Staff nicknames

Author: Graham Johnson, with thanks for all the suggestions from various contributors whose names I would have liked to list here had I thought to record them. More recent contributions have come from David Young, Dave Day, Emrys Williams and Frank Halliday with Arthur Spencer supplying a long list of nicknames from the 1945–1952 period.

Reading through old magazines or the newsletters or looking on the internet, one gets to see some interesting nicknames for the teaching staff. Ones based on names are inevitable (such as 'Wardie' for Joan Ward or 'Kev' for Dave Kevill) but others are more interesting. Some of the names persisted across year groups and were in widespead use and so will be known to many, others may have been limited to a particular group of pupils in one year and so recognisable to just a few. It seemed it might be worth featuring some of them in a spirit of entertainment and amusement.

Readers are welcome to supply futher nicknames but it would be appreciated if they were actually genuine! Please contact the website.

Teacher	Nickname	Comments
Mr Akhurst	Bonk	Mr Akhurst was known as 'Bonk'. The initial suggestion was that this was because he was bald but it has since been suggested that the true origin of the nickname was the 'bonk, bonk, bonk' sound he made playing cello in the school orchestra pre-war. He was known for being a strong disciplinarian.
Mrs Bland	Blue Bland	Mrs Bland was teaching Drama in the early 1970s and picked up her nickname from Blue Band margarine.
Mrs Braithwaite	Bomber	For some reason Mrs Braithwaite, a Biology teacher at the school in the late 1970s and 1980s seems to have picked up the nickname 'Bomber' with some. It is though it might have been a comment on the way she road to school on a bike.
Mr Briggs	Basher	Graham Briggs was a boys P.E. teacher. It has been suggested the name 'Basher' probably came about through his use of the plimsoll to enforce discipline, though a quick trawl of the net throws up quite a few men named 'Basher' Briggs so it may be more to do with the surname.
Mr Bruyneels	Bruiser	Mr Bruyneels was the sports master from 1945 to 1950.
Miss Capewell	Issy	Miss Capewell, the 'formidable Senior Mistress' up until c. 1950, was known as Issy, short for Isobel.
Harry Champion	Chumps	Harry Champion, who became headmaster in 1943, was known as Chumps.
T.B. Child	Tibby	A pre-war teacher who returned briefly in 1945.
Mr Clark	Nobby	A Mr Clark who taught Maths from around 1950, perhaps in his first appointment, was almost inevitably known as Nobby.
Peter Clark	Clarkie	An obvious nickname but one in universal use for Peter Clark, who joined as a Geography teacher in 1968 and remained with the school for 35 years till his retirement in 2003.
Mr Darren	Dylan	A tall Scots Geography teacher with wavy hair and droopy moustache who joined the school around about 1975/6. He looked like Dylan from the Magic Roundabout.
Mr Davis	Dotty Crotchet	Mr Davis taught music at the school back in the 1930s.
Mr F.E.F. Doubleday	Dubs
Sam Elengorn	Sam	Not a nickname as such, but Mr Elengorn was known by his real first name.
Mavis Emery	Emma	Mavis Emery joined school in the 1930s and remained for many years.
Miss Fothergill	Fothers
Tom Foye	Foye Boy	My Foye joined the school to teach Biology around 1979. A young teacher with a great appreciation of the finer traditions of classroom discipline such as making pupils stand on the benches during lessons.
Dr Frankel	Frankenstein	Dr Frankel taught science in the 1970s and 1980s and also ran the school orchestra on its rare appearances. His nickname was somewhat inevitable.
Dr Galin	Solly	Dr Galin is referred to everywhere as 'Solly'. A suggestion that his first name was Solomon would solve the mystery of where the name came from, but it has since been suggested by more than one person that it was actually Simon.
Mr Gregory	Gregory Pick, Jolly Green Giant	Tall English teacher, who also ran the Lower School library, with quite a bark on him. Unfortunately it is undeniable that he did pick his nose an excessive amount, hence the nicknames.
Miss Henderson	The Hen	The Hen was a nickname for Miss Henderson, though apparently comparitively rarely used.
R.L. Hudson	Harry, Pockets	The name 'Harry' seems to have been in widespread use, though not to his face, but it would be appreciated if someone could suggest how it originated. He was also known as 'Pockets' because of the poacher pockets on his suit which seemed to hold a vast array of items.
Mr Hall	Chunky	Mr Hall succeeded 'The Bruiser' as gym and sports master in 1950.
