Back to the End Of The Georgians calendar
Having had one monarch, albeit slightly off his head for a while, for 60 years, we are now going to have another 3 in the space of 17 years. George IV, the ex Prince Regent, had not been well for some time. His earlier lifestyle, in which he drank far too much and hosted massive banquets, was slowly taking effect. By 1828 he was almost completely blind and was suffering from an illness, known as gout, which meant he was unable to sign any documents. By 1820 his weight was 20 stone (130kg) and he had to sleep sitting upright.
On 26 June 1830 he died at Windsor Castle. He was then buried at St George's Chapel, also in Windsor Castle. He had no surviving legitimate children, the next son of George III, Frederick, had died in 1827 so the third son of George III, William, became the next King. He would be William IV. The clever ones amongst you will spot that this is the end of the Georgians, who had reigned since 1714, a total of 116 years. However we will continue with this part of our history until 1850 so hang on tight.
On a more personal note, the senior school which I attended for 6 years in the …..............not telling you was also founded this year. It was known as University College School (it still is) and was founded by the University College of London and the first premises were in Gower Street, which is why I can call myself an Old Gower and, if I want, put OG after my name. The school was inspired by the work of a man called Jeremy Bentham, who campaigned for higher education to be available regardless of religious beliefs. At the time, only members of the church could study at Oxford and Cambridge, while similar religious based tests were imposed at other universities.
In 1907, the school moved to where it is now in Hampstead. Much of the main building was destroyed by a massive fire in 1978 but it was rebuilt and, by making use of temporary classrooms, the school continued while a rebuild took place. The school was original in that it never was a boarding school, was one of the first to teach modern languages and sciences and, so it says, had a gym before the first school which is said to have had a gym. No, I don't see how either. There never was, and still isn't, any religious teaching at all.
When the school moved to Hampstead, the King, Edward VII, opened the buildings and, after the rebuild, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, reopened things in 1980. In 2008 girls were admitted to the sixth form for the first time. There are many famous former pupils but, as far as you lot are concerned, I am the only one that matters. Do you know any history about your school? If you do then you can include it in one of our projects we have asked you to do.
This is the main hall where we used to have an assembly every morning and where the annual prize giving takes places. Guests of honour in recent years have been Sir Tim Rice, Sir Roger Bannister OG, Stephen Fry, Lord Coe, Sir Michael Parkinson, Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, Hugh Dennis OG, Victoria Wood, Fiona Bruce and Michael McIntyre. OG means they were ex-pupils and I can't help but notice I am missing.
Just to show there were no hard feelings, I returned in 2018 for the 50th reunion of 1968 leavers and discovered that I was not in the school photo taken
while I was supposed to be at the school. I am the one in the background in this photo and obviously too much so when the old photo was taken.
Forward to 1832AD
