Was at Forest Hill School between January 1972 (I joined in Year 4, arriving from Bulgaria with no English) and 1975 school year (when I left the Upper Sixth). My house was Browning; cannot remember the Tutor Group, though a Mr Newberry (PE teacher) rings a vague bell.
Head was a Mr Philips (Phillips?), a trad aloof teacher with a toga and mortar board. Deputy was renowned Darwinian scholar David Stanbury, very lively and friendly. He was consultant to a late 70s BBC series on Darwin’s journey with The Beagle. After his mid-1990s death, his heirs bequeathed a large collection of papers to Christ’s College, Cambridge. A related bright spark was a Mr (hmm-m… “N” rings a bell…), an early-30s chap who taught Biology and researched the biology of pain and the fruit fly Drosophila.
English masters were Mr Dawes and Wally Knight, both nearing retirement and both thoroughly excellent. There was also a much younger master, Mr Conti.
History was taught by 30-ish Welshman Jones plus a picaresque 35-ish years old geezer, Alec Richardson. Alec was a Trotskyist and regularly came to work nursing picket line injuries. Two national broadsheets ran obituaries on his early death some years ago. A very right-wing guy called Noble (ahem… possibly) headed the department.
Maths was a shambles. A new building was inaugurated for the subject in 1973 but there was a shortage of teachers. Lacklustre staffers Gubby and Nagy found an Indian teacher called Mr Patel (incredibly fond of cricket) but too late to make any difference to our dismal O-Level showing.
The Sidcup Bypass runs mentioned by others above were over by my time. I recall very comfortable Clarkes of Penge (latterly “of London”) coaches to the sailing boat centre on Raven’s Ait or Crystal Palace facilities.
Odd characters included Francis, known as “Biff” because of his habit of initialling homework with his initials BIF. Biff’s assistant (?) as head of Browning House (?) was a short red headed chap (Colins?) who was forever bemoaning democracy and praising Franco. There was a very aristocratic Russian émigré lady part-timer called Mrs Behr who taught some RE and some Russian to them as wanted it. I also remember the short and lively Colin Finbow who later scored a BBC documentary and some short art movies. Drama was headed by a discretely camp, tall, dignified guy whose name escapes me. His colleague was a flamboyantly dressed tiny lady of a certain age who enjoyed intellectual after-hours discussions, possibly in a local pub. Librarian up in “the UFO” was a Miss Cadell (sp.?).
Fellow students included Simon Steyne, a firebrand with the Schools’ Action Union and later the NUSS, supporter of the numerous teacher strikes of the early 70s. He co-organised the 12 May 1972 school students’ strike directed against school uniforms and much else. Evgeny Daynov, a fellow Bulgar from the year under mine, went on to rank top in the 1979 Tripos at Oxford and is today a political commentator in Bulgaria (where both he and I returned to live). Others I recall were Ralph Meopham, Keith Madden (larger than life, fun, good natured), Ian Goode (a great Black guy whose dad was a School Governor), Brian Weston (amazing homemade cartoon movies), Gerry Waterman (choice Bonfire nights), Tony Price, Paul Scarrott, Bob Hewer (unusually well versed in Northern Irish politics)…
The Sixth Form Forum was a weekly fixture. I recall talks by local MP Chris Price, Spanish Civil War veteran Peter Kerrigan and (then) Goodies’ star Bill Oddie. The Forum was held at Sydenham Girls’ School on alternate weeks.
Also recall the annual Open Evenings to recruit students (I was regularly asked to skin and dissect frogs) and the Sports Days held in the dying days of Summer Term.
The School was still a leader among comprehensives. The shine had begun to wear off and bullying was rife (mainly the “gis tuppence” variety), but the BBC still regularly scouted the School for quiz show and discussion programme participants.
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