964	KCT
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Not much happened today. No mail at all, although it was Thursday.

English literature was the first exam, and it was rather a hell of a stinker. Started off with a couple of content questions, which were themselves easy enough, but then the sort of “essay question”, in which you had to state your own opinion, and illustrate it, or give a narrative, or something like that.

That lasted an hour, and after that the break that we had, Divvers, which was yet more difficult. In the end, I went болшои [British English slang “bolshy”, i.e. contrary] and hot [?] down what I thought would sound interesting.

We had to do 10 questions in all, 5 context and 5 essay type, and it was too like English lit for my liking. However, on I went, taking one part from the Sunday service, then from various other sources, but very little from St Matthew or the acts of the Apostles. That farce finished at 1230, and I managed to borrow Hargraves oboe until lunch time, and had a bit of difficulty with the reed, which had no skin on it at all. However, I persevered.

After lunch, had to go to big school to see about end-of-term trains, and so on, and after that a wind band practice, in which we went through the whole of the 1st Suite in E♭ by Holst.

This took until about 1445, and after that I met up with Bott while changing, and he is getting rather annoyed about his amplifier.

It's unclear what the status was here. From memory he was never satisfied with the quality of the amplifier, but it's not clear whether this was my fault (in building it) or the fault of the supplier (in advertising it to be more than it was). But the previous diary entry suggests that I was happy with it.

Then turned up for pioneers, and quite enjoyed myself doing damn all.

Latin exam in the evening - not very easy, but not very difficult on the other hand. I think I did fairly well on the sentences, and the unseen seemed easy enough.

The prose was about Cassius at Philippi - just what one of the questions was about in english this morning.

When we got out, french was up - I came 4th with 62%. I feel that will probably get my 'O' level french.

On Hargraves oboe again after that.

Friday, 20 March 1964	KCT
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Exams over at last, and what a relief. Letter from Mum, saying nothing.

French first, and Skiv gave us back the papers. This is the time I hate - when I look at the results, all seems well and I seem to seem to have done exceptionally well. When we get out papers back, I suddenly realize that everybody did badly. Spent most of the time correcting.

Then PE, and we were playing basketball, and had quite a bit of fun, but I made a hell of a mess of it. Still, it is fun that way. Did not get changed until after the bell had gone.

When Mansell came into latin, he told us that he had only corrected our sentences. In these at any rate I did fairly well, and got 25/36, which was more than most people got.

After break, maths, and I discovered that I had not done my prep, but managed to get away with it. Spent some time talking about arithmetical progressions.

Chemistry, and Clod did not come in at all. Even posted Saies to look after us. Damn. I am all nervous about my results. I am sure I have not got over 98%.

After lunch, it was raining, and so the pioneers were given a free day. Started on some recorder practice, and had an hell of an argument with Hollier. Then in came Peyton-Jones on the pretext that it was more important for him to practice then for me. Then Ruscoe. Then Redfearn. In disgust, I gave up and went to the wireless club. Later met up with Chivers, went along to room 26, and heard his latest composition - a chorale in the Phrygian mode.

In the evening, deutsch, and got our papers back. The same comment applies as for french. That took up the whole period as well. Then english - came 8th in lit with 56.5%, and 7th in lang. with 70% - total of 60%, 4th for the lot.

Dr. Matthews lectures in the evening, and the 1st was quite interesting, but I had to miss the 2nd for choir practice.

Saturday, 21 March 1964	KCT
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Wireless World came today, but was not very interesting. I think I will give it up at the end of this subscription and get RTV&H instead.

After assembly, more Doctor Matthews, which was very interesting. Told the joke about the fellow who pushed the privy into the creek almost word for word as I heard it from Mum. I wonder if he heard it from that psychological bird that was staying with Mum & Dad last summer. It is quite likely. Apart from that, he told us how to let parents let us have girlfriends, but I don't think that will affect me.

