Appendix 3. More memories (in the order received) #
From Chris Calladine, regarding instructions given to Danny Taylor:
“Yes, Roy Lubbock was the senior Fellow and the Engineering don (since 1919). As told me by someone (possibly Danny), he told Danny not to worry too much about super-vising engineering students, but to put his back into coaching the VIII. Roy told me that when he saw the Ladies' plate which you brought to the college, he immediately recognised it: it stood on his housemaster's mantle-piece when he was a new boy at Eton!” (Note: Eton won the Ladies in 1893 - 99, again in 1904 – 05 and in 1910 - 12.)
Ian Dodds responded to the draft of this opus as follows:
“Hard work and commitment—basic Fairbairnism and mileage make-eth champions; philosophy of “anything worth doing is worth doing well;” success breeds success—after the Fours and Fairbairn, Peterhouse really had something to work towards and prove; effective but non-coercive leadership from Brian O and Danny T—the best leadership is that which is least obvious; and underpinned by a good second boat in 1954 and 1955.”
On a more personal note:
- Broke oar early in a Tideway Race which caused it to flap ineffectually for the remainder of the race but the boat still did well---proved something. Ernie lettered it up following the Fairbairn and it is still on the wall at home fifty years later after perhaps 30 house moves. (B: That was the London R.C. Colleges regatta on a dark and stormy night. We still came away with the medals.)
- Attending a late afternoon Special Lecture on Quantum Mechanics after a double outing—being woken by the Guest Lecturer asking “would the person sleeping on the back row please leave!”
- As a first year PhD student an interview in the autumn of 1955 with Professor Mair (Thesis Supervisor and Head of Aeronautics Dept) who suggested that rowing was an activity suitable for undergraduates but quite unsuitable for postgraduates being paid to work on cutting edge Aeronautical Research---however this offered an easy non-confrontational way of getting Martin Bartlett into the Boat which was clearly critical to the subsequent successes.
- Josephine on the towpath even for early outings—she soon became the mascot of the boat. We all fell in love with her just a little.
- Arriving at Red Lion (Staines) after an all day row from Reading and then going straight to bed without dinner or even a beer—unprecedented - never been so tired!
(B: Now I remember that Ian stepped in for ‘56 Reading and didn’t slow us down.)
- Painful boils on my backside at Henley (‘57?) carefully dressed by “soon to be Dr. Hewlett”.
Howard Leach, a stalwart of the club for four years and Captain in ‘54/‘55 :
“I witnessed the build-up to that year firsthand. Coming up in ‘51, 1 had never having rowed before. Bob Elphick was Captain and I remember him sitting me in a bank tub and explaining to me how to get a bell note. Legend has it that I got one on my first try, but I don’t remember that. I acquired a copy of “Steve Fairbairn on Rowing”, and almost memorized it.
When paddling firm we punched the blade in with our legs as hard as we could and then held the drive for as long as we could. No saving ourselves for later. Nowadays it would be called “interval training”. We didn’t worry about how we looked, and if we wanted to we turned our heads to watch our blades enter the water; maybe because of this our balance was terrible and it should be discouraged except for beginners. I made it to the 1st May boat that year, and I considered it to be a great honour. The following year I was in the Lent boat that won its oars to go up to 7th place. I didn’t row in the Mays, because I wanted to get a first in Mechanical Sciences, which I accomplished.
I firmly believe that it was the “palace revolution” and the adoption of the Fairbairn style in ‘48, as practiced by Jesus, that enabled the club to reach the point that the achievements of the ‘55-56 crew were possible. But it needed the hard work, “smarts” and dedication of that crew to achieve what they did. We owe the ‘48 people a debt of gratitude. Peterhouse needs a style of rowing that is reasonably efficient and can be mastered by beginners quickly. But the subsequent captains and crews that maintained and embedded that tradition also deserve thanks. Because of that Peterhouse crews did well. Rowing was fun and we expected to win. I understand the ‘56 crew tightened up their entry into the water. They could do that because they were already experienced.
Other colleges didn’t follow our lead. Lady Margaret was the dominant club in that period and they had an exaggerated lay-back at the end of their stroke. Some said that they did that so they could shake the drips off the end of their oars! They had no trouble maintaining their headship of the Mays and were the dominant force in the Blue Boat. So their way became the fashionable way. Jesus and Peterhouse were the exceptions.
I became Captain of Boats for the ‘54-55 year and Brian Oxley became Secretary. We shared a room on H-staircase. We were the same age, but Brian had come to Peterhouse two years later than me. He had been doing his national service with the S.A.S. in the Malayan jungle, with a gun in his hand, expecting to be shot at, while I spent my time enjoying life at Peterhouse. His last expedition prior to getting into a boat at P.B.C. was on a bamboo raft!. The S.A.S. were a pretty tough bunch! Maybe this had something to do with our subsequent success.
