Just About Me 8

The cinema was an exciting place for me, you see my Dad often fancied watching a film and would take me with him. We first went to watch The Silencers, with Dean Martin in it, he played a secret agent and it was Americas answer to James Bond. There have been 23 Bond movies and only 4 Silencers films, so from that I guess for once America got it wrong. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Silencers_%28film%29

Another great film we watched was Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, this is a classic movie starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butch_Cassidy_and_the_Sundance_Kid

But for me the one that stood out was Papillon, starring Steve McQueen, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070511/  it was about a guy imprisoned by the French and his struggle for survival.

In February 1971, it was decided that I was wasting my time being at Elliott any longer, and my parents, I think, harbored thoughts that I was being held back academically, but maybe the truanting didn't really help, anyway my parents changed my school and I went to Sir Christopher Wren School, W12. This was the local school that originally was deemed not very good in 1967, but now in fairness my brother Colin attended and was doing really well at. It was in walking distance, my reputation had obviously arrived before me, as the first thing my new housemaster said to me was " So your Allen, when are you leaving". When I went into class I could not believe these people were my age, some of them were enormous and grew close on a beard, whilst I, although tall, still spoke with a squeaky voice and attended scouts. I soon fell in with my usual way, meeting a couple of guys Billy Hennessy and Billy Daniels, we all bunked off together, I even made my little brother carry my PE kit around so that I did not have to do it, Sorry Colin! I lasted one term at Sir Christopher Wren School and left my school days behind it was May 1971.