Charles Bannerman

I think the word ROUGH would be a drastic understatement of the mother! :015: The whole thing is straight out of "Shameless", and indeed The Sun this morning is alleging that they borrowed a plot to kidnap the girl straight from the storyline of that very "upper crust" :015: drama! In fact the writers of Shameless must be patting each other on the back in celebration of how realistic their show actually is.

Phil the Greek with a potshot from the Grassy Knoll with assistance from MI6 in the Book Depository.

As far as I am aware, Messrs Christie and Brewster have both always been very aware of the "backup" services which are required for top level sport. For instance, CB is very particular about diet (about which he learned a lot in 5 years in Greece) and, for instance, he's not too happy to allow players to speak at press conferences after training until they've had lunch and replaced carbohydrates. Remember also that Caley Thistle also have a very good medical backup with Drs Smith, MacLeod and I believe also MacVicar as well as physio David Brandie. I think you will find that these people also have a pretty firm hand on psychology. As far as training demands are concerned, and indeed the more modern sports science based approach, I think football as a sport is actually a bit behind a lot of others, although catching up. Certainly there has been a great deal of catching up at ICT, because legend though the man may have been, Steve Paterson's views on training were quite... shall we say "traditional"! However there also tends to be a "traditional" culture among some players in football and as a result a degree of reluctance to embrace the kind of training regimes which have been prevalent in other sports for some time. I have coached athletics to a fairly high international level and have a fair idea what athletes did and were prepared to do IN THEIR SPARE TIME as opposed to part of a full time job, in pursuit of, for instance, Commonwealth Games selection. I am sure attitides are changing in football and Craig Brewster certainly seems to have been at the cutting edge of more up to date training practices in football. There was also a reference in an earlier post to "one size fits all". I really don't know what the situation is at ICT and am perhaps not best qualified to comment since my coaching experience has been in an individual sport, but I think that even in team sports, there has to be a degree of individuality in schedules. I had an interesting discussion with Peter Davidson who told me that they only gave the goalkeepers the "snatch" exercise in the weights room because only keepers need to have strength in their arms above their heads. A good example of individually tailored training. And, for instance, I couldn't imagine somebody like, for instance, Barry Wilson (even before you consider his age - serious point!), who clearly is very much a "fast twitch" machine absorbing the same volume of work as some other players who are not perhaps quite as quick as Barry was but who have far more capacity to handle activities of longer duration.

Officially confirmed now as ON.

I can exclusively reveal that they decided to give the job to Ian Black instead! Jailender... you have to admit, you left yourself wide open to that riposte from Tree! (PS - I'm once again looking forward to my visit to Victoria Park this Saturday.)

Ellis Stuart... and we're OK... he's been dead for a few years but in any case you could plead "veritas" even if he was alive! Yes, I did O Grade and Higher French with him too and my dislike was similar to yours, although that changed many years later. "Curluck" could be a bully and extremely unpleasant and his manner certainly didn't help in the pursuit of the high standards he chased ruthlessly. We really didn't like him at all, but at the same time there was a sneaking admiration for something about him. He was the kind of guy who would give you an ink exercise for the night of the school dance and would complain bitterly if you wanted to be out of class for an instrumental lesson. He clearly had some kind of chip on his shoulder but also gave credit when it was due. He had an interesting past. During the war he worked behind enemy lines for MI5, in both France and Poland. He was a great shinty man and founded the Schools' Camanachd Association. He was also a rabid Gaullist and was in deep mourning when Le General died in 1970. I think I got an A pass in Higher French just to spite his cynicism about me (and many others thast he used to rap on the side of the head for each and every transgression.) I had two encounters with him well after I left school in 1971 which changed my perception a bit. It must have been about 1989 that a I received a call from him out of the blue, asking me to do a piece about schools shinty for the Courier. I spent quite an entertaining afternoon of interview with him. Then in 1994 when I was researching by book on the Royal Academy, I visited him in Ach an Eas Old Folks' Home where he then was. He gave me a considerable insight into his time in the school and there was a significant meeting of minds between us, although that didn't change the fact that he had been a thoroughly unpleasant teacher.

