Brentwood College School - Brentonian Yearbook (Mill Bay, British Columbia Canada)

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There was a story of Sir Thomas Beecham who was equally coloured in his comments and his behaviour, and he was as usual swearing and cursing at an incompetent orchestra. He was doing it so much that he took a great deal out of himself day after day in the practice sessions. He went home one night and said, Tom, you ' ve got to look after yourself old chap — you can ' t go on like this. You ' ve got to smile benignly upon this bunch of in- competent boobs; no matter how badly they play, just smile benignly and ignore them. And so the dress rehearsal arrived and they began to play, and the or- chestra was as bad as ever but Sir Thomas smiled benignly and continued his conducting. Until — this being an eastern opera — there was occasion for a little baby elephant to cross the stage. On this occasion the baby elephant didn ' t cross the stage; it stopped in the middle and turned its back on the orchestra, the audience and everybody else and nature took its inevitable course. At which stage Sir Thomas decided that he had better tap his baton on the podium. He looked at the baby elephant, then he looked at the orchestra and said, How disgusting; but what a critic . That ' s the second characteristic, a sense of humour. The third characteristic is attention to detail. It doesn ' t matter how small things are you ' ve got to pay attention to detail I remember when I was in the Navy we had a naval captain who was superb at his job. Everybody marvelled at the way he conducted himself and often people tried to analyse him and make up their minds about what made him such a success. Nobody really could see what it was, except there was one thing they noticed every morning after breakfast. He went over to a cabinet in his room and he opened a drawer, took out a piece of paper, read it, put the paper back, shut the drawer and then went on about his duties. Well, one day, as happens to us all, this good old naval chap passed away and they gave him a decent burial, but then in indecent haste they all rushed down to his cabin and into the wardrobe to take out his uniform. They got into his pocket and took out the key to the bureau drawer, went across to the bureau, unlocked the drawer, opened it and there was the bit of paper, so they grabbed it and read it. On it was written , The port side is the left side . There is the secret of success: attention to detail. The fourth characteristic is just saying what you mean and speaking the language. Don ' t assassinate the English language, ladies and gentlemen. It really is quite a nice thing to listen to if it is properly spoken, and here are some occasions when it was improperly spoken. The headline on a newspaper — you can read it yourself: Sterility may be inherited. And this is an advertisement in a newspaper which says, For those combining business and pleasure, an office and a typist are available . Here ' s another one: Working single lady wants room, must have bath urgently . Another ad- vertisement: Blank ' s restaurant, where good food is an unexpected pleasure . A sign from a railroad crossing says, Beware of trains going both ways at once . Stories that I want to talk about really concern two things. One which is my favourite is the misuse of the word (as Mr. Bunch and everybody else knows) ' momentarily ' , which means ' for a moment ' , not ' in a moment ' . I have often been on an aircraft sitting in the back when we have been interrupted and it has not taken off immediately — but the Captain has come on in his warm fashion to give the passengers confidence and said, Now don ' t worry, ladies and gentlemen, we can ' t take off because such and such is happening on such and such a runway. We will be taking off momentarily . So I once sent a message up through the stewardess. I said, Look stewardess, I don ' t want to take off momentarily, I would like to go up and stay up . And she just smiled benignly — she was a British Airways stewardess. That ' s the kind of misuse of words that irritates me enormously. Say what you mean. And lastly, always be prepared to learn. You ' re never finished learning. I taught History when I was at this school, and boy I learned a lot from the examination papers I corrected. I learned, for instance, that the motto of the French Revolution was Liberty, Equality and Fertility . I learned that Shakespeare ' s mother was Elizabeth Arden. Of all things, I learned that Lenin was one of the Beatles. Ladies and gentlemen, there you are — the five characteristics which I think have made Brentwood such a success and I am sure will continue provided you hand on this message — as your motto says, From Hand to Hand . Good luck to you all.

