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Before the last war, in the London County Council elementary schools, children left at the age of 14, and in central schools at the age of 15. At grammar schools, which were fee paying with some scholarships, children left at 16 and above. When I was about 10 I sat for a grammar school scholarship but failed and went to the Tollington Park Central School. It had a good reputation but was an old school with gas lighting and heating was huge coal fires in each classroom. After a couple of years we moved to Enfield in Middlesex and I had to go to the Enfield Central School to finish my schooling. When I was 15 it was decided that, along with five other boys, I would stay on for another year and take the London University Matriculation exam, which roughly lined up to O level G.C.S.E.s.

Unfortunately, at the end of the 1939 summer holidays, war broke out on September 3rd, and most London schools were evacuated to safe areas of the country. This should have put paid to our extra year had it not been for the Headmaster who undertook to tutor us in preparation for our exam in September 1940. We went back to an empty school and had desks in the Headmasters large study and he did his best to teach us, and gave us his whole attention.

However, at that time there was plenty going on to take young lads thoughts off studying and it was hard going for all of us. In the summer of 1940 the daylight raids started and by September the Battle of Britain was in full swing but the day by day routine continued in London and I never heard any possibility of canceling the exams.

The four days of the exams were September 10,11,12 and 14th 1940 and each subject had to be taken at the same time all over the country. Large schools held the exam in their own premises but small contingents like ours had to go to specified central points and we had to go to a building near Russell Square in central London.

When we arrived on the first day, we found that although the building had escaped a direct hit, all the windows had been blown out so we had plenty of fresh air in the exam room. Fortunately that September had wonderful weather and we didn’t have any problems on that score. During the exams if the siren went everyone continued until the anti aircraft barrage could be heard in the distance and then we all filed down to the basement to wait for the all clear. In the basement we were all huddled together and there was little anyone could do to stop the candidates talking and some even had crib notes. At the “all clear” we went back to the exam room and started where we left off and time was added on to the end to make up for the wasted time. It was a very bizarre way to have to take an exam but I do not recall any reports of how the percentages of passes lined up with the rest of the country or previous years, but that’s the way it was. I suppose some concessions must have been made to London students but I didn’t hear of any and I failed on two subjects. In a few weeks I started work.

I often wonder how modern generations would have tolerated such a situation, with all the modern thinking about pass percentages and trends!

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