Leaving school at 16 was something normal in 1961 and was not cause for embarrassment or shame. Most large companies had trainee schemes that assumed that you were 16 to start. Opportunities existed at Marks and Spencer, UKAEA, all the banks etc. So there was no issue with doing this. However, I did take the summer off, on the basis that it would be the last 6 week holiday I had for a large number of years.
I finished with school in the usual way after my GCE exams were over with the intention of having the summer off and then maybe going back to study A-Levels. I must say that this didn't really appeal but, as I still wanted to go into the RAF it seemed a good idea. In the meantime, I was off to Italy for two weeks.
We left Victoria station and went down to Dover for the ferry. Once across to France, we had a 'couchette' for the train journey to Florence. The journey took us through Switzerland and through the Alps so was pretty spectacular. Once in Florence, I found a couple of flaws with the whole trip. Firstly, whenever we were on an 'official' school visit, we had to wear school uniform. Now i had left school but that didn't count! Secondly, the school's idea of a holiday was churches, museums, art galleries. Well, I suppose that if you are going to Florence then you can't really expect to do anything else, really, so we just had to put up with it. During the Florence trip we visited Pisa and Sienna, then off we went to Rome. This was another train journey about which I can remember nothing. Rome was a good place. We stayed at some dreadful hostel. I remember hardboard walls and some discomfort. It was here that i was first exposed to the demon drink - me amazingly keeping to moderation - but my friends doing it too much. Our small sink in the room wasn't up to the volumes provided as an aftermath to the night out! Rome included a trip to the Vatican which I can remember vaguely.
The next hop was up the east coast of Italy to Rimini. It was here that we were finally getting a 'holiday', which meant beaches and lazing around. The journey was long as it was done by coach. One all abiding memory was a recurrence of the sink problem due to some of the boys drinking way too much the night before and the only receptacle in the coach being a large sweet tin, which, as you can imaging, wasn't something you wanted to open under any circumstances. This journey was made better by my introduction to the James Bond books - Dr. No was the book I had borrowed.
Rimini was a great place and we had a good time there. The hotel was small and comfortable. We did a trip to San Marino, which has added to my 'visited countries' count over the years. Finally, the enjoyment had to stop as we were off to Venice, Museums, etc. and back into uniform. However, Venice was really good and I have some memories of the place. We visited all the sights and went out to the glass factory on the island of Murano. I still have a small glass jar that I bought my mother as a present from there. The hotel again was a small one with canals all around so was quite interesting.
Finally it was over and we caught a train back to Calais. The last thing I remember of the holiday is arriving back at Victoria to be met by Dad. I had to ask him for some money because I had run out and had borrowed some from another boy - somehow this has been a recurring feature of my life!
The really bad news came when I got home. As I had booked this holiday early in the year, I found that the dates clashed with the annual scout camp. Roger told me, when I got back that they had a great time in Norflok and especially enjoyed the day at RAF Colteshall where they spent the whole day climbing in and out of English Electric Lightning aircraft!
Girls again - Once started at work, I had another go around with Sue Carrington as we had only drifted apart earlier - mainly, I think, due to exams on my part. Now with money in my pocket and decent clothes, I thought the time was right to try again. It's funny how you always look for 'the' one, even though you are only sixteen. Mind you, others in my family have proved that fact. Yet again, though, it only lasted a few months. I did want the girls to come with me when I listened to music and my tastes have rarely matched those of my partners. I must say that Valerie is patient rather than keen, but again, more of that to come.
I seem to remember the Sue relationship being in a bit of trouble just after seeing Elvis in G.I. Blues. To try and get it back, probably the cheesiest thing to do was to buy the sheet music to Wooden Heart and give it to her saying "this says it for me" or some crass comment like that! An expensive night out in the West End including a showing of Can Can starring Frank Sinatra in the Haymarket, was supposed to get it back on track but she dumped me the next day. It seems that the cost rankled with me more than the dumping because I can clearly remember being angry, but not unhappy. How easy it all is at 16.
Clothes became very important to me at that time, and I was egged on with this by my friend Roger. Now working in a bank, I had need of some good suits and in those days this meant 'made to measure'. There were two decent tailors in Streatham, both of which were national chains - Willoughbys and Hepworths - Hepworths because they had an Hardy Amies range which was top style. Being me, I was broke - mainly because I got into the 'I need to borrow some money, Dad because I get paid monthly and pay day isn't until the 25th'. Then you pay that back and that leaves you short for the next month, und so weiter as they say im Deutsche. So, I opened an account with both of them! £2 a month for each out of my £32 wage packet. This was the time of The Avengers on television and boy did we want to look like John Steed. This made us two of the first into Chelsea Boots and smart waistcoats - called 'weskits' over here. We were also very keen to have a flap over the top pocket of the jacket - because John Steed had that. Lastly, I had to work some Saturday mornings - these were the days of the banks opening then, although they have gone back to the idea nowadays again. However, when you worked in a bank on a Saturday, you needed to be in a Sports Coat and slacks. This meant a good quality Harris Tweed job from Hepworths with the mandatory flap over the top pocket - of course. This was all rounded off with an umbrella (or bumbershoot as I have heard it called). Quite the City gent.
What also must be remembered is that it was also important for City Gents to wear detachable collars. There was even a service provided to the bank by a company called, strangely enough, Collars. These collected your dirty collars and delivered clean ones, all in a nice brown box. However, at that time, striped shirts and button down collars were coming in. It took great courage to wear these to the bank but wear them I did. What with being told off because my hair was too long, I was somewhat at odds with the bank's normal form. I would also wear fancy waistcoats on a Saturday. I remember wearing one particularly dashing black corduroy one with white designs. I felt smart but the other 'waistcoat wearer' in the department quickly informed me that I had points on the waistcoat that were too long for nowadays. I had borrowed it from my brother who had bought it 5 years earlier so that told me! At that time, there was a small flurry of "men's" magazines. By this, I don't use the term as in modern parlance. These magazines were all about men topics and covered clothes in depth. Town magazine was the main one for me - a magazine started by Michael Heseltine before he became a politician. This magazine was the reason for me walking up and down Bond Street one evening trying to find the shop that has these fantastic calf high leather boots which I felt were a must have. I never did find that shop, as I never did manage to buy a suit from Jaeger, the clothes shop next to Hamleys toy shop in Regent Street. Oh well, i could dream
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