During the 1950s Religious Knowledge was taught by Mr. Richards,
variously known as Dickie Junior or Little Dick, and he hadn’t a clue as to how
to control a class. It could sometimes degenerate into a near riot. It was the
practice of some classes when taking notes of his Religious Instructions to
write down everything he said verbatim and the more studious (?) pupils would edit the
highlights (nitrogen tri-iodide and all!)
into an entertaining notebook which was christened The Dikalogue in a punning
reference to The Ten Commandments. (Decalogue.)
I have vague recollections of the practice but do not recall being actively
engaged in taking such notes myself - but I know a man who was! Miraculously Clive Strutt has
found his edited booklet of notes which were irreverently christened The Dikalogue. It is almost
as good as a tape recording and if you are of the appropriate era it will
immediately take you back to what it was like to be in a badly run class at
Farnborough Grammar School.
Click here or on the link above to view Clive’s record of
Dickie’s failure to control his class.
Malcolm Knight : August 2011