Miss Haswell	Jean	Miss Haswell taught English.
John Hulley	Action Eyes, Invisible Man	It was noted by many over the years that John Hulley had rather active eyeballs. 'Action Eyes' were features of dolls being made around the time he was headmaster. He was rarely seen apart from when he took assembly leading one group of sixth-formers to refer to him as 'The Invisible Man'. Another group had a slightly more derogatory name for him which was a pastiche of the way his name appeared on letters and signs: 'J.R. Pillock, B.A'.
Mr Jenkins	Honey Monster	Mr Jenkins joined the school around 1975/6. He had short red or ginger hair if memory serves correctly. For some reason he was thought to resemble The Honey Monster from the Sugar Puffs advert.
Dave Kevill	Kev	Mr Kevill taught Latin, German and Russian at the school from the 1950s to the early 1980s and was latterly the Senior Master and Dean of Boys at the Upper School. 'Kev' is perhaps an obvious nickname but nonetheless worthy of note because not every teacher gets to have one.
Mr Leeming	Lemon	Mr Leeming took German and French in the 1940s and 1950s.
George Locke	Gus	'Gus' Locke was a long serving teacher who joined the school in the 1930s. He was Head of English and wrote the original words of the school song.
Jack Long	Jack	Jack Long was known by his first name, so not a nickname as such.
Peter Matthews	Stan, Dougal	Peter Matthews joined the school c. 1980 as one of the senior staff. The surname Matthews instantly meant he was known as 'Stanley' leading to 'Stan The Man' or most simply 'Stan'. To other pupils he was known as 'Dougal' because of the similarity between his hairstyle and the Magic Roundabout character.
Ted McLeay	Mac, Macky	Ted McLeay, head of the Lower School for many years from the 1960s into the 1980s, was universally known as 'Mac' or 'Macky'.
Stuart Moye	Ratty, Sweeney Boy	Mr Moye was known to a group of pupils as 'The Sweeney' or 'Sweeney Boy' ('Sweeney Todd, Flying Squad' gave rise to 'Sweeney Boy, Mr Moye'). Mr Moye taught Geography in the 1970s and 1980s and also ran the railway club. Memory suggests he always wore the same blue suit. Pupils following a few years behind apparently called him 'Ratty' because he looked like a rodent.
Mrs Noye	Wobblehead	Mrs Noye took English in the late 1970s and the nickname came about simply because her head wobbled as she spoke.
Anne Owers	Chad	Anne Owers was head of French in the 1960s and for some reason was known as 'Chad'.
A.J. Quartermaine	Q	Long before the James Bond films, the school had its very own 'Q'. He seems to have been known to everyone as that.
Dr Rogers	Podgy	Dr Rogers, who was apparently well built, taught English up until his death around 1948.
Phillipa Smith	Paddy	Phillipa Smith, Science Mistress in the 1940s and 1950s, was known as Paddy.
Doris Staples	Doris	Miss Staples was a long serving teacher at the school who was Senior Mistress for many years and reputed to be quite a disciplinarian. So the remarkable thing is that everyone seems to have called her 'Doris', which was her real name. Knowing teachers first names was still quite unusual even by the early 1980s.
Mr Topping	Tipsy	'Tipsy' Topping was an art master in the 1930s.
Joan Ward	Wardie	An obvious nickname maybe, but one in widespread use. Mrs Ward became head of the Upper School in the late 1970s having previously been the head of girls for a few years. Unlike the headmaster, John Hulley, her presence was most certainly felt.
Barry Wardle	Boris (Karloff)	Barry Wardle was one of several new teachers who joined sometime around 1975/6 and he taught History. He was considered to resemble Boris Karloff.
Debbie Warnes	Horny Warney	Debbie Warnes joined the school around about 1981 as a student teacher, or something along those lines, and stayed for a few years.
Noel Wilkinson	Wilkie	Mr Wilkinson, a senior Physics master, is said to have assisted with the lyrics of the School Song which suggests he was with the school in the 1930s. He was apparently still with the school in the 1960s and was well known for his rendition of the Hippopotamus Song (Flanders and Swann) during wet break periods.
Mr ????	Dougal	Dougal was either another nickname for The Honey Monster or it was another nickname for Dylan. I forget which. Pupils a couple of years below me used it for Mr Matthews when he joined the school.
Ms ????	Smiley Miley	An unnamed female teacher, who took Maths in the Upper School in the mid-1970s, was named Smiley Miley because she always had a big smile on her face. 'Smiley Miley' was a well known name at the time from the Radio 1 Roadshow.