Throughout my younger years I attended a total of three schools & was ultimately expelled from two of them. Nothing serious, just a simple case of not believing there was a need to drag myself along every day & accept what they had to offer, all day, every boring, boring day. ( it was a good school too, we wore a fancy uniform & my parents actually paid for me to go there ).
Anyway, it all started with an obsession for French cinema. British films were nearly all based on dreary London West End theatre productions. The alternative was ( with a few exceptions ) American films with their artificial & superficial outlook on life. But France, ah, France ! they gave us Carne, Prevert, Duvivier, Renoir etc., they provided something much deeper, an art form, poetry & an imaginative vision of 'la Condition Humaine.'
There was a film, the title long forgotten, which I simply had to see. However there was also a problem, either I saw it on the Friday afternoon when I should be at school, or not at all. It was an easy decision, I went to the cinema.
Monday morning - a request that I report to the Headmaster's office.
" I know where you were on Friday afternoon " said he.
" Oh " said I
" You were at the cinema "
" Oh" said I again ( what else could I say ? )
" Do you know how I know you were at the cinema ?
" No Sir " ( someone must have squealed on me )
" Because you boys have nowhere to go in the morning, the cinemas are closed then.
Had you been away from school all day it's much less likely I would have had reason
to be suspicious regarding your absence."
Did he really say that ? Did he ? He did, although I still can't believe it.
Here goes, I try a full day off..........nothing happens, great !!
Then two days, eventually three days ( with the additional help of a ' sick note '
supplied by a friend ). This is fantastic !
And all the fault of the Headmaster too. It was his idea.
The whole world now lies before me, making discoveries, having adventures -
but more of that later - time for my Horlicks.
Anyway, it all started with an obsession for French cinema. British films were nearly all based on dreary London West End theatre productions. The alternative was ( with a few exceptions ) American films with their artificial & superficial outlook on life. But France, ah, France ! they gave us Carne, Prevert, Duvivier, Renoir etc., they provided something much deeper, an art form, poetry & an imaginative vision of 'la Condition Humaine.'
There was a film, the title long forgotten, which I simply had to see. However there was also a problem, either I saw it on the Friday afternoon when I should be at school, or not at all. It was an easy decision, I went to the cinema.
Monday morning - a request that I report to the Headmaster's office.
" I know where you were on Friday afternoon " said he.
" Oh " said I
" You were at the cinema "
" Oh" said I again ( what else could I say ? )
" Do you know how I know you were at the cinema ?
" No Sir " ( someone must have squealed on me )
" Because you boys have nowhere to go in the morning, the cinemas are closed then.
Had you been away from school all day it's much less likely I would have had reason
to be suspicious regarding your absence."
Did he really say that ? Did he ? He did, although I still can't believe it.
Here goes, I try a full day off..........nothing happens, great !!
Then two days, eventually three days ( with the additional help of a ' sick note '
supplied by a friend ). This is fantastic !
And all the fault of the Headmaster too. It was his idea.
The whole world now lies before me, making discoveries, having adventures -
but more of that later - time for my Horlicks.
) .
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