| Description | Interview conducted by Teresa Hogan.
00:00-00:24: Introduction
00:24-01:05: Why Battersea? Student apprenticeships offered by Shell, ICI and Atomic Energy; £850 annual student grant; mechanical engineering
01:05-03:44: First Impressions: Clapham North accommodation was gruesome, contrast to boarding school; student grant covered everything; moved into new Ralph West halls of residence; sponsoring companies insisted students stayed in halls of residence
03:44-05:25: Teaching: Visits to Polish university in Putney; lecturers Zagaski [Zygalski?], Balinsk [Bilinski?], Waligorski [Wielogorski?]; lectures in Battersea were in antique buildings
05:25-09:55: Sports and leisure: rugby on Saturdays and Wednesdays; describes London University Territorial Army Officer training Corps; girls in the hotel and catering courses; girls from other colleges visiting social dances ; Chris Barber; met wife at a Royal Free Medical School hop; squash and badminton
09:55-11:39: Fight on Albert bridge: photograph newspaper cutting, Sunday Telegraph, 11 Mar 1962, flour fight with Chelsea college
11:39-13:57: Accommodation: Ralph West halls of residence; describes food; visits to Chelsea and Battersea Park; mentions public houses
13:57-18:43: Course: Mix of international students, Polish; two years studying and year long industrial placement; torpedo factory in Weymouth; Shell Haven refinery; describes accommodation on placements; describes Outward Bound course
18:43-20:56: Territorial Army: joined for social side; weekend and summer camps
20:56-22:53: Shell oil company: needed staff for refineries; after graduation worked in Bombay, Australia, Holland
22:53-31:41: Further memories: Rugby matches against other colleges; fought over pub sign at Albert Bridge; no memory of mascot; not too expensive to live in London; Institute of Mechanical Engineers; graduation certificates handed out by Dr Leggett, principal; recalls engineering drawing by hand, calculations done on log tables; mentions honorary degree
31:41-34:04: Inspection by Queen Mother of TA students, dress uniform; learnt to drive tanks
34:04-38:49: Request for more news on current university practice; mentor for students in Year In Industry organisation; Battersea had good links to industry
38:53: End |