'A Grandfather's Tale: Memoirs being mainly concerned with service in the Indian Army and the Indian Political Service in India and the Persian Gulf from 1932-1947' [‎5v] (10/118)

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when we first arrived at St. Margaret's Leytonstone Vicarage the
one acre garden was a wilderness, and apart from uree^, including owo
handsome may trees on either side of the front door, there seemed nothing
but a forest of Jerusalem Artichokes and a mass of marigolds. I enjoyed
claying cowboys and Indians amongst the artichokes but never to this day
have I overcome my aversion for artichoke soup and the smell of marigolds.
Fairly soon the lawn in front of the house was cleared and we played
cricket on it with a hard ball. My elder brother Derek made me do most of
the bowling and one day contrived to hit a ball over our tall fence, through
the open kitchen window of the house nextdoor, and into a cup of tea which
our neighbour was about to drink. No one was hurt and no great harm done,
but for some weeks after the Vicarage boys were not very popular.
About that same time my father took us children to see the film
’’The Way of An S a gle M by Ethel M. Dell. It was a dramatic film about the
North West Frontier of India, but we all, including my father, laughed
so much in the wrong places that had he not been the local parson I think
we would have been thrown out of the cinema.
That same evening my two sisters, brother and I decided to re-enact
the story for the benefit of my mother and aunt who had not seen the film.
All went well until halfway through my mother discovered that the small
"baby" being hurled about in casual fashion was not a doll but my small
brother Patrick, then only about six weeks old. However he successfully
survived the drama and we were forgiven.
In September 1921 I went to Christ's Hospital to the Preparatory
School (Prep A). I won a few prizes but my chief claim to fame was in
scoring two tries, out of three-in the Rugger Cup Tie with our rivals
Prep B whom we thereby defeated. My brother Derek, six years older than
I, had gone straight into the Senior School in 1918, qualifying by open
examination, and he left in December 1922. I followed him into Barnes B,
my senior house, in January 1923, after only four terms in the Prep, at
the tender age of 10-J. From Prep B at the same time came Cosmo Goodchild,
also the son of a parson, and we remained lifelong friends, and his only
child, Frances Susan, is my god-daughter.
"The Religious, Royal and Ancient Foundation of Christ's Hospital"
was founded in 1532, and the first children admitted on the 23rd November
of that year, though the Boy King Edward VI did not sign the Foundation's
Charter until the 26th June 1553, only ten days before his death. The
uniform of long blue coat, black knee breeches and yellow stockings is
still worn, a modified version of the original Tudor apprentice's garb,
and the boys are very proud of it. I must confess, however, that in my
first two years there, when we still lived in the East End of London, it
was something of an ordeal for a small boy returning from or to School to
endure the taunts of the local lads of "Ya, Yalla stockings" or "Cowardly
cowardly custard, His legs are made of mustard", and as soon as I got home