CH 1 Pt.II : CLYDE BROSTER SOLILOQUISES

As the Class of '70 Guest-of-Honour, as he was for our 25th Reunion in '95, Clyde had to 'sing for his supper' and 'sing' he certainly did.

He reminded us that back in '66 when he started teaching us, Selborne was his first post and he was only in his second year of teaching. He also reminded us that he was only 10 years our senior and that he still is!

Back then, Clyde's lessons were always as entertaining as they were educational and his speech was a reminder of just how entertaining he could be with his characteristic turn of phrase and easy facility with words. As was his wont even when he was in the school benches, Andrew Coetzer did his best to try to put Clyde off his stroke but Clyde was unflustered even at the recall of his old school nickname.

In appreciation of Clyde, Andrew then related the story of how he was lured into flicking ink from his pen onto the back of Clyde's shirt in class one day, but unbeknown to him the pen had been booby-trapped so that Clyde's shirt ended up being doused far more than he had intended. It was a double period with break in between and the incident happened during the first of the periods when Clyde was expounding on the correct form of the personal pronoun I/me when used subjectively or objectively (remember?). Clyde was only made aware of the large ink stain on the back of his shirt (a 'Gucchi' according to Andrew) in the staffroom during the break and, of course, when Clyde came back to class for the 2nd of the double periods he demanded to know who had done it? Coetzer, with the honesty of a George Washington, stood up from his desk and replied in impeccable English, applying the rule taught during the previous period: "It was I". Clyde was suitably impressed but undeterred and Andrew nevertheless received six for his misdemeanour!

The pictures tell the story:


CLYDE'S SOLILOQUOY : ACT 1 (Mike Keyter in the background)


CLYDE SOLILOQUOY : ACT 2 (Dave Williams & Mike Aschmann in the background)


Kevin Hartley, Mike McComb, Barry Marlborough, Deon Van Heerden (Steve's brother) and George Reid listen with rapt attention.


Bill Brummer (behind), Graham McGillewie, Murray Morrison, Thomas Klingelhoeffer, Andy Marais, Ian (Jock Snr) McConnachie and ‘Pop’ Peter enjoy Clyde’s humour.


"It was I”, spake Coetzer.