Physics 3rd period. I came first in the trial run, with only 60%, as I had made rather a mess of it with bits all over the place, and nearly illegible.

After break, double music, and first of all we had a horn concerto by Richard Strauß, written for his father. Quite nice. After that, a thing by Benjamin Britten for voice and french horn. I don't know why the sudden emphasis is on the horn.

After that, nearly all the rest of the St John Passion in the second ½ of the period. Max was looking after us.

After lunch, paid for sweepstakes tickets, and turned up for pioneers earlier than I have ever done before. Made one mix, and were then asked to take some kerbstones round for them to lay, and were then allowed to knock off at only 1445 hrs - earlier than some times that I have turned up.

Then went along to a music room, discovered Chivers there, and got round to doing some flute practice. Then went to the tuck shop, blew 1/0 - and perambulated. After roll call, heard the Jeramiah Thing LP (by Cressy) and it is quite good. Will probably get it.

Flute lesson at 1700 hrs, and she gave me the Mozart andante to try - Gawd! How difficult can it get? Finished that farce at about 1800 hrs.

In prep, nobody came in until about halfway through. I spent the whole time reading some low german poetry.

Working on Botts amplifier in 2nd prep. Getting somewhere, anyway. Might be something to do with acoustical feedback.

Sunday, 22 March 1964	KCT
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BST BEGINS TODAY AT 0200 HRS. NO ACCOUNT TAKEN OF IT

Palm Sunday

In other words, I continued with GMT with the assertion that this was more consistent.

As usual, Mott to communion this morning, so I got up at 0710, and was down in the common room quite early. Had a shave, and still nobody turned up. All the bells seem to have gone funny - the breakfast bell went at 0745 this morning, 5 minutes late.

More like 65 minutes late if my assertion above was correct.

Not much in the Sunday Times this morning. I think I will try the Observer next term.

After breakfast did a bit of Blockflöte practice, and then chapel.

We started in big School, and sang 2 hymns and a gospel, and everybody was carrying about bits of grass in the shape of a cross. Then we processed into chapel, yelling our heads off, and quite enjoyed ourselves. Nobody recited [? Looks more like “rushed”] the Κυριε, so in the end TDH did it himself. Still, even though it finished at 1025 hrs, it was fun.

After that, went and had a look at Botts amplifier. I still thing that the thing has parasitic oscillations, arising in the phase splitter. However, I did not have much time to do anything. Tried to put an autotransformer in the PCR, but the steel chassis was too much for the drill.

After lunch, almost directly we had a choral society practice, supposedly at 1300 hrs, but actually at 1320. Went through the whole thing, [St John Passion] by which time it was 1545, and we were then sent away to have tea. Before long, however, we were called back to sing another one. After that we went along to the haircutting room, and Cressy and mob did their usual stuff, and the place was like a sardine tin with girls crawling in the windows, and showing through the door, and so on. What a crowd. In the end I hopped it, went and cleaned my shoes, and then along to the actual performance, and it started off very well indeed, although in some of the crowd choruses there was a bit of slipping.

The tape recordings came out very well indeed, but the wireless club was not allowed to make record out of it, as the Tape Recording society wanted it. Orgy going on in the study after supper.

Monday, 23 March 1964	KCT
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Practical television [magazine] this morning, and not particularly interesting.

French with Mlle. Soréreau for first period, and she intended to finish off Mlle. Perle, but as I guessed, she did not succeed. I don't know if we will have her again before the end of the term. I suppose that it is, on the whole, less dangerous than Skiv.

Double Physics, and Poop came in, sat down, and promptly blew us to Kingdom Come. He did a Mansell-type going over of every several mistake that we made, and there were more than several of these. Thank God he did not give us back our papers.

He made us read about light in 2nd period - or so he thought. In actual fact we spent all the time arguing about everything under the sun.

After break, french with Skiv, and all we did was carry on going over the exam paper.

