Rhubarb

St Edward’s r h u b a r b

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high in the painting is an overhead wide, conveniently painted over a mark on the wall where the fire alarm had previously been. There are also one or two aeroplanes flying around in honour of the OSE flying aces of WW2. What was the initial reaction to the painting? Everyone seemed to like it, notably the head of the Kenneth Grahame Society, but you never know if people are sometimes just being polite. The most memorable reaction was a piece of classic schoolboy voodoo – I went down one morning and found a cold roast potato sitting on my palette ... We loved doing the painting and were greatly honoured to get the job. We wanted it to

fit into the School’s splendid literary and academic history, and also to appeal to the new pupil profile (including younger persons and girls). Hence the couple playing music on the wall. What do you think current students might think about the painting today? Most will probably think it’s a typical example of how not to paint. I remember that the Art School at Teddies has advanced a lot since my day! The best impressions of my life at St Edward’s are contained in my book The Phytanthrope . Further details about Tom and his wife Ana can be found by visiting their websites:

in Grahame’s fiction. Ratty is crossing in the boat and nearly gets hit by a St Edward’s four, to the horror of Mole. We used to row down along Port Meadow and at times there were so many boats that we did have collisions. Badger is harassed by some small animals, maybe stoats. The young Kenneth Grahame (1868- 1875) is leaning against a fence in the middle whilst a cricket match is being played by the ‘Wagtails’, the only recognized team I ever played for, and quite the worst cricketers in the world. We used to play on the bottom field to the left by the water gardens and the old swing bridge over the canal. It was usually waterlogged, and the only cricketing manoeuvre we ever perfected was the overhead wide. So, the cricket ball flying

f e a t u r e s

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