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Reminiscences - Ian Henley
JJ Dawson was the scout master during the seventies and did
a noble job at interesting and leading the motley troop. His life was
made more complicated when an anonymous scout managed to get to grips
with a bottle of scotch in the time between close of school and the
start of the scout meeting, which encounter ended with a visit to the
stomach pump. Known with some affection as Bat (it turned out that at
his previous school his nick name was Spook, which is a bit of a
coincidence) he did a lot of good things, and led camps to
Northumberland and the Lake district which I attended. One day he
turned up at my front door for some reason and my mother welcomed him
with a cheerful "Hello Mr Batson."
Fortunately for me there were some excellent teachers at
Victoria College during my sixth form years who helped me a great
deal. Alan Blythin, somehow inspired an interest in the mystery of
physics which came as quite a surprise to me, and him as well I
think! Fred Lang was a gifted mathematician and physicist (as well as
squash player) who alone could solve many of the Oxbridge entrance
questions we were puzzling with. I shall never forget the day he
integrated the mathematical expression sec (to the sixth power) theta
d theta in his head. This feat provoked euphoria, wonder, disbelief
and amazement from the Oxbridge and Imperial hopefuls, including the
likes of Steven Richard, John Perchard, Neil Hunt and Richard Le
Sueur. Perhaps the best of all was John Le Breton, a really wonderful
mathematics teacher, who memorably summed up his work as "driving in
the golden nails of education."
I also remember James Martland's English Literature classes
as being among the most memorable and revelatory experiences of my
life as the works of Elliot, Shakespeare and Bronte were all brought
vividly to life.
I shall also never forget Doctor Hill... a man who amply
demonstrated that the possession of a PhD is no sure indication of
the possession of brains.
PS
The answer to Fred Lang's incredible integral is one fifth
tan (to the fifth power) theta plus two thirds tan (to the third
power) theta plus tan theta plus c... I told you I would never forget
it!!!
Ian Henley
Ian Henley left Victoria College in 1977 to read Natural
Sciences at St Catharine's College Cambridge. He joined IBM where he
worked in sales and management, before joining a software house in
1993 where he was commercial director. In 1998 he founded Contact to
ContRact, a company which provides specialised services to the IT
software and services sector. He is married with two boys and lives
in Totteridge in North London.
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