The only place so far not chronicled was the one where I spent quite a lot of time over my last three years and where I actively developed an interest which was to last for the next fifty years. Soon after my arrival in the Hostel in 1930 I heard some odd sounds below my window. Upon investigation I found an Eton Fives court and there were four dons preparing to play. They were P.W.Wood, the Senior Tutor, well over sixty years of age but he had a cat-like tread and a wonderful sense of anticipation; W W Grave, another tutor, although still in his twenties; a young Maths Research Student; and for the life of me I cannot recall the fourth player. I had never heard of the Eton variety of Fives before, so I watched with fascination.

At my school, the Crypt Gloucester, merely consisted of hitting a tennis ball (which had no woolly coating and cost 2d) against three very uneven walls. We made our own rules and the three of us, Geoff Corson, Ray Bishop and myself were always searching for a fourth but in vain. We could not find one anywhere near our standard.

I must have watched these dons more than once and then one of them, Grave, I think, invited me to join them. As was to be expected I made a hopeless mess of it, but they encouraged me until I got the hang of it. The court was open air and very old fashioned. The floor consisted of several paving stones, very uneven, and the walls were only cemented to a small extent. The brickwork, too, was uneven and slowed up the speed of the ball. The balls of those days were hand-made of compressed felt and covered with a piece of kid leather with four sewn seams. I still have one somwhere but the type disappeared about 1950.

With Grave's encouragement I gained a little more skill, and then he mentioned the Allcock and Chawner Cup. This led me to advertise on the College screens for other players. Not many schools, however, play this kind of Fives, so that I found few volunteers. We had some enjoyable games - and, of course, we did not have to waste time travelling.

In the Cup competition, which I organised, my partner and I won the first year. That Fives Cup sat on my desk for twelve months flanked by a couple of gargoyles from Notre Dame! That chosen partner was Nick Vere-Hodge, a handsome medico, who once or twice played cricket for Essex. Also from Uppingham came Billy Hilton-Johnson, and, a year later Michael Platten, yet another medico. Later on he went to Dresden to study with Boesses at my recommendation. While he was there I wrote to him asking that he should bring me back a small swastika flag! I still have this but keep it hidden away, from a sense of shame. The only other player who comes to mind was a large lefthander, Nicholas Woolley, from Repton. He was an engineer and went into the Army, I believe.

We became keen enough to look around for an away fixture and somebody managed to arrange a match with Gresham's School at Holt, Norfolk, near Cromer. Not only that, but whoever it was persuaded a friend named Sears, the heir to the great shoemaking firm to drive us there in his Alvis. It must be admitted that I was more impressed by the banks of snow at least four feet high on either side of the dead straight road than excited by the joy of riding in such a fast car. The Fives courts at Greshams were odd in that they each had a back wall and to watch the play you had to stand on a rickety bench to peep over.

The fortunate co-incidence of having the Emmanual court so close to my rooms meant in the short term that I could well afford to give up any other activities, I did try to play Badminton a couple of times. I was immediately shocked by the way the missile was made to rush madly over my head but then dropped a couple of yards in front of me. Squash was played at Portugal Place, but it was not easy to get a court and I did not become an addict.

In my first week at Emmanual I did sign up as being interested in Fives. The result was a visit from John Armitage, soon to become an important person in the Rugby Fives world. Our converation was brief if kindly. Was I a serious player and what team did I play for? He soon left empty handed. Strange that in my first job after leaving college I became Master-in-Charge of Rugby Fives at Whitgift Middle School.

As soon as I left to take on my second and only other job I became Master-in-Charge of Eton Fives at City of London School.

I had acquired an interest in an absorbing game which has lasted me from the age of ten or so up to the present day. At the age of seventy I was seen to potter in the courts trying to show a small boy how he should play the game.

T.E.M.

Webmasters Note: See also Tributes to former players

Cambridge Years 1929-33 by T E Manning
Created 4th June 2003
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