Spectacular heatwave. Housey coats were abandoned. The Gym was too hot for exams, the Chapel organ swallowed 100 buckets of water and the Grecians downed oceans of lager.

Appeal events rolled on. An Open Day made £3000 in three hours; a Peele A sponsored swim raised £1,060. Boys ran and cycled in all directions.

The Band played at the West Indies match at Arundel. The late Simon Humber (La A) was Band Captain. Philip Salmon (Col B 69-75) and Paul Arman (Th A 67-75) reappeared to perform in Mozart’s Requiem. Cinderella, Les Précieuses Ridicules, Lady Audley’s Secret, The Room and The Dumb Waiter were staged.

The 1st XI did well: won 6, drew 5, lost 2. Its strength lay in bowling, where the key was captain (and Orchestra Leader) Quentin Brown (La A). It played and narrowly defeated the 1946 XI under John Chumrow (Col B) with MCC Secretary Jack Bailey (Ma B) and Dennis Silk (Ma A) who made a century. Thornton B won both "A" and "B" Leagues while athletics captain Chris Wilson (Pe B) became Horsham Harriers’ half-decathlon champion.

Speech Day brought a touching Oration by Ray Pratley (Pe B) ("it’s the men who make the city, not the walls"), a choral work by Malcolm Drummond (Staff 61-76) and a portrait of Sir Eric Riches (Pe B 09-15), lately replaced as Treasurer by Angus Ross (Ba A 30-37).

The Headmaster received an honorary Cambridge Doctorate of Letters.

Howard Holdsworth (Mid B 66-73, Staff 92- ) returned to invigilate A Levels.

Departing staff were Dr Glyn Rogers (appointed 1973), Malcolm Drummond, G H D "Johnno" Johnson (1961) and Alan Eagle (1947).

During the summer Peter Harris (Staff 75-78) married Miranda Dodd and Malcolm McKelvey (Staff 62-85, Governor) married Christine Robertshaw. Alan Buckland (La A 71-77) sailed the Atlantic aboard a tall ship. Bellfounder Douglas Hughes (La B 27-34) inspected the Chapel bell and repaired it free.

Birthday Honours: CBEs for musicologist Ivor Keys (Ba A, Th B 31-38) and insurance man M H R King (Th B 26-34). Professor George du Boulay (PeB 33-40) was appointed President of the British Institute of Radiology and G B Arden (Mid B 41-47) Professor of Neurophysiology at the Institute of Ophthalmology.

A marvellous obituary of Nell Todd (Head of Art 50-69) was contributed by Peggy Seaman (Headmaster’s wife 55-70). Among other deaths were Miss D V Meek (Coleridge Matron 38-50); Collin Morson (Th A 20-26), Prior of Mount St Bernard Abbey and a Definitor of the Cistercian Order; England rugby triallist C J W Hodgson (Ba A 11-18); and H F E Stripp (Ba B 09-14), a key man in the OBRFC and other OB sports clubs.

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