Category Archives: History

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WHO’S THE GOAT: RONALDO OR MESSI?

Is it him?

The debate of who is the greatest men’s footballer of all time (GOAT) has flooded the mind of many for years. Is it the 37 year-old Portuguese or the 34 year-old Argentinian? With a combined 1,562 goals and 2,059 appearances, the two have led the way in 21st century football.

Lionel Messi made his debut in 2004 for the Spanish giants Barcelona. From the off he helped propel the Catalan side to 10 La Liga titles in the 17 years he was at the club. Recently he transferred to Paris St Germain in France and is already tearing up the French league, propelling them to a current 1-0 lead in the Champions League Round of 16. Many believe Lionel is the GOAT because of the way in which he has given Barcelona the status as one of the European giants of the game with his flair, trickery and agile feet. He is a true hero and legend to the Catalan fans.

Or him? Cartoon by Elliot

Cristiano Ronaldo first stepped onto the scene as a young teenager who made his name in his home country, Portugal before getting a big move to English giants Manchester United. He excelled under Sir Alex Ferguson, scoring 100 goals in his first 5 year stint at Man U. He then moved to Messi’s Spanish rivals Real Madrid and won 4 Champions Leagues, making Madrid the best team at the time. Ronaldo later moved to Italy before returning to Manchester United. In his career Cristiano won 5 Ballon D’or and 4 Golden Boots compared to Messi’s 7 Ballon D’ors and 5 Golden Boots.

(Side note: Ballon D’or is a competition where by players vote on the best player of that year. Golden Boot is the highest scorer in all competitions for that calendar year.)

Although the statistics below seem to fight Messi’s corner, many argue that Ronaldo is the GOAT because of the impact he has had on various clubs around the world. Wherever Ronaldo seems to go he wins trophies and lights up the league, scoring goals and leaving defenders and records in his wake.

Messi (left) Ronaldo (right)

Who do you think is the GOAT?

#RonaldoIsTheGOAT

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The Nicholson Organ – the oft forgotten beating heart of College Hall

Photo by Magnus McLeod

Unbeknownst to many, resplendent upon the balcony sporting unfettered views over College Hall proper stands the school’s Nicholson Organ. Somewhat of a Frankenstein’s monster, combining parts from organs far and wide, this instrument represents a labour of love, commissioned in the 1960s by then headmaster Mr. Annett and director of music Mr. Bramma.

The story of this instrument began in 1967, as told in an issue of The Vigornian, when the headmaster called for the installation of an organ in College Hall; he asked that a fund of £2,500 be amassed, a figure he described as an ‘extremely reasonable price’ to commission from local organ maker ‘Nicholson’s of Worcester’ an amalgamation of organ parts, thereby avoiding the £7,000 expense of building an entirely new organ.

Photo by Magnus McLeod

By June 1969, the fruits of this endeavour had been realised and, almost three years since its conception, the organ would be inaugurated by Dr. Francis Jackson, organist of York Minster, who played the first recital on the organ on Friday 26th September 1969.

Photo from the School Archive

The organ itself is intriguing in its construction to say the least; the oak wood casing was moved from a convent chapel in London, dating from 1952, and a third of the 884 pipes, which go back as far as 1870, were generously donated from a disused church in Shrub Hill, Worcester. The rest of the workings were new, installed by Nicholsons with the assistance of O.V. Mr. Cecil Clutton, renowned for his writings on the history and design of the organ.

Perhaps the most distinguished guest to visit the organ after its 1969 installation was the Rt. Hon Edward Heath who sat an the console and reportedly improvised for half an hour; it comes as no surprise that the very next year, in 1970, he would be elected Prime Minister.

Rt. Hon. Edward Heath playing the organ in 1969, under the watchful eyes of Harry Bramma and Basil Edwards (School Archive)

I think it is therefore reasonable to establish that, should you wish to rise to Prime Ministerial status, playing the school organ will take you most of the way there.