Divvers was also rather boring, as he had not yet corrected our scripts, so we just looked up the context questions.

In the afternoon, yet again corps, and it was a lovely day for getting into a mess.

Had to run all over bushy Top. Marched all over the place, and finally ended up at bushy top firing our rifles (“unarmed combat”) at every bird in sight. Then came the difficult bit - the actual thing of crawling through all the bogs and sewers between Bushy top and the school.

Got ourselves absolutely sodden and my boots at any rate were absolutely waterlogged to such an extent that I could hardly move. Got back at 1430, having had a shower, and spent about 20 minutes working [washing?] it off.

In third period, had our rifles inspected, and then were taken to the Woodard lower. However, we did not do much. Just as I was going to sleep, we were allowed to go, and I went to the wireless club, where Bird was trying to rerecord the St John Passion, but something was wrong with his tape recorder.

1 hr Detention from Mott for exhortations.

Tuesday, 24 March 1964	KCT
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This getting up an hour early definitely does me no good, even if I do on the other hand get to sleep an hour earlier the night before.

Long letter from Mum to Bev, letter from Mrs Treays and one from Mrs Baudouy in the post, and the letter contained £2 as requested, and also some stamps. Mum is thinking of going to Portugal. I must persuade her to go to Germany instead.

In the morning, english was rather boring. In fact, I nearly went to sleep, but fortunately did not do so.

Then divvers, and we got our orders. What a shock! I came bottom with 26%. I only hope that it does not count towards form order.

In latin, and I came about middle, with 41%. Mansell reckons we should all pass

Maths went as maths always has - all we did was talk about a) Arithmetic progressions b) Geometric progressions and c) Infinite geometric progressions, all of which were quite interesting. Discovered how many bacteria one could get in a day from 1 - 4.69 × 10²¹. Not bad.

After lunch, did all the usual, and then to a music room to do some practice. Soon, Hollier kicked me out, and I went back to the common room.

At 1330, clarinet lesson, and more fun. Ended up playing bavarian dances, and so on, and quite enjoyed ourselves. Also did some recorder practice while waiting for Rose - Mr White seems quite interested in it.

After that, bought some food, and along to the wireless club. They want to use Bott's amplifier for the Steeplechase to tell everybody about what is going on there, with the 88 set arrangement from last week.

Double deutsch in the evening, and we went over the exam paper, and then in the second period, as I suspected, listened to some Lieder. Tomorrow we will apparently do even less.

More addresses from the Provost in the evening. Not very interesting.

In the evening, observing what Goddards reactions were to me saying my prayers. He was most astonished.

Wednesday, 25 March 1964	KCT
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No mail today. Spent most of my time arguing with Chaun, Green, Cookson. I must try to be less disagreeable in the morning.

In assembly, Clod was away, so Popsy said the prayers, then gave an announcement that, unless we stopped coughing in chapel, we would not get the promised ½ day tomorrow.

English first, and I had forgotten to do my prep. Nothing came of it, and we don't have any more english periods this term, thank God.

Latin, with Jones. He expounded his theory why the Roman empire finally fell. He took the whole period over it, but made us take a couple of diagrams down in our books.

Maths - more arithmetical, b) geometrical progressions. Had a test on it, in which I only got 8/10. Must buck up.

Clod did not, of course, turn up for Chemistry, as he was away, no doubt enjoying himself. Did little.

Then Deutsch. We got our end-of-term orders, and, Gott sei Dank, I came first with 78%. I wonder what my chances of getting the german prize are.

In the afternoon, we had a choir practice directly after lunch, and this took until 1330, when I went and did some flute practice. At 1400, back to the common room, and wrote a very long (2 airletter forms) letter to Mum, mainly on the subject of what part of Europe to go to.

Then went along to the Wireless club, and got into a conversation with Philips, and discovered that Wolacott had pinched a goodly portion of my QSTs.