I remember suggesting to Martin Bartlett, who had just come up, having distinguished himself at Radley School, that he should aim to get a Blue, and that to do that he needed to win the Colqhouns. He did that and got his blue. I think Mike Smith should have got one too. He was heavy, and he was probably considered "rough", but if you looked at his oar during his stroke, you could see that it was bent back nearly double!
Brian was studying Natural Sciences. But he was a fine musician, having been on the first desk of a national youth orchestra. Wherever he went he assembled a string quartet, and I enjoyed many “concerts” in our room. Gordon Hewlett, who was a choral scholar and later stroke of the ‘56 crew, also played in the quartet. Brian tried to persuade me to join them and play the clarinet part in Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet, but I felt that my clarinet playing wasn’t up to that. I often replay a recording of it to this day, now on my iPod! Once I did play Chopin’s Waltz in C# minor on the piano at a College concert attended by the Master, P.C.Vellacott. My performance was rather heavy handed and expressionless, a fact that was pointed out to me by a member of the boat club. Many years later a piano teacher told me that there are a hundred ways to play a note on a piano, but mine wasn’t one of them! I also played saxophone and clarinet in an undergraduate dance band.
By the May 1955 term I was exhausted from rowing -- it was my fourth year in the 1st boat – so I stood down and coached the 1st and 2nd boats instead. We concentrated on carrying through a strong entry to a strong finish. The 1st boat was a disappointment. I remember asking Martin Bartlett what he thought was wrong. He kindly suggested that they needed me in the boat. I wasn’t a heavyweight and I didn’t think that I would have been that much more effective than whoever replaced me.
The 2nd boat was another matter. I had been coaching them all year and they were a great crew. By the end of the May term I felt they were as fast as the 1st boat. They won their oars in the Mays. The subsequent merging of the 1st and 2nd boat crews must have given the ‘55-56 year a tremendous start. At the reunion 10 years ago I was talking to Dave Nelson. He was a big guy who was in that 2nd boat. When I spoke to him he was a US Federal Appeals Court Sixth Circuit justice, and had been considered for the US Supreme Court. He remembered me as the coach.
After the Mays I left Cambridge to do my national service in the Royal Navy and handed over the captaincy to Brian. That gave him the chance to take over for Henley and to prepare for the following year.
It was while playing in the band at Homerton College’s Christmas Ball that I met Jo, who was one of the organisers. I introduced her to Peterhouse. She was an attractive, vivacious girl, as Ian Dodds has remembered. I fell for her -- and not just a little. But Jo decided that Brian was the one. They were married soon after the end of that year, and are still together today, as I write, fifty years later.
[Comment: Howard’s remarks on the ‘55 Mays 2nd boat are important. Members of that crew may recall a trial sprint in Long Reach, when they beat the 1st boat. Danny was dismayed! It says a lot about the overall strength of the club that we had two such good eights on the water at the same time. That 2nd boat bumped the sandwich boat, Trinity Hall 3, on the first night, then 1st & 3rd 3, Selwyn 2, Christ’s 2 and Caths 2. From that strength, we drew Gordon and Robert for Henley, then Ted Jackson , Ian Dodds and David Harper the following year. Riches indeed!]
From David Harper, regarding our arrival at LRC after rowing down from Reading:
“We arrived before lunch. As bow, I was the first to arrive. A boatman hurried down the hard, yanking on his waders as he came, and grabbed my blade to pull us in – not tenderly as Ernie would have done. Perhaps because we weren’t expected until the next day, he asked “What kept you?”
From Bob Beresford, about Reading and other matters:
“I saw quite a bit of the boat club when I was in the army in 1956 stationed at Arborfield six miles south of Reading, you asked me to find accommodation for the head of the river crew and a little pub called The Rising Sun in the middle of Reading, which I knew, proved suitable. I was on the towpath for the race, and unknown to me I had suddenly been put on a weekend guard, chums substituted for me and came out to tell me and I made a rapid return to substitute at the Saturday evening guard for the man who had answered to my name on the Friday. I also cycled over to Henley a few times and remember Mrs Hammond, someone introduced me to Jack Beresford [famous in the history of British rowing!] on the towpath, a most courteous man, and I met Tom Askwith of course, to whom I was delighted to chat at "gatherings" in the late 'nineties. I was unable to get to the final, alas!”
* *
Additions welcome from all years - for a final version #
(Paragraph – illustrative of the times – preferably funny)