With exams so much of a focus in the first part of the summer term, we will be taking a break from the archive news until mid-June. In the meantime, please enjoy these snippets from the Ousel archive:
FIRST FRUITS OF THE EXAMS. From a Geography paper :—
“Cotton goods are manufactured at Birmingham,
because the land round is so good for grazing
sheep.” ( The Ousel 1920)
“Cotton goods are manufactured at Birmingham,
because the land round is so good for grazing
sheep.” ( The Ousel 1920)
O ! to be in England, now exams are here
In a public school in England, top right of Bedfordshire
In a cold damp lofty hall
Cavern ceiling, abject squalor.
Sitting ‘neath a bare
60 watt bulb. Awful glare
Back jammed against a source of heat
A howling draught around your feet
While a brace or more of masters
Stand and ponder o’er disasters
Dreaming, thinking, what the hell
He has written, can’t he spell ?
Staring up with dim lit eyes,
School crest, motto in disguise,
Turquoise bird on top of crest
With large and pornographic breast.
In a public school in England, top right of Bedfordshire
In a cold damp lofty hall
Cavern ceiling, abject squalor.
Sitting ‘neath a bare
60 watt bulb. Awful glare
Back jammed against a source of heat
A howling draught around your feet
While a brace or more of masters
Stand and ponder o’er disasters
Dreaming, thinking, what the hell
He has written, can’t he spell ?
Staring up with dim lit eyes,
School crest, motto in disguise,
Turquoise bird on top of crest
With large and pornographic breast.
(Robert Crowe, Ousel verse & prose, July 1973)
