A cascading cornucopia of cool comics, crazy cartoons, & classic collectables - plus other completely captivating & occasionally controversial contents. With nostalgic notions, sentimental sighings, wistful wonderings, remorseful ruminations, melancholy musings, rueful reflections, poignant ponderings, & yearnings for yesteryear. (And a few profound perplexities, puzzling paradoxes, & a bevy of big, beautiful, bedazzling, buxom Babes to round it all off.)
Thursday, 1 June 2017
SCHOOLTIME SCANDALS - PART FIFTEEN: The LITTLE DRUMMOND BOY...
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| Me and David in primary school in 1967, though the following tale happened in secondary circa '72/'73 |
It was in one of the annexed huts at the far end of the school one day that the following event occurred. The subject was music and this particular hut was used as the 'music hut' on a permanent basis. As we took our seats, the teacher decided to 'take' the register, and began calling out each pupil's name and ticking them off in turn upon receipt of a "here" in response to the announced appellation.
Jimmy Riddle - "here". Billy Bigballs - "here". Johnny Jumpstart - "here". And so it went, until she got to DAVID DRUMMOND's name. Now, I should mention that David was a quiet, studious boy, who never got into any kind of trouble as far as I was aware. The teacher must have known this, so her reaction to what happened next was completely unjustified in regard to poor Davey.
When she called his name - David Drummond - David replied "here", but he wasn't the only pupil to do so. As his "here" ended, suddenly another one sounded from somewhere in the room - "here" - and then another - and another - until it was echoing all around the class. It went like this - David Drummond - "here", "here", "here", "here", "here", "here" - about a dozen or more times from various points of the room in a 'living stereo surround-sound' effect that was truly impressive.
Teacher was incandescent with rage. "Drummond - you're the ringleader - get out here now!" Bewildered, Davey trudged out to her desk, whereupon, if I recall correctly, she belted him with the tawse and sent him back to his seat in abject shame for something he hadn't done. Naturally, we felt bad for him - his fate was utterly undeserved - but it'd been funny to hear the word "here" bounce around the room and to see the teacher take an apoplectic fit over it, even if she had belted an innocent boy.
I thought the result of each individual "here" in close succession to one another sounded extremely musical - very King's Singers in effect, so I'm not sure why Teacher reacted in the way she did. You'd think she'd have been proud of our daring initiative in forming a class 'band' - even if it was only for a short, one-off performance.
Teachers, eh?! I just hope David can look back and laugh about it now. It was a classic moment that deserves to be remembered, though I guess you had to actually be there to appreciate it in the same way that I do. (Which I probably wouldn't had I been the one belted.)

