Our thanks to ON Peter Brown (Dr) for getting in touch recently to let us know how pleased he is to hear that the school’s new pavilion at Longford is to be named in memory of Lynn James. Peter attended Adams in 1958-1965 and currently lives in Cyprus. 

Peter’s news - February 2020

I passed through the school from 1958-65, after boarding initially at Aston Hall and then in Beaumaris House and Big School. I was captain of the First XV in 1964/65 and, like many others, I benefited from Lynn James's enthusiasm and support, not least by eagerly taking advantage of his encouragement to enter the Shropshire county trials and to gain selection to then go on to represent Shropshire U19s for the 1964/65 season. I was in the same class as Jeremy Corbyn's older brother Piers and also Henry Murray, who produced the first That's Life programmes with Esther Rantzen.

In 1965, I joined a Civil Engineering (B Eng) programme at the University of Liverpool. I enjoyed a final year option in town planning which prompted me to complete a two-year Master of Civic Design (town planning programme). I then started a PhD before taking up a lectureship in the Department of Civic Design, the oldest planning school in the world. There I stayed, introducing an undergraduate programme and undertaking a wide range of research projects as a senior lecturer.

Whilst at the University of Liverpool, I was a member of a band that was formed in my department: The ‘Affordable House Band’. It comprised of fellow academics plus PhD students and we performed at student social events. My early interest in playing the guitar and singing was inspired by performing with a fellow Adams House contemporary in the annual Dixon Cup competition ,singing the Peter, Paul and Mary numbers - Puff the Magic Dragon and Lemon Tree - which rather dates it!

I retired from the University of Liverpool four years ago and remarried three years ago. This was to a Liverpool 'girl' who has lived in Cyprus for 14 years. One of her claims to fame is that she went out with Rory Storm of Rory Storm and the Hurricanes when Ringo Starr was their drummer, before he joined the Beatles. We now split our time between Liverpool and Kolossi, Limassol, Cyprus.

I have been putting together what my wife describes as my 'memoirs' (now over 820 pages and 400k words). In the chapter dealing with my school years, I have mentioned that, in c. 1963, the then head of English, Mr Anthony Paris produced a film. (He caned me for defacing a text book in which his initials appeared. I had simply expanded them as Captain Anthony Pugwash!)

The 'Exeunt Omnes' film featured pupils escaping from the school, which was portrayed as resembling a war-time prisoner of war establishment. It was shot in black and white and concluded with the escapees making it as far as the (now long-gone) station and catching a train ... in the direction of Stafford, as I recall.

I should add that I did not appear in the film myself, however a number of my contemporaries did. Typically, they were seen acrobatically vaulting over walls - and there is a brief sequence in which former music master Sam Baker (organist and choir master at Mary's, Shrewsbury) is seen sitting outside a pub, as a knarled rustic with straw in what remained of his hair, as a small group of escapees make their way past en route to the station. If a copy can be located, I am sure that current and recent pupils (and staff) would find it fascinating to see the school as it was then, including some scenes filmed in the Headmaster's garden, to which access was typically denied to all but the most privileged - rather like the gardens behind Buckingham Palace. Can any fellow ONs help?

I am still in touch with quite a few contemporaries, notably in the form of the annual Christmas card exchange and we have had regular reunions at school over the decades - most recently the '50 years on' version in July 2015, which was very well attended (even better than the 1995 version). We are still hopeful that some of us will still be around for the '60 years on' gathering in 2026!