After roll call, along to the Detention room, and discovered that Craven was taking it. What one hell of a laugh. Hardly stopped fooling all the time. One of the most amusing detentions I have had for a long time. Then to the wireless club, and demanded an explaination of why he had pinched my QST's. He will return them. Also tried putting a bridge rectifier, as the HT is only 150 V with the field coil of the loudspeaker. The voltage may be too high, but I think I might be able to regulate it.

Thursday, 26 March 1964	KCT
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Maundy Thursday

It's strange that we didn't observe this festival.

No mail again today. Allin [sic] all it was a rather boring day.

Double chemistry, fairly soon with Clod, and I discovered where I had lost my marks in the exam - I left out the fact that, when heated, Lead nitrate decrepitates. He can talk. He is decrepit himself, anyway. Even then, he did not give us our scripts back. “If you keep pestering me, you might get it”.

Then physics, and a) Poop gave us back our sheets b) he gave us out some recent Physics papers, and we spent the rest of the time filing them.

After break, French, and Skiv was apparently not feeling too happy, and as a result he did not test us on our prep, but, on the contrary, made us do some more. That lasted the whole period. At the end he told me that he wanted to see me at 1630 about my train tickets to France, which arrived yesterday.

Then maths. Arithmetic progressions, geometric progressions and infinite geometric progressions galore. That took up the whole period. Jimmy borrowed my slide rule, and was highly impressed thereby.

After lunch, no wind band, but had a choir practice in big School. That was a hell of a flop, and there were 27 treble notes, although there are only 23 trebles. This was soon over, and went to the tuckshop to buy some food, and was promptly repulsed by Week'es face blankly peering at me. Then down to watch the final of the senior house matches. Was called up by the C.R. committee, who were installing an amplifier/turntable into one of the C.R. scobs. They finally got it working reasonably. However, there is something wrong with the PU amps.

In the wireless club, finished rewiring the PCR-2 for 115 V operation.

Did I think I would need 115 V in France? It's possible that the British thought so, but I should have known better.

It seems to be going well enough so far. Then tried to tidy up my bench, and discovered that one of my screwdrivers was missing. We are having a general clear-out on Sunday, and I will probably find it then. Had to see Skiv at 1630, and he gave me a lot of pamphlets about seeing France by train, etc.

Reading quantum theory in prep.

Friday, 27 March 1964	KCT
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Good Friday

Good Friday today, but it was not as bad a day as Good Friday usually is. Got up at about 0530, and then downstairs, where quite a party was going on, and went along to do my watch of the passion at 0615, and carried on until 0745, and then got my robes, and robed up. We were not allowed to wear surplices, and as a result we looked pretty drab.

The actual ante communion was pretty average, and Kingcup did not improve the Passion (another St John's Passion). It must have been the time in the morning, but al our voices were about a 5th to an octave lower.

After that breakfast, and then the communion, which was compulsory for members of the choir. At least my voice was more in its usual pitch. Most annoying part was when we had to kiss the cross.

After that, latin, in which Mansell gave us our order, and then blew us up because we were all so low.

After break, Maths, and Jimmy gave us some problems to do. Had an argument about the result of one, and then I was given some 7 figure logs by Jimmy and told to do it myself.

Then early lunch, after which I did some a) recorder b) clarinet (with Chivers accompanying me on the piano) practice, with Chivers, and carried on like this until 1300 hrs. Then Chivers went for a run, and I oiled up my clarinet with his oil.

Then to the wireless club, and decided to test out Bott's amplifier, and in the end got hold of a record from May, and plugged that in, and it worked quite well. When we plugged in the signal generator, however, it started misbehaving. Might just have been the pot with it. Then listened in to some morse which Wragg was giving Philips, and after when roll call should have been, but wasn't, started trying to work out the design of a good communications reciever[sic], and had quite a bit of trouble about the coils, and remained undecided about what to do.

