Saturday 9 July 2016

1968 and all that

Photo by John Walmsley

Guildford School of Art - I am the 16 year-old seated on the far right. Jack Straw is the one in the thick glasses at the table.

24 comments:

  1. You were a handsome brute ..... Did you have your pick of the ladies ? XXXX

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    1. The one leaning up against the wall fancied me, but I was terrified at the time. Oh to have my present mind implanted in the young body.

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    2. Haha !!!!! If only we knew then what we know now !!!
      By the way ..... You have aged beautifully and are still a handsome brute !!! XXXX

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  2. I had a lot of fun when I was 16

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    1. I had O Levels, immediately followed by A Levels...

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    2. I had O-Levels (2) followed by angst.

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    3. So you left school and home at 16? It seems so young to be thrown into the world. But maybe in a society where children were sent to boarding school attitudes were different.

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    4. I left home at 15. In those days, people could afford to.

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  3. Hands up all in favour.... but not Mr Stephenson. I wonder why?

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    1. I think that they were all asking permission to speak. I did very little - if any - speaking.

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  4. I was 14 at this time....I would have thought you were so cool. You didn't feel cool and as you rightly say it would be so interesting to have our present mind in our one time body. I was thin with no boobs and long dark hair and never thought any man would ever find me attractive...my ma used to tell me to hold my shoulders back and smile and that any boy would be lucky to have me but I didn't believe her...those teenage years can be cruel indeed. ps what was Jack Straw like?

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    1. We should have met - I liked skinny girls with long, dark hair and no boobs, in fact, a few years after this I made a point of going for just that sort, though a little older than 14. My tastes became wider a little while later. I have no recollection of Jack Straw at all, aside when I was introduced to him, it was with his successor - a man called Digby Jacks. I recall making a joke about all NUS leaders having to have the word 'Jack' somewhere in their name.

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    2. I find we are similar in odd ways. I had crush on Sandy Shaw you can't believe.

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    3. It's much easier to have wider tastes.

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  5. Still putting their hands up to answer a question - that shows it wasn't yesterday.
    What ever happened to Jack Straw?

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    1. I seem to remember he had something to do with New Labour... There was a lot of talking then - 23 hours a day, literally.

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  6. The mature student with the bald head looks a bit out of place

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    1. I am told (I didn't remember) that he was the legal advisor to the NUS.

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  7. The thought of 8 year olds boarding at prep school just makes me so sad.

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  8. I remember the man of straw standing on a wall in Blackburn to be above the crowd of ten during an election
    because he woke me up with his megaphone at an early hour . . . I went back to sleep. I'm ashamed I didn't go out and heckle.

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