A Roman mosaic depicting the Water Organ being played

It would be remiss of me were I to fail in providing a broader overview of the organ as an instrument. One of the oldest instruments still used within classical music, the first organs, found in Ancient Greece and Rome in the 3rd century, were hydraulic; unlike the electro- and tubular-pneumatic pipe organs of today, they derived their power from a water source, natural or otherwise. The basic function, however, that of a keyboard instrument, producing sound by air travelling through pipes, has remained consistent. Once touted by Mozart as the ‘King of Instruments,’ the organ has since been neglected by much of the musical world.

Perhaps now it is time for interest to return to this historical bastion of the instrumental canon…

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School uniform through the years

A rowing blazer and the first girls uniform

With the release of the new school uniform having caused quite a stir, let’s take a look back at how it used to be.

In the 1940s Kings was an all boys boarding school and although the uniform list was quite extensive it was not as different as you might think. The boys uniform list included but was not limited to: A weekday suit, a Sunday suit, pyjamas, bed sheets, a travelling rug, underwear, shoes and slippers.

A cricket team in 1942

They also sported a very similar uniform to ours in their grey trousers and white, collared shirts. For the summer term there is also a sports kit listed, in particular for cricket with the flannel trousers, shirts and cricket boots.

From 1971 girls were able to attend the 6th form here. In the 6th form pupils were allowed to wear non school uniform however much like today it had to comply with the standard of semi-formality.

In the 80s the boys uniform list was a lot shorter and looked very similar to how it does now apart from the option to wear a tweed jacket instead of a blazer.

It was decided that girls would be able to attend the senior school in 1989 and the first year girls joined in 1991. A uniform list from 2011 shows us what the boys AND girls wore. Everyone had to wear a blazer and tie but girls were allowed to wear an open-necked blue and white striped blouse with no tie in the summer terms. Boys wore grey trousers and girls a grey skirt (no shorter than on or just above the knee).  The P.E and games kits consisted of navy shorts or skort, a House polo shirt and navy track suit.

New uniform

The new uniform was introduced in 2021 and will be made mandatory for everyone between the years 7-11 in 2023. The uniform list now has not changed much from that of 2011 however the appearance has had a drastic make-over. The new design for the blazer is more fitted for girls and has a red piping around the lapel and the skirts are pleated and have a checked pattern. The boys uniform is overall the same apart from the addition of the red piping on the blazer.

This year the biggest change of all is the new tie system; where before students in the fourth forms wore ties with a white stripe to show their year group and students in the years above all wore ties with their respective house colours, now the ties will all correspond to your year groups and to show your house pride there are pin badges which many people including teachers are wearing already.

The Bluestones of Stonehenge

Stonehenge, one of the ancient wonders of the world, is known for its mystery and impressive prehistoric architecture. It’s easy to pay attention to the giant Salisbury sarsen stones which dominate the structure with their iconic appearance, however whilst they are impressive in size and weight their origins fall short of interesting in comparison to the smaller bluestones placed in the inner rim of the circle.

The purpose of Stonehenge is still shrouded in mystery. Many believe it was a burial site for the dead or at least a memorial site. The monument’s entrance is exactly inline with the rising sun of the summer solstice, which is celebrated on the pagan holiday of Litha. This suggests that ancient astronomers were possibly using Stonehenge as a solar calendar, tracking the moon and sun throughout the changing seasons.

Legend states how the stones where moved from a giants’ monument in Ireland to Salisbury by the wizard Merlin, a story with no evidence other than its story proves to contain a grain of truth. Whilst the stones where not taken from Ireland by magic, they were however moved from Wales 137 miles by sledges and human strength. Initially it was believed the bluestones were brought across by boat as it would saved many miles, however experimental archaeologists found that prehistoric boats were simply not strong enough. This boat theory was proven completely wrong by an experiment in 2014 where the stones sank only a few yards off shore.