In prep, got permission, and started drawing the circuit, and got as far as the product detector and the AF stages, etc. Choir practice in 2nd prep, but after that managed to finish the circuit off.

Saturday, 28 March 1964	KCT
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Letter from Mum this morning, and she says that we have finally got hold of some land, and Dad intends to build 2 houses - 1 for us, and one for sale.

Not much happened after breakfast.

In latin, Mansell came in and told us all about Vesuvius, etc, and how they had started to excavate Pompei, and Herculaneum, and discussed at great length the methods they used to excavate them. Then went and got us SPQR, and gave me 2 in the hope that I might be able to make up a complete one out of them. Must be pretty horrible. Even he admits it.

French. Skiv came in at about 0925, and got us to work out the average age of the form. There were some queer results, as usual.

Physics was equally boring, and we spent the whole time trying to get some more old 'O' level papers, but I, at any rate, was absolutely unsuccessful.

After break, Music, and the Enigma variations by Elgar, and quite interesting they were.

This lasted the whole time but for a few minutes. Then the “William Tell” overture, by Rossini.

In the afternoon, tried to do some work on the comms receiver, but was interrupted by a mock court case. Then went an returned all 10 of my library books.

After rest, the steeplechase, and in the Junior Robinson iii came first, although by no means by such a margin as Daw did it last year .

In the seniors, Daw came 2nd only to Stewart, which is bloody good, especially considering that the fellow is only 14.7 [years old?] However, the Fox came 1st, even though only by 6½ points, which is apparently very close.

Then got Botts amplifier, packed it up, and took it and the speaker down to Mountlands P.O and posted it. After that, discovered that I had not put any address on the speaker, and must take a note down to Mountlands tomorrow.

In the evening, tidied up my bench, and then put a phone jack on the PCR, which automatically mutes the speaker, and managed to pick up MSF on 15 Mc/s - 1st time ever.

Sunday, 29 March 1964	KCT
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Easter Day

Bells galore today, as there were 2 communions. After the 0630 bell, only 4 highly irreligious people remained: Akhavan, Perryman, Rosser and myself.

Got up at 0705 hrs, and was out with the bell, as usual. Got down to the common room, and had my first game of billiards at this school, with Cookson at first, who was about as bad as I was, and then with Russell, who beat me hollow.

After breakfast, we had little to do, and I did a very little bit of collecting up some of my junk.

Chapel was pretty average - instead of the office hymn, we sang “This Joyful Eastertide”, which seemed to be the only recognition of the day. However, it lasted longer than usual. After that, along ot the wireless club and tidied up my stuff, and there had a bit of fun on the Short wave of the PCR, and got quite a few interesting things, and looked at the signals on the oscilloscope, but there were some odd clicks of very high intensity, which soon proved to be Wragg with the club signal generator connected up to the aerial, and tuning across the band. Damn him.

After lunch, got out our trunks from the hangar, and got down to the work of packing in earnest. Took me about an hour to clear out my scob, and to more or less transfer the contents of it into my trunk, which was in Big School.

Then got my stuff out of the dormitory, and put that in as well, and then went and had an hell of an argument with Matron about leaving clothes behind. Finally, however, she yielded, and I left quite a few things behind. Then along to the wireless club, and did a bit of morse practice, and made quite a few blunders into the bargain.

Then, at 1600 hrs, roll call, and as usual, my scob did not pass. I give up. Got my tickets from Skiv, and all that sort of things.

Chapel pretty average, except for the Halleluya chorus. Then the film, etc, which was very good - about a mob of criminals who coöperated with the police to catch an IPO mob. ended up in failure. “The wrong arm of the Law”.

House celebrations, and the usual sort of thing - Had about ½ gallon of cider.

Monday, 30 March 1964	KCT → Combeinteignhead
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Up at 0550 this morning, and got dressed and out of the dormitory as quickly as possible, and got various rather important documents, such as passports, tickets, etc, out of my scob, and money out of my trunk in order that I might have wherewithal to travel home.

