| Description | Interview conducted by Abigail Nelson.
This recording and transcript have been edited to allow access.
00:00-00:27: Introduction
00:27-01:46: Why Battersea College? recalls Civil Engineering Institute changed their acceptance requirements; company requested he retrain; sent to Battersea College
01:46-04:08: First Impressions: excited to be in London; mentions age of Battersea Main Building; good food in The Refectory; commuted by car; describes rented accommodation in Streatham
04:08-08:26: Subject teaching: lots of lectures; practical lessons in laboratories; Glen Holloway; lectures on Thursday at Polish University in Putney
08:26-11:27: Social life: parties in rented accommodation; dances; visited home at weekends; sport, played football, ice skating in Streatham, golf
11:27-15:29: Accommodation: learnt to be independent; had to learn to clean and cook; lived with other civil engineering students
15:29-19:52: Memories: Surveying course and geology courses, trip to Weymouth finding fossils, trip to Westminster College, Oxford
19:52-21:48: International students: Chinese, Middle East
21:48-23:40: Food: Quite good in The Refectory; Chinese restaurant
23:40-25:35: Graduation: held in Westminster; parents and girlfriend visited; father took film of ceremony; went to theatre afterwards, Crazy Gang
25:35-35:40: Examinations: studied old examination papers; created notes to memorise; recalls checking exam papers at end of examination to find mistakes; Peter Knowles, personal tutor
35:40-43:17: Why Civil Engineering? saw extension being built at school; tangible result of work; time working in bank; learnt about contracts and costing time and materials
43:17-46:44: Mascots: stole mascot from teacher training college, rocking horse; other mascot was burnt; holiday to Milan and Venice
46:44-53:46: Photographs: stove in flat; Allan Churchman; Riverside Road, Streatham; 21A Hillary Road; poker with landlord; summer project, multi-story building
53:46-56:21: Class sizes: 40 in first year; 18 at the end; no girls; lots of individual tuition
56:21-58:23: Move to Guildford: recalls tours of Guildford; visited once while working in Horsham, looked into Engineering department; visited for reunion
58:23-01:00:27: Accommodation: describes flat on top floor of terraced house; mentions shared kitchen and bathroom
01:00:29 - End |