I used to go sailing with a pair of brothers who'd been at Ampleforth. What I distinctly recall was another friend, the brother-in-law of one of the two, mentioning to one of them that he'd seen Ampleforth was going mixed (in the Sixth form only, I think at that point) and the old Ampleforthian commenting, "I expect the boys will still go on buggering each other, for practice, all the same."
My old firm also had a partner who'd been at Ampleforth (he came from a family who'd lost Liverpool on the turn of a single card, back in 15- or 16 - something) and one evening my assistant and I were in Sam's Chop House, having a well-earned post-work drink, when we suddenly noticed a high concentration of dog-collars in the vicinity. "Oh," we said to each other, "must be a clerical conference in town." A few moments later we spotted the partner coming in, looking faintly shifty. We waved at him; he came over and by way of conversation one of us said, "Lot of vicars in here, aren't there?" At which point he admitted he was here for an Old Ampleforthians get-together, and that, yes, about 1 in 4 of his Sixth form class had indeed gone into the Church.
From which two anecdotes, I draw the conclusion that whichever one it was, there was something about Ampleforth which led Anthony to conclude that sending Patrick there would probably not be in the best interests of securing the succession to Mariot Chase....
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timeasmymeasure
Re: Peculiar O Level Timing
Date: 2015-02-15 01:34 pm (UTC)My old firm also had a partner who'd been at Ampleforth (he came from a family who'd lost Liverpool on the turn of a single card, back in 15- or 16 - something) and one evening my assistant and I were in Sam's Chop House, having a well-earned post-work drink, when we suddenly noticed a high concentration of dog-collars in the vicinity. "Oh," we said to each other, "must be a clerical conference in town." A few moments later we spotted the partner coming in, looking faintly shifty. We waved at him; he came over and by way of conversation one of us said, "Lot of vicars in here, aren't there?" At which point he admitted he was here for an Old Ampleforthians get-together, and that, yes, about 1 in 4 of his Sixth form class had indeed gone into the Church.
From which two anecdotes, I draw the conclusion that whichever one it was, there was something about Ampleforth which led Anthony to conclude that sending Patrick there would probably not be in the best interests of securing the succession to Mariot Chase....