Post by Deleted on Mar 31, 2011 18:14:43 GMT -5
So, it took us a bit of time but we managed to track down Ian’s form mistress and music teacher from Blackpool Grammar School.
Miss Furst, is now in her late eighties but we managed to get a brief but interesting insight into her accounts of the young Ian, and ‘the young blades’ he hung around with.
TJTB - So, Miss Furst, thank you for talking with us, I wonder, can you recollect whether the young Ian showed any signs of his promising musical talents when he was at school?
AF – Well, yes, he was always toying with any instrument he could lay his hands on, I recall he was particularly good at the saxophone, but his classmates were so critical of his style of playing, I think it was jealousy on the part of those who couldn’t apply themselves like young Ian. He was a very determined young man, although he looked a bit unkempt the last I saw of him. I heard he was a bit of a down and out, is that true?
TJTB – No, no, I think you may have got the wrong end of the stick there…
AF – It frequently happens at my age, young man!
TJTB – Er, yes….Hmm, Were there other instruments that Ian took up at school?
AF – Piano, definitely the piano, or was it the marimba, no piano, I remember sitting with him while he composed a little tune he called ‘Round’. it just went on forever and ever….’More brevity’, I used to say, ