Today author Chris Ryan came to talk to the boys. There is a synopsis below. This is very sketchy - I'm sure that Chris Ryan would have done much better! - but gives a flavour of what he said.

First he talked about the SAS, and one boy did know that it stood for Special Air Services. He said that 70% of the time there is spent in a classroom. He didn't work hard at school; in fact he said later that he had just been lazy, and it was only when he went into a more disciplined environment that he developed as an author. Ironically he was weak at English, and he was also weak at mathematics, which was also ironic as when he was on operation duty and had to blow a hole in wall with explosives, there is a tremendous amount of mathematical calculation involved to avoid injury to personnel. He advised the boys to work hard at school. This is said to the boys by many speakers, but I am sure that Chris's advice, in the circumstances, really struck home.

Then he talked about what an SAS soldier had to wear. The first Henry came up to demonstrate this. There was fireproof underwear, which will withstand heat which melts plastic parts on weapons. Fortunately, this was the only part of the kit which Henry did not have to put on! Then there were the operational overalls, made of the same material as the underwear. Next was the belt kit, mainly to hold the pistol, and a pair of handcuffs. Then was the bulletproof jacket (body armour). After that was the ops waistcoat with radio equipment (communication, he said, was vital), a medical kit and stun grenades.

At this point he told a story about Lady Di, who had gone to visit Hereford to practise as part of the attack team. She put all the kit on, but refused to wear the hood. As he said, you don't argue with a princess. Somehow because some weapon was thrown wrongly and rolled off a roof onto the back of her shirt, her hair was set on fire. The men went to put it out by hitting her on the head. She asked why, and was told, "You'll know when you look in the mirror." Soon afterwards the newspapers were full of comment about her new hairstyle when she went to Australia.

Anyway, back to the first Henry. He was then given a machine gun. Don't worry - they were replicas, so the staff were quite safe with Henry 1 with a gun in his hand! This was a modified gun - he said that in the films if you shoot in long bursts the accuracy fails, as it tends to drift up, so that is wrong. This was a modified one, which has a switch to enable the gun just to do three rounds.

Then he put a helmet and special gloves on - these were lined with sand and lead, to protect the hands in case of hand-to-hand combat.

And now to the Second Henry. He demonstrated the night vision goggles.

You may be able to make out a mask in the background. This is the First Henry, with the breathing equipment on. It is actually very difficult to breathe with it, and Chris Ryan kept asking if he was all right. Fortunately he was, though he wore it for about ten minutes.

The boys then asked questions, and there were lots of them. Here are the responses to just a few. Practising with live rounds in a building, the walls are actually covered with rubber with steel underneath to stop the ricochets. He was terrified every day in Iraq, and once when he was alone he thought of what his mum had told him as a child: "If things get on top of you, have a good cry." He thought of that, but couldn't do it - he ended up laughing instead. Flame throwers are now obsolete, banned by the Geneva Convention, and are never used.

He said that you can do more damage with a pen than a sword. This was not the end of his talk, but it seems a fitting place to end this report.

Thanks so much to him - the boys were genuinely fascinated.

THE CLASSICS DEPARTMENT

For Book Week, in line with the theme “Doorways to Learning”, the Classics Department will be listening to the story of the Gates of Troy through which the Greeks poured on their way to destroying the city, and also the story of the Gates to the Underworld – that dark, gloomy and scary place where Trojan Aeneas went to seek the advice of his dead father.

DJ ANDERSON
HEAD OF CLASSICS

PSHE DEPARTMENT

PSHE at Caldicott teaches students to make informed decisions related to health and physical activity and to develop positive attitudes towards a healthy lifestyle. It also teaches the boys personal and social skills aimed at developing resilience and resourcefulness in the management of their lives. As such, PSHE is a ‘Doorway’ to a happy and successful future.

ET Godfrey
Head of PSHE