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Now there's a bit of a problem here! I dropped physics in about the third year at school so any funny stories, anecdotes and memories are strictly limited! All I can remember about physics is that woody, polishy smell of the labs when you go in them as a first year, and the fact that the benches were so terribly high! Lenses and lights were about all I can remember of lessons. Of course I remember Chas Bowles as one of our physics teachers but mainly because he also introduced the school to basketball. Basketball was seen as a pretty wierd sport in the seventies but Chas managed to get a basketball team off the ground and arrange games against any other schools who had a team. I also remember Mr Barlow as a physics teacher who also coached the boys hockey team - sadly I think he was killed in an accident a few years after we left school. So if anyone has any funny physics stories please E Mail them to me so I can liven this page up a bit! |
| I know it's hard to believe now but everyone really was worried about a nuclear war! The Cuban missile crisis in the 60s didn't help and of course James Bond and the Man from Uncle were forever fighting crazed villains who were trying to steal nuclear secrets. But there were real spies, and real threats and we actually had a set of real talks on how to survive a nuclear war. These were called 1 in 5 talks because they were given to 1 in 5 of the population. One morning we all trooped into the school hall to listen to what we expected was another boring assembly, only to find a talk about nuclear explosions...cool! So instead of rushing off to the nearest nuclear shelter (which was at Chalfont Drive governments buildings in Bilborough) you could whip out your survival leaflets. If you too want to survive click here and learn the secrets of nuclear survival! |
| At least someone takes some notice of me and has
emailed me with some physics stuff...thanks to John Peel
for the following -
"Physics. Yes, good old Chas Bowles. he and I got along famously, because we were both big fans of the movie soundtracks of John Barry. And he introduced me to Sibelius's "Finlandia". The lessons... well, I do remember doing one experiment where I was measuring the force of gravity, and my results came out at exactly half of what they should have been. I tried to convince him that gravity was fluctuating under the lab, but he wouldn't buy it. He was convinced I'd made a mistake -even if he couldn't spot it! We also had a short-lived Physics Club, that had about six members. Our one and only project was to build a glider from balsa wood and paper. I can still recall the stench of the acetone (I think it was) that we used to coat the glider. It flew - once - and smashed up. We tried to repair it, but it didn't ever work right. Just checked my old report book (yes, I still have it), and he kept writing things like "Keep it up!" |
| And here he is - the man himself Chas Bowles! Pete Smith bumped into him recently and used his trusty spy camera to take this photograph. Although I believe he was spotted and had a word with Chas. As you can see he's not aged at all and is still hiding behind things for a hobby.... |  |