A new boy at F.G.S.

... and one had to complete it. At first sight it intrigued me and I spent the whole of the vacation on it to finally solve it. Christmas presents meant nothing compared with this. My parents had no idea what I was doing, or why. I wrote my solution on a piece of paper and gave it to Mr. Ingham as soon as we went to our places. That is the last I ever saw of it, and I was asked for sixpence for the Easter Lumen. I was quite stunned and paid for all Lumens until I left. I now know, and am certain of this, that I was the only person in the School, both pupils and staff, who did this puzzle and no doubt I was regarded as having cheated.

This episode tells a lot about the School which was an 'examination-passing machine'. In any subject a pupil who shone was labelled, "OK - he(or she) is alright and will pass." The sign of a good school is that bright children are encouraged and taught more advanced work in that subject. Fred Liston, a year ahead of me, took nine subjects at the Matriculation examination (pre-School Cert, '0' Levels, etc.) and got a distinction in all nine. I knew him well and he told me that on entering the Sixth-Form Mr. Wilson told him, "Well, Liston, you are on your own now, there is nothing else we can teach you." We both took mathematics degrees at Manchester, he a year ahead of me, and both got First Class Honours. My course was non-stop and lasted just twenty-seven months.

At Primary School the final year teacher, "Paddy" Wilson, recognised my arithmetical ability and taught me several difficult techniques which I mastered and could do. Later in the Mathematics Department of the University where I worked, I asked if anyone of the thirty-odd members had heard of and learned these methods - not one had. They are given and explained in "Advanced Arithmetic" by Davenport.

I shall regard "Paddy" Wilson as the best teacher I ever had, for I was learning these methods when I was only nine.

At FGS, Mr. Richardson was the most enthusiastic teacher and Scout leader.

I had Mr. Holgate for French for just one year in the Sixth Form. He was a very good teacher and I still have his notes. How many Old Boys, or Girls remember Mr. Holgate’s poetic, algebraic mnemonic:*

"A squared, E
M, N, P
R squared, S, T, V.”

- for French verbs taking “etre” in the past tense, it goes from "aller, arriver", etc. to "venir"

* [Note from Les Rothwell….Mr. Rigby still used that same mnemonic when he taught us in the late forties/early fifties].

So, I really did solve that puzzle in 1933, it rankles to this day. Needless to say my specialism was "Numerical Mathematics" and I wrote a book on it.