First day at Big School - Fifty years ago today

Below: photo of me taken by my father on the morning of Monday, 1 September 1969. My first day at Gunnersbury Catholic Grammar School for Boys. School cap, blazer with badge and school tie. In the garage, my father's dove-grey Morris 1100, EKX 604 B.

I'd spend the next seven years at Gunnersbury, between two sites, Gunnersbury Avenue (on the A406 North Circular, now housing the International School of London), and The Ride, Brentford, the school's current site. I was in one of the last years of grammar school; by the time my brother started at Gunnersbury five years later, it had become a comprehensive. The better for it? From my year, only one out of 72 boys made it to Oxbridge; in my brother's year (albeit more classes), three boys did. More thoughts about selective education tomorrow.

It only occurred to me today that my first day at school overshadowed the 30th anniversary of the outbreak of WW2. On this day, my father, then 46, might have recalled the German bombardment of Warsaw when he was just 16, followed by its capture and occupation, the Uprising, his time in a German prisoner-of-war camp, his postwar experiences as a refugee prior to arriving in London, his studies, his wedding, his career as a civil engineer, bringing up two boys - all in the space of three decades; since then a further five have passed. Today, I am 15 years older than my father was when he took the photo above; how time flies.

This time last year:
Two films about the legendary Polish 303 Sqn

This time three years ago:
Kępno's intriguing station

This time five years ago:
Thoughts occasioned by the 75th anniversary of the outbreak of WW2

This time six years ago:
A green light for consumer spending

This time eight years ago:
Procrastination - is it the same as laziness?

This time ten years ago:
Remembering the outbreak of WW2