Ecce Momenta Illa Mirabilla

Latin, Classical studies was compulsory in First Year.

If you passed the exam, you could take a second Year.

Mr Hepburn, the Head of Classical Studies, was a School Hero. He was irreverent, excellent at Latin, an entrant in Radio Four's Brain of Britain, and the holder of the most awful taste in ties. In our later years, we celebrated all things Hepburn by wearing our Dads' most awful ties, in "National Hepburn Day". Our joy in this day was compounded by Mr Hepburn chasing us up and down corridors and round the playground, cloak flapping behind him, berating us for non-uniform and a poor taste in tie. How we laughed!

In my second year, (yes, I passed, and I loved Latin), we didn't have Mr Hepburn, we had Mr Wilson. Mr Wilson was an American Mormon with a love of God, the United States of America, Latin and Meditation.

In our first couple of weeks, he introduced us to 10 minute meditations - at first we were petrified, we had no idea what he was doing. He would sit crossed legged on the desk, and encourage us to sit, relaxed back on the chair, hands on our laps, close our eyes, and let our minds drift.

We would all sit, silent, staring at him in awe. What did he think he was doing? When we realised that he was completely lost in his meditation, our task was to see just exactly what we could get up to in the 10 minutes he had his eyes shut.

Imagine it it people, a class of 12 and 13 year olds, a teacher perched on a desk, eyes closed. What would you have done..? We did it, and more!

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