The study of Latin was simply a function of the inherent snobbery of the school. In those days you had to have Latin ‘O’-level to get into Oxford or Cambridge, and that was what a number of the staff deemed to be “success”. In about 1964 the criteria for admission to O and C were changed so that Latin was no longer necessary. Instead two modern foreign languages would do. ‘Joe’ then decreed that all the students in the Science Sixth had to do ‘O’-level German in 1 year, in addition to the usual ‘A’-level courses. This certainly didn’t have the effect of endearing him to us, given that we were already aware that we were considered to be somewhat beneath the Arts Sixth in his hierarchy in any case. Still he was vindicate in the end when we recorded 100% failure in the exams.

I disagree with Shaun about the snobbery bit concerning Latin.

I tried in Latin because it was the subject on the curriculum which distinguished achievers in the lower school. It was an indicator of achievement at that time.

Sixth form study of Latin was another issue. Success in A Level Latin helped gain a University place - but no more than in any other academic discipline.

What subjects are currently (or previously were) comparable in significance- ICT ? IT? Business Studies? Macro-Economics? CDT? Sociology?

Cometh the trend, cometh the fast-track!

Paene insularum. Can anyone recall the name of the Latin gram. book we used? I loved Latin. Many an hour I spent doing Latin proses for Wilbur.

If it's the same one I used - it was a dark blue text (in 2 parts?) by Patterson and Mc Naughton (?) but memory plays strange tricks at my age.

Possibly the one. I seem to recall it was dark green,and only handed out when in the 6th form,possibly 5th. I do remember it was the source of all things when it came to translating from English to Latin....mmmmmm..wonder what it was and if it can still be purchased.

The one I mention above was the primer and sequel used upto O Level. I recall the green tome you mention dished out in the lower 6th but I cannot recall the author - but I will - one day.

I support Terry's view about lower school Latin generally. And anyway, I won't have a bad word said about the subject - it got me out of doing art at the earliest opportunity, two years of that scruffy, idle Westall being the limit of my endurance. I even forfeited biology in the process.
Incidentally, other subjects cited (such as ICT, business studies, sociology) are becoming the new academic creme-de-la-creme, being rapidly supplanted by an altogether more challenging diet of film studies (professional TV watching?), dance, critical thinking, sports science, etc.

About that Latin book - could it have been something like Bradley's Arnold?? Edited by JF Mountford??? Amazing what comes into your head when seated in the smallest room of the house...

Mountford rings a bell.

Just did a web search and, whaddya know, it's still in print and available to buy:
http://www.internationalpubmarket.com/clients/duc/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=30895

Bradley's Arnold!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Spot on Allan!!!! And still in print. I'm going to order one!! How bloody sad is that!( for display purposes only of course)

Cohortibus instructis, Caesar quidem.....and all that stuff. Priceless? No.Fifteen quid pro quo!

I can't find it on the site you mentioned.Has this site no facility for posting links? Nil deperandum,edipol,I'll try Foyles.

Allan/Alan, the only textbook I remember up to GCSE (With Cullingford, then Wilbur)was the aforementioned blue book Paterson & McNaughton, there was Vol 1 and Vol 2.

Ah, Brian - you're talking primers here. We're talking about the hard stuff! The great hing about doing Bradley's Arnold for three years in the 6th form was the discovery, on arrival at Sheffield University,that they used the self-same tome in first year undergraduate Latin. Now, I had all my translations, suitably corrected by Wilbur in a KBGS exercise book, and was thus able to resubmit them for a whole year. Got good marks too!

Did Bradley's Arnold have prose texts in then? Must have done. I've still got my school Wilbur attacked proses from school in some dark recess.I think I was on italic medium oblique during this period.Wilbur certainly was a thorough marker.

The full title of the book was "Bradley's Arnold Latin Prose Composition". It had translations both ways, as well as grammar and vocabulary. I seem to remember a text in late latin by the boy who spent (did??)time in Britain (Catullus)??? Anyway, this guy's sentences had most of the verbs left out, so you had to supply them. A bit like the Listener crossword (apparently). But there were helpful footnotes where JF Mountford had written "supply......"followed by a string of latin words longer than the piece you were supposed to be translating.

The only Latin I remember is that which was often heard in Keighley - "Issesitintis burraberritis".

Latin was dropped as a requirement for entry by Cambridge in 1959. Having decided that I really didn't want to go to Birmingham in 1958 (Mummy's boy), my excuse was that I wanted to try for Oxbridge. So I had to do Latin 'O' level in two terms, which I managed by dint of one to one classes with Bloomfield. It also helped that Latin must have been the easiest 'O' level subject to get - I knew no Latin then, and less now, but the set books were so short that you could pretty well memorise large chunks of the likely translations. Well, that's how I remember it now.

Having got the bloody thing, Oxford rejected me while Cambridge dropped the requirement and let me in, so it was all pretty much a waste of time. Still, Bloomers gave me a good (if somewhat inaccurate) reference; he even found something positive to say about my batting ...........

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) jim@brantj.freeserve.co.uk

Look what's on ebay..books..Latin. Get your bids in, folks !

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-66

Was the school motto "Quid inspectat"?

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-65

Current location (optional) Leeds