Recently discovered 50 stone circle in comparison to the current Stonehenge

Evidence found in the Preseli Hills of Pembrokeshire (where the Salisbury bluestones are from) led to the discovery of an even larger original stone circle of bluestones at Waun Mawn. Cross sections of some of the bluestones at Stonehenge have been identified to fit in their place; indentations at the site suggest that up to 50 stones were removed and taken by sledge to Salisbury.

The drastic measures that these people went through to bring the stones with them shows how important the stones must have been to Neolithic people, given that they went to the effort of dragging their history and ancestry along with them when they migrated south and east.

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The Story Behind The School Gardens

The King’s School gardens are dedicated to Margaret Creighton, the wife of Cuthbert Creighton, who was the  Headmaster of King’s from 1919-1936 and 1940-2.

Cuthbert Creighton was born on 26th July 1876 in Worcester, which was where he passed most of his childhood as his father was a Canon of Worcester Cathedral between 1885 and 1891. He married Margaret Bruce on 15th April 1913, when he was thirty-seven. Margaret Bruce had been born in Ravello, Italy, on 23rd August 1881, but was living in London by the time she married Cuthbert.

Margaret gave birth to a son, Tom, in 1916 and another son, Hugh, in 1919. Tom was born in Kensington, London, whereas Hugh was born in Worcester, presumably in their home. For four years the family lived happily in Worcester as Cuthbert was Headmaster of King’s, however tragedy struck on 2nd February 1923 when Margaret died in childbirth along with their third child. She was forty-one years old. Their unfortunate deaths shocked the entire King’s community.

Cuthbert Creighton responded to the shockingly premature death of his wife by buying the remainder of the King’s site (the allotments lying between King’s and the river) from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners and laid it out as gardens which he gave to the school. He named them “The Creighton Memorial Gardens” in memory of Margaret Creighton and they were unveiled in 1931.

The gardens remain at King’s to this day in their original location at the side of the River Severn. The main focal point of the gardens is a fountain topped with a small statue of Sabrina, the Goddess of the River Severn.

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The Winslow Building: Colonists, Carnage and Cattle

The Winslow Building at King’s Worcester, home of Physics and Chemistry, does not initially appear to be a building of particular historical interest, however it is named after one of the founding fathers of the America, Edward Winslow.

Edward Winslow was born on 18th October 1595 in Droitwich and he was a King’s scholar from 1606 to 1611. During his time at school, King’s was very different to how we know it now. School days lasted for eleven hours and lessons included subjects such as Rhetoric (the study of persuasive speech and writing) and Mythology.

At the age of eighteen, Edward was apprenticed to a printer and was later head-hunted by separatist William Brewer as he was looking for young men to produce Puritan writings, which were banned in England. Separatists were people who believed that the Church of England was too catholic. This group later decided that their only option was to take their beliefs to the New World and their expedition was financed by certain Worcestershire “gentlemen” as well as the company of the Merchant Adventurers.

The pilgrims sailed on 6th September 1620 aboard the Mayflower for America with roughly 102 passengers (the minority being pilgrims) and 40 crew on board. Their voyage across the Atlantic was appalling as the main beam was broken during a severe storm. Although only one person actually died aboard the Mayflower, at least half the settlers died in America during the particularly harsh winter of 1620/1 and the mortality rate of women was very high. Both the leaders of the expedition, John Carver and William Bradford, lost their wives and Edward Winslow’s own wife may have died from scurvy.

Edward Winslow’s signature is third on the Mayflower Compact, just below the two leaders’ signatures

 

Fortunes began to change for the 53 survivors when native Indians taught them the ways of hunting and harvesting and they all celebrated the harvesting of the first crops on what would later become known as  Thanksgiving Day in November 1621.

Edward Winslow was responsible for the first cattle export to New England – three heifers and a bull – in 1625 and was elected as Governor of New Plymouth in 1633. He worked under Oliver Cromwell for the remainder of his life and died on an expedition to attack Spanish possessions in the West Indies. He was buried at sea off Hispaniola in the Caribbean.