The Old Boys' Network pb
John Rae was one of the most charismatic and controversial figures in British education. His reputation as a great reformer was forged during his 16 years as headmaster of Westminster School, in the 1970s and early 1980s. And his candid account of that turbulent period – recorded at the time in handwritten diaries – seems as fresh and relevant today as it was back then.
The diaries, which he finished editing just before he died aged 75 in 2006, chart his struggle to keep out illegal drugs and the impact of family breakdown on pupils. Devious, rank-pulling parents are humorously dispatched. Dirty tricks by other schools are exposed – although Rae was not above wheeler-dealering himself to preserve Westminster’s ranking in the educational elite.
Outspoken and humane, Rae believed in the right of parents to educate their children privately, but he was also a sharp critic of the public school establishment. “Say what you believe and head up high” was his life-long personal code – the spirit of which is captured in this often shocking and unputdownable book.
“‘Westminster’s boys and girls were no angels,’ as John Rae puts it, ‘but they were always good company.’ As we follow his campaign to turn a single-sex establishment with a reputation for arrogance, slackness and drug-taking into the best school in the country, the same holds true of the author.”
The Telegraph
“These diaries reveal beneath the serious public persona of John Rae a schoolmaster who got a lot of fun from the antics and the wit of his boys... an enjoyable read.”
The Spectator
“Rae’s revelations have the fascination to be found
in an insider’s account of the workings of an ancient
and peculiar institution.”
Sunday Times
“A remarkable expose of the dirty dealings that have given public school pupils an unfair advantage in winning Oxbridge places is mischievously offered from the grave”
Oxford Times
“John Rae rejoiced in being an outside, a maverick
and a source of irritation … but he was devoted to
Westminster and he served it well”
The Economist
About the author
John Malcolm Rae was born 20th March 1931 and married Daphne Simpson in 1955, having six children. He was educated at Cambridge University (MA) and th