Trigger warning. My best placing was usually before the starting gun.
Oh dear! I was not enjoying the exam season at school that year. And for good reason too. I was having a flunky year.
Perhaps the problem was simply that the markers were struggling with my handwriting. If only it had been possible to transcribe scribble into typed text back then.
But it is possible to do that now, so let’s try and set the record (unlike my handwriting) straight:
Sunday, 22 June 1975 classes boring. Dined at Felds. Afternoon in sun. So errands. David Aarons sitting – played backgammon and chess.
Monday 23 June 1975 started exams. TV Star Trek, Waltons.
Tuesday, 24 June 1975 – worst day for exams. Uneventful day.
Wednesday 25 June 1975 – took two exams. Still hard. Inter-form athletics. I came fourth in 400m out of four. Calculator from Auntie Rose [Rose Beech]. Very good one.
I love the unwitting joke that I came fourth in the inter-form event. On first skim I thought that sounded pretty good, until I more carefully read, “out of four”. Oh dear.
That Rockwell calculator was a REALLY good one
Thursday 26 June 1975 – still examining. Today physics and music. TV Jacques Cousteau & Play with a twist.
Friday 27 June 1975 still doing exams – only 2 to go. TV Walt Disney, It’s a Knockout and 10 from 20.
Saturday 28 June 1975 – finished exams, relaxed afternoon. Watched Wimbledon. Film: Greatest Show On Earth, ITV Boobed.
Arthur Ashe by Bogaerts, Rob / Anefo, CC BY-SA 3.0 NL
Perhaps I saw Arthur Ashe that day. Or Jimmy Connors. Or Brian Gottfried. Or Ken Rosewall. Or several of them and others.