Had little time for anything after breakfast, and when I was on the bus, I suddenly realised that I had left my ticket to Newton Abbot behind, and promptly borrowed 10/- from Atkinson, which I considered rather kind of him, and then got down to the business of loading all my stuff onto the train, which took a long time, but we did manage to get everything on.

The train journey itself was as boring as any train journey always is, and we did not even have any seats. Had half of Brown ii's packet lunch, as I had forgotten mine, and considered it kind of him.

Arrived in Newton at about 1000 hrs, and promptly rang up Mrs Baudouy, and she sent Van down to get us.

When we got there, everybody was, per usual, delighted to see me (ahem!), and it eventuated that Bev had already left, which I thought not very nice of her. However, there were a few interesting girls, whom I quickly became interested in, and before long nothing could have been further from my thoughts than Bev. Spent most of the time directly after lunch making sure that the PCR had not completely had it, and at the same time had an argument with Mr. Baudouy about the use of soldering guns, etc.

Then did a bit of reading, had a game of billiards with Gautam (in which I beat him 41-35), and so on, as I was at a rather loose end. Caroline caught me, however, delighted to see me.*

In supper, made aquaintance [sic] with Latifah Rahman - a very malay-sounding name, though Mrs Baudouy says that she is indian; and a few other people.

Parties seem to be the order of the evenings now, and we had one, in which Latifah insisted that I could twist, and we had quite a bit of fun.

Then spin the tray with numbers, and spin the bottle, but the battle was biassed [sic], and it kept going backwards and forwards between Michel and María. Changed the bottle, and I got the same sort of thing between Latifa [sic] and myself.

* See 7/IV/1963, bottom, but also 12/I/1964.

Tuesday, 31 March 1964	Combeinteignhead
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When Kirsten came in to wake me up this morning, I felt not at all well, owing to the capok [sic] in my mattress,

I suffered from various allergies in those days.

but I survived, and managed to get to up in time for breakfast, and this certainly seems to be a more popular meal than ever before. I wonder if it is Kirsten's influence.

After breakfast, went into the playroom and started reading, but soon heard that some people were going into town, and so went and persecuted Mrs. Baudouy, and managed to get £1··10··0 out of her. The times for going into town are also more punctual now, and we left only 10 minutes after the theoretical time of 0930.

Then I got into town, started off at Smiths, and bought “Teach Yourself Calculus” and “How to live with a calculating cat”, both of which were quite good, although the intention of the stem “calcul-” was rather different in each book.

Then bought a fuse for María for her tape recorder (she bought it in America, and tried to use it over here. Fuse blew immediately). Could not get exact replacement, but it worked. Also got a bottle of ink, and some plugs (5A) for use in the wireless club next term.

In those days, there were 4 different power plug sizes in the United Kingdom: 2 A, 5 A, 13 A and 15 A. Only the 13 A have survived.

In the afternoon, after a not-very-splendid lunch, just as I was proving to myself that I knew everything about calculus already, Pauline and Latifa insisted that I go to the flicks with them, and so I did. Got another 5/- from Mrs Baudouy to do so. Yet another Peter Sellers, in the same vein as the one on Sunday. About some nobleman who was in actual fact a hell of a pleb, working in cooperation with a girl whose husband was a policeman. In the end they got caught, but then managed to pin it onto the policeman, and he got 10 years for it. [Change of writing, added later] Called Pink Panther, after jewel.

Then back home again, and Cynthia was reflecting in all of her memories of the St John Passion. She tells me that 3 birds fell violently in love with me at first sight, but she has left the addresses in her trunk, which will not be coming until Friday. She did give me the names, though: Elizabeth Hennessy (brother at KCT), Susan Johnson, and Janet Peters. New boy came, and nervous of girls. Must fix him up. Gave Cynthia St. John passion score. Caroline seems to be carrying on with me - could get on with her - and Cynthia.

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