I'm not really doing either. Just having a bit of a laugh at the prodigious navel contemplation that seems to be going on as the planet slowly poisons itself. Rather reminiscent of the concept of fiddling while Rome burns. :015: "Mehercule, Marcus. Oh me miserum! If you build that aqueduct there, in 2000 years' time the Galli, the Germanii and the Britanii will all jump on the bandwagon and you'll have a whole lot of people scooting about Chelsea in 4 wheel drive tractors! You can cancel Watling Street now into the bargain!!!" Anyway, according to last Thursday's Sun, it's farting cows that are to blame in any case!

Certainly the 11 plus was a fairly rough implement and there were many who went to the IHS who would have done perfectly well at the IRA where conversely there were quite a few duffers who were equally misplaced. The 11 plus didn't take account of changes in youngsters post Primary and the problem with the old Inverness system was that there was no promotion or relegation between the Royal Academy and the High School, nor between the High School and Millburn. That would have made a big difference. One of the Teckie's more famous FPs was Sir Willie Sutherland, one time Chief Constable of Lothian and Borders. Hugh MacMillan, former CC of Northern Constabulary was also, I believe, a THSFP. Anyone remember the rhyme: "The Caddie Rats take off their hats and bow to the Teckie teachers." ?

Better remember to pick up your shoes from Rollerbowl! :015:

And here were all of us thinking it was people driving 4x4s that were to blame!

Or, in the case of Rothes,.... DURING...... :003:

That would have been after the comprehensive reorganisation by which time Inverness had, and still has, five comprehensive secondary schools. Selection, which ended in 1970, had long since been scrapped by then.

The fee paying issue latterly became an Inverness urban myth. Fees were abolished in the upper school around 1908 and in the lower school after the 1944 Education Act which led to entry to the Royal Academy being purely on merit in the 11 plus (which wasn't all that accurate since a lot of future graduated etc went to the Tecky... despite the IHE windup which I knew was inevitable when I wrote the original post!) This also meant that you could get quite a few thick, rich kids at the Academy in the old days. I'm not sure if fees were still paid in the Royal Academy primary which was phased out between 1955 and 1961. However the school's fee paying past did mean that an aura of snobbishness continued, certainly into the 60s but I think it was well on its way out, for instance by the time I left in 1971. However, there were staff there who really thought that kids from the "G and T belt" in the Crown were a cut above the rest and similarly boys who played football were also looked on as som,ehow inferior to the rugby team who were "the chaps". Also, once you got into the Royal Academy, there was intellectual stratification even among the alleged "elite".... but I can't for the life of me remember which of these strata IHE aspired to. :015:

Various US Presidents have made a habit of "jogging with the plebs". For most heads of state, any constraint is normally imposed by security. With this lot at Buck House there's the additional, major factor that they think they are better than the rest of us so shouldn't even think of mingling apart from PR exercises and even then we are expected to bow, curtsey and scrape and address them by these ridiculous titles. What I object to is that these totally unelected people of questionable nationality and parentage should set themselves up as a sort of bunch of "SuperBrits" under the delusion that they are actually superior to the rest of us. If a country is going to have an ultimate authority then that individual has to be elected and there merely for the function... and there is no place for his/ her relatives sponging off the state as an additional liability. Oh, and by the way, my earlier query about the legitimacy of the Royals on the strength of who their female ancestors were having it away with applies equally to everyone whose status depends on heredity. In other words all your "aristocracy" (including Clan Chiefs with their boolinthegub accents) are of equally dubious foundation. And that's before you even begin to count the number of Dukes of this and that who owe their titles to the fact that they are simply the descendants of Royal ******** that we know about, because their "Royalty" came from the male side. (By the way, you've maybe followed that I'm not a great fan of inherited rank and privilege. :015:)

Inverness Royal Academy was founded in 1792, originally on Academy Street (in the building where Pivo is). It moved to the top of Stephen's Brae in 1895 and has been at Culduthel since 1977. In Olde Inverness there were other institutions such at Bells School and Heatherley but the Royal Academy is the oldest. It also has as its predecessors a Grammar School and a Monastic School which take its history right back to 1233. Inverness High School (Technical High School for many years... hence The Teckie) used to be based in the now Crown Primary but shared some accomodation at Midmills with the Royal Academy. It moved to its present site in the mid 1930s. After the 1944 Education Act, if you did well in your 11 plus you went to the Royal Academy, otherwise to the Teckie where you did either Technical or Commercial courses, or General. In 1961 Millburn Junior Secondary School (and I love reminding Millburners of that name!) was opened to accommodate those on the east side of the Ness who were designated General, ie did not make the Royal Academy nor the intermediate Technical or Commenrcial courses in the High School. During the 70s there was a steady transition towards comprehensive education which included the construction of Charleston and Culloden Academies and since about 1979 there have been five comprehensives in Inverness.