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Speaker ' s Address to the Graduating Class GUEST SPEAKER - MR. DAVID D. MACKENZIE AWARDS DAY, JUNE 18, 1983 It is extraordinary to me, Mr. Ross, how many im- provements have been brought about in this school in the past 22 years. The last, and the greatest, improvement was the opening of Mackenzie House which took place the other day; it is a building which I will long remember and by far the best school building of any school in the world. I think Mr. Ross, and you, have done a tremendous job in building Brentwood. But it is not the plans which count, Ladies and Gen- tlemen, it is the people, and on thinking over the last 22 years, I wonder what we have given you and what you have given us — and by us I mean teachers, Governors and students. Can I, for just a minute, try and formulate the characteristics which I think make Brentwood a particular success. The first characteristic, the first quality, I believe, that everybody at Brentwood should have is enthusiasm. There is nothing in this world like enthusiasm. I remember, about 25 years ago, I took a rugby team to Japan. It was a wonderful occasion, because we landed at Tokyo airport and there were thousands of Japanese gentlemen and ladies to greet us there. It is a very big game in Japan. But anyway, amidst all this multitudinous throng were a group of press, and photographers. This, of course, pleased us too, and we spent some time with them. And, of course, also bearing down on us, wearing kimonos and bearing gifts and other indications of their affection, were several young Tokyo girls who greeted us most effectively too. However, we went down to the hotel where we stayed and there we were met by another group of press and newspaper reporters. This also pleased us greatly, and we spent another half hour with them. Then out to the playing fields, because we had gone, after all, to play rugby, and the backs, at least the fast people in the team, went running off down the field passing the ball between them. But as we did that another group of photographers went down ahead of us. Now the point is that they were running backwards and we were running forward and we weren ' t catching them — and they weren ' t even players! It gave us a few bad moments; however, it helped us when one fellow stepped in a hole and fell flat on his back, but this didn ' t deter his enthusiasm one bit, because as we passed over him there he was snapping away — a worm ' s eye view of the British Columbia team at work. There, to my mind, was the essence of enthusiasm! A man who would not be put off by anything that was put in his way. A marvellous quality of enthusiasm. There are some other stories that I could tell you, but time is limited, so I will not. The next quality which I would like to discuss is the quality of a sense of humour. You know if you have a smile it is amazing how well you can get along with people, and how much you can get out of people if you go to them with a smile. A sense of humour is essential and was possessed by so many famous people, amongst them Winston Churchill, whose sense of humour was sometimes somewhat sarcastic. I recall one day he had been dining, or lunching, as he usually did with considerable quantity of liquid refreshment, and he finished his lunch about 3 o ' clock in the afternoon. He strutted back into the House of Commons and was there met at the front gate by a most fearsome lady socialist called Bessie Braddock. Bessie Braddock stopped him and said, Winston, you ' re drunk , and he turned round to her and said, Bessie, you ' re ugly, and tomorrow, I ' ll be sober . 12

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Valedictory Address Honoured Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, Fellow Graduates: At this moment both I and my fellow graduates feel we are on the doorstep of adulthood. The sheltering security of Brentwood now lies only on the peripheral edges of our vision, mostly behind, while looming ahead is the vast, and new world of endless possibilities. This world, awaiting our energy and our contributions, we face with a mixture of hope, and fear. However, at this moment I think the graduating class feels more than anything else, curiosity. I say curiosity intending to expose the motivation and spirit of this year ' s graduates in a positive light; nonetheless, I must concede the crux of our curiosity is confusion. Confusion because we realise in our youth we lack experience, and tend to be idealistic. Also we know endless obstacles await us in life, and surely as many mistakes. But, to lighten our confusion a little, this years graduates understand that through trial and failure, or more importantly, and hopefully more often, through inspiration and success, we will grow and we will learn. The past year at Brentwood has been a very successful and rewarding one for all members of our class, chiefly because this year ' s graduates share a mutual comfort, and warmth amongst all members. It is an affinity our class understands, and is proud to be part of. As a class we are strong, but as individuals we must also be strong because what the future holds for us no one can say, except that in today ' s economy it is becoming increasingly hard to prosper — a fact which will remain true for at least the most decisive years of our lives. Therefore, it is with considerable anxiety we leave the embrace of Brentwood, and enter the world to face its many tests, and com- plexities. Now, of course, the graduating class must consider why we are at this moment of transition, and how we came to be here. After all, we are in a privileged position and owe thanks to many people for helping us achieve this favoured situation. First we offer thanks to the love and forethought in our parents, who decided to invest more than the tuition, but the future of their child, or children, in Brentwood. Next, our parents away from home, the academic staff, friends we shall always remember as the people who made this community run so smoothly, we express our sincere gratitude. In closing I wish to offer the graduating class of 1983 my own thanks for giving me the honour of being your valedictorian. May I express the feelings of everyone at this moment summed up in a slightly changed version of a well-known remark by the World War II leader, Sir Win- ston Churchill — You have given us the tools, we will finish the job . L. Philipp 14