NO.119
Obiter Dicta
Patrick Leigh Fermor Society
Following on from the Wykeham Patrons’
2014 trip, ‘In the steps of John
Pendlebury’, CAL Arnold (F, 56-61),
Director, points out that the Patrick Leigh
Fermor Society has been formed to bring
together the many PLF enthusiasts in this
country and around the world. It will
organise lectures and other events and
plans to publish its journal The Philhellene
three times a year. The stated aims of the
Society are to promote interest in the life
and works of Patrick Leigh Fermor and to
support his legacy, including contributing
towards the upkeep of his house at
Kardamyli.
www.patrickleighfermorsociety.org.
Brian Biddulph (cont’d)
RA Cooper (A, 70-74) remembers:
I was pleased to read in TS118 that JR
Somes (C, 77-82) still retains and uses the
trowel he made in Mill. I too have fond
memories of ‘Bugs’ Biddulph’s kind and
skilful tuition of this over-cerebral and
clumsy young Wykehamist in the craft of
metalwork. After the obligatory trowel
and tin, an adolescent enthusiasm for
Lord of the Rings inspired me to make a
silver ring (battlings paid by an indulgent
father) and a rosewood-handled paperknife (I wanted a dagger, but that was
definitely non licet). Knife, ring and tin
have all gone the way of King John’s
crown jewels, but I still have the trowel
which is six or seven years sen to that of
JRS. My enthusiasm for gardening is
minimal and my skill even less, but the
trowel is just the right size and shape for
cleaning out the family home’s frequently-
T H E T R U S T Y S E RVA N T
blocked drains: so, three or four times a
year, it is pressed into a service which it
performs manfully. A trusty servant
indeed.
As does FP Smiddy (K, 67-71):
The latest edition of the TS prompted my
own belated recollections of Brian
Biddulph. I spent many an hour trying to
pick up nuggets of wisdom from the man.
With him – at least in one instance – it
was a case of ‘do as I say, not do as I do’.
He would braze, weld or cast something,
and pick up the resulting product
nonchalantly: when I tried the same there
was the unmistakable smell of burning
flesh – I have no doubt that Brian had
developed asbestos hands over the years!
He lacked the guile of his colleague in
Mill, David Proctor, who employed a
succession of Wykehamists to build his
yacht for him under the pretext that they
were learning new ‘lamination
techniques’! Brian also had the rare
benefit, from my viewpoint, of
understanding the Northern character.
Much missed.
John Darling (see obituary)
AMF Orange (E, 68-72) fondly remembers
JRD:
He taught me A-level Physics during
1970-72. We all loved his enthusiasm for
the subject, particularly when dialogue
was supplemented by memorable
demonstration of principle - for example,
hurling himself on and off the classroom
walls with increasing ferocity, to
demonstrate a molecule getting excited as
it was heated; or inviting us to spin him
around on a rotating platform, to
demonstrate moments of inertia. There
was equal class delight when his own
enthusiasms blended with subject matter:
for example on scattering of light – ‘red
sky at night, [pause with smile] sailor’s
delight!’ His humour also found its way
into memorable, Darling-esque
statements like ‘if it weren’t for gravity,
we’d all be whirling around in Space!’
Whenever he began to talk about one of
22
the great physicists, the class would be on
the edge of its seat waiting for his
favourite epithet ‘w \