Re: capacitors


"Mallory" <i.want.spam@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:13rqq6o2gfg0l06@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
It would be surprising since I trained as a schoolteacher with a bias
towards the arts. I have no electronics background whatsover

So presumably you did a B.A (hons) in art followed by a PCGE or did a B.Ed
at University then?

Good heavens no I did a three year course that gained me a 'teaching
certificate'. That's all there was to it in those days.


I recall your dad was in the TV aerial business......
Only part time. He was in the aerial business from the early 50s, but he
always had another job. Over the years he had various jobs in the
construction and road building industries. For a long time he was area
supervisor for Clugston Asphalt.


So to satisfy my curiousity and probably lots of other people on this
newsgroup, whats the story behind the change from school teaching to
aerial rigging? I'm sure it will be entertaining....

You've opened a right old can of worms! I've never been happy about my
education, but whether it was the fault of the system or of myself I don't
know.

It all started when I was at junior school. I was an underachiever and a
discipline problem. I found the lessons boring and the regime childish. I
was moved from class to class and vigorously caned (at ten years old) but I
didn't improve. In the last year I had a teacher who was strict but actually
was very good for me. She got some good work out of me, but this was the B
stream so it was assumed that I would fail the 11+. In fact we didn't sit an
exam for the 11+, we were 'assessed', and of course I failed.

There was a bit of a fuss (I had several teaching aunts who were pretty
annoyed) but off I went to the Secondary Modern. I was devastated. All my
friends went to the brand new grammar school on our estate, whilst I was
send on a bus to the grotty mining village down the road to a decrept
Secondary Modern. Where I flourished. I was massively depressed at first
but the school had a lot of very good teachers -- non-academic ex-servicemen
most of them. I enjoyed my time there, especially the craft lessons and the
school plays. I had an inspirational English teacher called Frank Dalton, an
ex-infantryman who puffed away on a *** as he entranced his class of rough
lads with Shakespeare. The Geog teacher had been a prisoner of war under the
Japs and it showed, although he never talked about it. The history teacher
had been on Lancasters for most of the war. The school had a young head and
terrific can-do spirit. Of course it was rough (on one occasion there was a
riot just outside the gates which resulted in several kids in hospital, the
Doncaster bobbies coming out to reinforce the Bentley ones, and mass
thrashings during assembly over the next few days). But it was a brilliant
school. We were coached for 'O' levels, which was really unusual for a Sec
Mod.

But when my best pal gained an apprenticeship to a local TV dealers I was
told that I wasn't allowed to do the same because I was 'academic'. I asked
to be transferred to the Tech but again I was told that it wasn't for me
because -- well basically because I was literate. I was too young to realise
how stupid this was, so I accepted my fate, which was a transfer to the
Grammar School. This was just so weird. I was back with my A stream pals
from junior school, many of whom I'd kept up with during my exile. Meanwhile
my other mates, from the Sec Mod, were all out at work doing interesting
things like mending tellys. Then, the bombshell. I'd gone to the GS on the
understanding that I could do physics A level. But I'd failed maths 'O'
level, so physics was out. And because of the timetable that meant that I
had to do Eng Lit and History. I was crap at both. I should have left at
that point and done something else. But a working class kid throwing away a
grammar place was unthinkable.I considered it but I couldn't face the idea
of my old Sec Modern teachers finding out. The grammar school was the most
soulless demoralising place I've ever been in. I passed my driving test at
17yrs 1 month and nicked my dad's van, and started fixing aerials by myself
in the evenings. So I was the richest kid in the 6th form! Half way through
the Lower Sixth we were told to chose a career. Since I was obviously going
to fail my A levels the choice was simple: either teaching or banking. I
chose teaching. If I'd had any sense I would have walked out and got a
proper job.

So off I went for an interview at the local TTC. I was told that I needed
only two things to get in: five '0' levels (got them) and a clean bill of
health (got it). So by the March of my lower 6th I knew that I didn't need
any A levels. I decided to concentrate on having a good time and also on
fixing TV aerials. I had a ball.

I carried on fixing aerials all through college, which wasn't hard because
the college work was easy and sparce.

In those days there was a shortage of teachers so you were guaranteed a job
at the end. All you had to do was keep your nose clean. The only person who
failed their college finals in our year was a lad who was told he would be
failed as a punishment because he organised a protest about something or
other. I went off to be a teacher. I enjoyed teaching a lot, but there were
two problems. One was the fact that (as I now know) the headteacher was well
out of line in the way he treated us young teachers. The other was the
money. I could earn as much on a Saturday fixing aerials as I could for
teaching all week. So I packed it in and started up a full time business.
And I've never looked back.

Well, you did ask.

Bill


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