From "The Victorian", 1974, comes this piece by "J.W.W.C", whom I can remember as the initials were quite unusual, as was his name - John White Winter Cousins. We were in the same class for a number of subjects, and I remember his younger brother, Bruce Cousins. Although neither had a Scottish accent, I recall (although I don't know how accurately) that his mother did have. A search of Companies House shows that he had moved to the UK, living in Bedforshire, and was for a time a director of a company there. Being my age, he's probably retired now!
Also mentioned here is Derek Cottrill, who wrote a history of Victoria College, and who was my history teacher, and gave me the nickname "Fred", which I had during my time at school. He read as chapters of Macauley about the "Black Hole of Calcutta", and also I remember gave as a remarkably good rendering of "Hearts of Oak". He later became a clergyman in the UK.
Also Spencer Prior, who I think was a year or two above me at school, William Sutton, and Alan Dart, about whom I recall nothing.
BTW: I'm looking to borrow old copies of "The Victorian" from the 1960s to the 1980s if anyone has them.
"Everything You Wanted To Know About The Victorian But Were Afraid To Ask
Seven of us now serve on “ The Victorian ” staff, excluding our most highly esteemed General Editor, Mr. Cottrill, a man in far too lofty a position to be considered a mere member, So it is under his eagle eye and persuasive guidance that we gather every Friday afternoon in Room Two to work industriously at our respective duties. Our aim, of course, is to produce a magazine covering school events, highlighting its achievements and forgetting its disasters.
The most exasperating and sometimes almost impossible problem to overcome in producing the magazine is the collection of material from the staff and other members ’of the school. House reports and other articles requiring inside knowledge cannot be written by outsiders like ourselves.
However, we are taking steps to remedy this and A. O. Dart, our activities correspondent, at high risks to himself (even threatening to jump on to backs of departing coaches if need be) is bravely taking part in many activities to gain a better insight into topics such as Marine Biology and Island Field Studies. Once all this information has been gathered, deciphered, and in many cases neatly rewritten, it is sent to the school office to be typed out. At all stages grammar, punctuation and spelling are supposed to be checked and corrected if necessary, and the articles are constantly re-read to try to ensure a flowing piece of prose, even if it is positively boring.
The business side of the magazine depends upon the prowess of W. Sutton and S. Pryor, who realise that the very existence of “ The Victorian ” relies upon their financial expertise. Prepared to walk the length of the town come rain or shine, they maintain good relations with businesses whose advertisements probably provide the only glamour throughout forty-odd pages. But this is not all ! It is they who have set up a means of communication with the printers, and during the actual printing make certain that the material is printed in the correct order, and that no intended articles are excluded or indeed any alien material from “ Playboy ” erroneously inserted.
There comes a time when all, the articles and advertisements are in order for publication. By now everything has been at least triple-checked and we know the contents so well that we are able to recite them in our sleep. All is in readiness for the sifting of suitable from unsuitable material and as the staff are a democratic society we have little, or nothing if we wish to remain in favour with the General Editor, to say in what goes into the magazine and what goes into the rubbish basket (and there’s precious little of that).
So the coveted task is left to Mr. Cottrill, overjoyed at seeing so much written work at one time. Once the order for printing has been decided upon, the material is transferred to the printers with much hesitation and left in their hands. Proof reading in pencil the occasional printers’ inadvertent howlers which would look in some cases better left as they are. The abbreviation J .R.A. was printed as I.R.A. in the COP. section, a slip that could have caused many surprised and angry eyebrows to be lifted. Then with our fingers crossed, and the General Editor desperately trying to retain his composure, the proofs are returned to the printers.
All that remains is the laborius distribution to the Old Victorians and the School. Fortunately for us the envelopes for magazines requinng postage to the Antarctic and Inner' Mongolia are pre- addressed, which means we have only to package them. This process is carried out one Friday after- noon with the aid of a few conscripted extras in a spacious room with such alarming haste that I shudder to think in how many parts the final dog-cared copies arrive. The remaining issues are distributed around the school within the next few months. Naturally many duller but important details have been omitted from this account, such as how to make an inconspicuous profit on each issue, and the electric tension between M. Camus-Smith and the General Editor. Under the present management no fatal calamities have occurred, such as a libel suit or embezzlement of the funds.
J.W.W.C.
"Everything You Wanted To Know About The Victorian But Were Afraid To Ask
Seven of us now serve on “ The Victorian ” staff, excluding our most highly esteemed General Editor, Mr. Cottrill, a man in far too lofty a position to be considered a mere member, So it is under his eagle eye and persuasive guidance that we gather every Friday afternoon in Room Two to work industriously at our respective duties. Our aim, of course, is to produce a magazine covering school events, highlighting its achievements and forgetting its disasters.
The most exasperating and sometimes almost impossible problem to overcome in producing the magazine is the collection of material from the staff and other members ’of the school. House reports and other articles requiring inside knowledge cannot be written by outsiders like ourselves.
However, we are taking steps to remedy this and A. O. Dart, our activities correspondent, at high risks to himself (even threatening to jump on to backs of departing coaches if need be) is bravely taking part in many activities to gain a better insight into topics such as Marine Biology and Island Field Studies. Once all this information has been gathered, deciphered, and in many cases neatly rewritten, it is sent to the school office to be typed out. At all stages grammar, punctuation and spelling are supposed to be checked and corrected if necessary, and the articles are constantly re-read to try to ensure a flowing piece of prose, even if it is positively boring.
The business side of the magazine depends upon the prowess of W. Sutton and S. Pryor, who realise that the very existence of “ The Victorian ” relies upon their financial expertise. Prepared to walk the length of the town come rain or shine, they maintain good relations with businesses whose advertisements probably provide the only glamour throughout forty-odd pages. But this is not all ! It is they who have set up a means of communication with the printers, and during the actual printing make certain that the material is printed in the correct order, and that no intended articles are excluded or indeed any alien material from “ Playboy ” erroneously inserted.
There comes a time when all, the articles and advertisements are in order for publication. By now everything has been at least triple-checked and we know the contents so well that we are able to recite them in our sleep. All is in readiness for the sifting of suitable from unsuitable material and as the staff are a democratic society we have little, or nothing if we wish to remain in favour with the General Editor, to say in what goes into the magazine and what goes into the rubbish basket (and there’s precious little of that).
So the coveted task is left to Mr. Cottrill, overjoyed at seeing so much written work at one time. Once the order for printing has been decided upon, the material is transferred to the printers with much hesitation and left in their hands. Proof reading in pencil the occasional printers’ inadvertent howlers which would look in some cases better left as they are. The abbreviation J .R.A. was printed as I.R.A. in the COP. section, a slip that could have caused many surprised and angry eyebrows to be lifted. Then with our fingers crossed, and the General Editor desperately trying to retain his composure, the proofs are returned to the printers.
All that remains is the laborius distribution to the Old Victorians and the School. Fortunately for us the envelopes for magazines requinng postage to the Antarctic and Inner' Mongolia are pre- addressed, which means we have only to package them. This process is carried out one Friday after- noon with the aid of a few conscripted extras in a spacious room with such alarming haste that I shudder to think in how many parts the final dog-cared copies arrive. The remaining issues are distributed around the school within the next few months. Naturally many duller but important details have been omitted from this account, such as how to make an inconspicuous profit on each issue, and the electric tension between M. Camus-Smith and the General Editor. Under the present management no fatal calamities have occurred, such as a libel suit or embezzlement of the funds.
J.W.W.C.
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