Outwith the day job, I'm not usually too publicly pedantic about spelling mistakes, but this one unfortunately conveys a meaning rather the opposite of what it should. I think Bob means "assent" rather than "ascent" although DESCENT would be more acceptable (and DECENT wouldn't!)

Are you taking the p!ss by simply regurgitating all the weary, hackneyed, apologist cr@p that you used to read in the Sunday Post before it broke into the second half of the 20th century (and still do read in the Telegraph!)? Most other countries seem to manage without this self perpetuating "elite" of dubious progeny and uncertain nationality who seem to expect to be referred to by ludicrous titles like "Your Majesty" and "Your Royal Highness". And even most of those countries which have still persevered with royalty will find theirs cycling about the place. Now could you imagine any of our lot mixing it with the plebs on a bike!? The problem is that, in addition to what I would suggest is a completely anachronistic function in modern society, our lot are among the most elitist in the world and in some strange way still seem to harbour delusions that they are better than the rest of us. To quote Harry Enfield.... "Oi.... Windsor..... NO!!!!"

Surely not! You wouldn't be implying William Windsor and Harry Hewitt or anything like that would you? :018: I thought the recently concluded ITV drama series "The Palace" ran a wonderful storyline when the question was being asked if The King was actually the son of the previous King or of the Dowager Queen's erstwhile Bit on the Side? DNA testing ultimately showed that he was, but previous generations haven't had the benefit of DNA testing. Short of a mass "dig up" in the Windsor Mausoleum (which I don't think they would ever dare risk) we'll never know, will we! :003:

Spot on Scarlet. Quite simply they are there because their ancestors were more ruthless and unscrupulous thugs than their contemporaries. The whole concept of royalty is a fundamentally illogical one - that one set of people should have the entitlement to be called things like "Your Majesty" and "Your Royal Highness" (just think about how totally absurd these forms of address are!) simply on the grounds of the viciousness of their ancestors. And in fact the nonsense doesn't even stop there. Added to the ridiculous origins of their status, lets also examine the extremely dubious means by which it has been perpetuated. This is done on the hereditary principle - you get the job because your dad, or occasionally mum, had it (or sometimes, as is the case with the queen, because your uncle couldn't be @rsed and wanted to marry Mrs. Simpson instead.) But hang on a minute! The whole "logic" of this process kind of assumes that your "dad" really is your dad. Now, we all know how good your "royal" males are at putting it about and having several bits on the side. So why shouldn't the royal women be exactly the same? There is, in fact, a very serious question being asked about the legitimacy of Queen Victoria on the basis of the passing on of the haemophilia gene. In that case we have absolutely no guarantee that the current lot aren't really the progeny of the butler or the groom or the footman or the Page of the Backstairs? (well maybe not that last one duckie!) In fact, all you need is one single female "indiscretion" through history, and this lot degenerate into the products of a bit of illicit legover in the stables.

No I didn't! **** Campbell used to though!

It stood where the new Eastgate square is now, or a big part of it did. The Playhouse burnt down in 1972 or 1973. 72.

Good to see a Caley Thistle fan saying nice things about a girl from Dingwall! :004:

As a matter of policy, I do not make posts on current stories relating to Caley Thistle and only make very limited comment on football matters at all. To do otherwise would be inconsistent with the reporting role I have and, to put it as tactfully as I can, I would prefer not to become involved with threads where comment is in places perhaps some way wide of reality. :014: I made one exception last August when I realised that there was so much uninformed nonsense being spoken about Craig Brewster at a point when the deal had actually been done. Regular users of this site will notice that the vast majority of my posts provide users with factual material or are on matters in the past - especially on the "Memories" board. I often wonder whether I should be posting on this site at all. I certainly don't intend to become involved in this thread to any extent greater than this single post.

I thought the two were synonymous.

Yes, it was right next door to the Playhouse. Did it not disappear with the Playhouse burned down in 1972?