Dave 'Vladimir' Cook was one of the finest 'teachers' I ever encountered. History from a Marxist perspective. Drinking from a Trotskyite stance and shagging from a Leninist standpoint. He enjoyed all of them while at KBGS. If I remember most of his classes involved turning the pages of Plumb's 'A History of Europe' for guidance before plunging into the reasons for the fall of the 'Ancien Regimés' and why they should all have been replaced by Bolshevik-type administrations. One of his biggest and most outspoken fans was the rather empty headed but decent Bill Whammonds who found fame and a beer gut with KRFC. I cannot help but wonder if all that long distance cycling to Australia was to help him come to terms with the demise of communism in the modern world. He was, however, an inspired appointment by the often conservative-minded A.E. Watthey.

Bill's all right!

Of course Bill's alright. What really happened to him? Somebody said he had moved to Skipton Road, Silsden, and was teaching PE at a minor public school in the Dales. Mind you can't believe everything barflies tell you in the Grinning Rat public house in Keighley.

Bill Whammonds was a top bloke, he could hammer the Timothy Taylors bitter and annihilate the opposition pack. Went to Silcoates School, Wakefield, before KBGS, but I don't hold that against him. A stalwart of KRFC, Gilbert Swift would have been proud of him. Now earns a crust as a schoolmaster, possibly in the Dales. He was very keen on that Janet Strumpf from Barnoldswick at one stage, about 1967/68.

Minor Public School! A bit wide of the mark there. Scumbag comp, Manningham. Lives in the fair village of Silsden, off Bolton Road. Pops into the Robin Hood for an occasional gill, where he is well in wi't' locals. No mean feat for an off cummed'un from public school.

It's grand to see that Bill 'Whammo' Whammonds has found a cosy public house in Silsden where he can escape domestic duties and make mincemeat of the Daily Telgraph or Yorkshire Post crossword. Talking of 'fair' Silsden, has it ever recovered from the working over that that uncouthed Michelin man Gordon Ramsay gave it. I guess Bonapartes restaurant met its Waterloo when it invited that foul-mouthed Scot Ramsay 'to lend a hand' in the kitchen. Interesting in the programme 'Kitchen Nightmares' to see Ramsay walking up and down Silsden high street offering morsels from Bonapartes to the locals. Somebody should have whacked him.