George Robson (FN 57-64) writes: THE CURRENT AFFAIRS CUP. “Back in the 1950s and 1960s the inter-house competitions included the Current Affairs Trophy. It was the only one not to be relating to sport. Each term one lesson included pupils being asked twenty questions about home or international affairs. The teacher marked the sheets and passed the results to whichever master was in overall charge to ascertain the final results. During my time classics master and Housemaster of Grindal, Tony Coates, had this responsibility. When the results were finalised, he posted them on a noticeboard in the Foundation corridor.
Not being capable of contributing much to the inter-house sporting competitions, even though a proud member of Foundation North, I thought up the idea of listing important events at home and abroad and posting them on a notice board for fellow boys of the house to read prior to the test. Even though a snag to my idea was that boys from Foundation South would also benefit from the postings, I resolved to go ahead with the idea. So, every day I scoured newspapers and made a note of important or interesting happenings. My postings increased in number as the days leading up to the termly test drew nearer. On the morning of the test lots of boys would be seen crowding around the noticeboard to read what I had posted.
	A Cup similar to the Current Affairs Cup
One day I spotted on an inside page of The Telegraph a short article about the abdication of King Zog of Albania. I thought the name Zog was amusing so I included it in the list for the day, even though there wasn't even the remotest chance that the abdication would feature in the test. As I say, it only featured well down an inside page. But I was wrong. Incrediblyone of the questions in the next test was What is the name of the King of Albania, who recently abdicated? I later learnt that not a single pupil on School House or Grindal knew the answer, whereas well over 50% of the Foundation boys answered it correctly! The Housemaster of Foundation North during most of my time was John Hall, referred to by us as ‘Shuff.’ Apparently, kudos were at stake between the Housemasters when it came to inter-house competitions and Shuff had great hopes that one year his house - Foundation North - would win the Current Affairs Trophy. But as the years passed, he was consistently disappointed in this. That is until 1963 arrived. During the 1962-3 academic year Foundation North won every one of the inter-house competitions. I am sure those Old Boys still alive from that era will confirm this. Mind you, the most spectacular victory was winning the cricket final against School House, which boasted over half the school’s 1st XI. Anthony ‘Spiv’ Dearle was overheard remarking from the terrace ‘This is the shock of the decade and probably of the century too’. All cups were presented from the Memorial Hall stage by Headmaster, James Wykes, at the final assembly of the summer term. As a reward for my efforts, I was chosen to ascend the stage and receive the Current Affairs Trophy which was, as I am sure some will remember, to be later placed on one of the small shelves protruding from the walls of the Foundation dining room (since removed). Having been given the cup by the Headmaster I descended the stage accompanied by applause - especially from the boys of Foundation North. I noticed out of the corner of my eyes ‘Shuff’ furiously joining in. The next morning as we filed into the dining room for breakfast ‘Shuff’ was standing there doling out to each of his Foundation North boys a bar of chocolate. He was saying to each boy as he did so: ‘A Little largesse...A little largesse...A little largesse…A little largesse.’ Few of us knew what ‘largesse’ meant, so many dictionaries were put into use after breakfast. (Google tells us that the word means ‘Generosity in bestowing money or gifts to others’.) Apart from a bar of chocolate, I was given something else to reward me for my efforts – the Foundation Senior House tie.”

 

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