Whacko!
Sir: Charles Moore's excellent article on Anthony Chenevix-Trench (Another voice, 7 May), and all the excitement in the press about flogging and the horrors of corporal punishment etc. has caused me much amusement, I passed the common entrance exam into Winchester College in 1914, having, per- haps fortunately, received some other boy's marks. In every house there were six pre- fects, who each had the right to beat any man' for any trumped-up reason he could invent. I found myself the only 'new man' and was therefore automatically a fag for all six. Curiously enough, the housemaster was not allowed to beat anyone — in the first three weeks I was beaten 10 times with a 'ground-ash' and once in pyjamas with a swagger stick' with a ferule made of steel on the end, which was illegal.
During my last 'half the housemaster said he wished to make me a prefect, an honour I politely declined, having told him of my initial experiences. On my last day in 1918 before leaving, I was sent to the head-
master to be birched, as it had been finally discovered that I had been fishing and shooting out of bounds instead of attending science lectures — the result of these forays incidentally helped to alleviate the near- starvation of my fellow inmates.
The headmaster was an imposing figure in cap and gown, with a walrus moustache. We stood facing each other at a long refec- tory table. He said, 'Millais, you are the most insubordinate man it has ever been my misfortune to encounter in this college, it is my duty to birch you.' I then made the only apt remark I ever made at the right time. I said, Sir, wouldn't it be a pity if I left here with a bad impression at both ends?' I picked up my hat and left. Not good Wykehamist material.
Raoul Millais
Westcote Manor, Church Westcote, Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire
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