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Eagle House is a large Victorian mansion in Sandhurst, on the Berkshire-Surrey border, housing a prep-school, i.e. a private boarding school for boys aged 8-13. (Depending on your age think Stalky and Co, Jennings and Darbyshire or Harry Potter.) In the summer term of 1973 a production of Gilbert and Sullivan's Iolanthe was rehearsed and performed, all within ten weeks. Being an all-boys school the soprano and alto parts were sung by boys, and after some mild coercion by the music master I found myself in the chorus as a fairy: at the age of eight I was the youngest member of the cast by over a year. My elder brother Nick, then aged eleven, was a peer. Close-up photos of the two of us appear below the main one. I am amazed to remember that (at the time at least!) we fairies were not in the least embarrassed by our roles or our costumes (our dresses were shades of blue in case you were wondering), and I recall receiving nothing but admiration and envy from my friends! |
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Many thanks to John Singer, third peer from the left, who found this page on the internet and e-mailed me this photo - a much better copy than mine. For a photo that has surely been on constant display and proudly shown to visitors for 20+ years it is in surprisingly good condition: it is almost as though John locked it away in a dark attic for years, which I feel sure is not the case. Remarkable. |
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In the 1970s Eagle House was something of an anachronism - an old fashioned prep school that seemed to have hardly changed in half a century: unheated dormitories with bare floorboards (splinters-ouch!) and form-rooms with blackboards, chalk-dust, and antique desks, with benches to sit on. The regime was strict but kindly, and I was blissfully happy there. Returning for a visit in 2003 I found an utterly modern establishment with central heating in such dormitories as remain (there are now far more day-pupils than boarders), carpets everywhere, and computers on every desk. (And girls - eek!). |
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William, a few weeks later, with smaller hair. |
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