[Mentions of Tony Whelpton]

At Christmas 1953 I did a holiday job at Shipstone’s - it was part of my education! One year I worked at Player’s, which put me off smoking for life, that year I worked at Shippo’s, and it put for off drinking Shipstone’s beer for life, one year I worked in the City Treasurer’s Rates Office, and I was put off paying tax for all my life!!!

[Mentions of Tony Whelpton]

Thank you, Jill, I’m sure there’s no harm done! Another member alerted me to the age difference, and seemed to think that I should set it right.

I used to know someone who lived towards the top of Bobbers Mill Road when I was little. Their name was Kennedy, and their daughter Moira married a chap called Gough, who was killed in the early years of the war, serving in the RAF. Later I discovered that one of my students at Clifton was their son, Sean Gough, and we had many conversations about his mum and dad! I went to St Mary’s RC School at the top of Beaconsfield St - in those days I was a Roman Catholic, then an atheist or agnostic, and finally, in old age, an Anglican!

These days I live in Cheltenham, and have done for over 40 years! My wife Joan is 10 years younger than me, but I shall,probably end up as her carer, because she has Alzheimer’s!

When I left Nottingham I married again, having divorced about 5 or 6 years earlier.

I have another friend called Jill, whom I’ve never met, and am unlikely to, because she lives in British Columbia! But she was born in Nottingham, and is the daughter of one of my best friends at High Pavement, Terry Foster.  Sadly Terry died in his mid 50s, about 1984, I think.

I haven’t even mentioned Bach! It’s true, I really love Bach’s music, and one of my best experiences was singing the final chorale of Bach’s St John Passion, in Bach’s own house in Eisenach, under the direction of our then conductor, ex-King’s Singer and broadcaster Brian Kay! (Who was once married to one of my Clifton students Angela Kay, I can’t remember her maiden name!) One of my other favourite musical experiences was singing Orff’s Carmina Burana, in a choir of 1000 voices in the Royal Albert Hall at the proms!

[Mentions of Tony Whelpton]

My attention has been drawn to the fact that I have been mentioned several times on this site, and that there have been disagreements concerning my date of birth.

First of all, I would like to say that I am Tony Whelpton, christened Robert Anthony Whelpton, and that I was born at 2 Goodliffe St, Hyson Green on 27 January 1933. I shall be 90 next January then.

Until I began National Service in the RAF in September 1951 I lived at 418 Berridge Road Central with my parents Francis Clare William Whelpton and Alice Beatrice Whelpton née Cresswell and my two sisters Margaret and Joan. I taught for 4 years each at Beckenham Grammar School and Lowestoft Grammar School until I was appointed to a lectureship at Nottingham College of Education (at Clifton) in 1965. I remained there until 1982, having been promoted twice to Senior Lecturer and Principal Lecturer in French. I was also Chief Examiner in French at O Level for Northern Ireland (1969-1972) then for the AEB at O Level (1972-1988) at which point O Level was replaced by GCSE, and I was Chief Examiner for GCSE French for the Southern Examining Group. I was also Principal Oral Examiner at A Level French for the AEB from 1973 to 1996, and also Chief Examiner for the Malawi Certificate of Education in 1976.

After I left Nottingham in 1982, in collaboration with Daphne Jenkins, I wrote about 30 school and college French textbooks. In 2012, at the age of 79, I published my first novel, Before the Swallow Dares. These were followed by The Heat of the Kitchen in 2013, Billy’s War (2014), There’s No Pride in Prejudice and A Happy Christmas (both 2016), A Change of Mind (2017), High Time (a rewriting and development of A Happy Christmas (2018), At Dead of Night (2019) and Billy: The Early Years (2021).

I have also written two books on cricket and a history of the Cheltenham Bach Choir, of which I am now Vice-President.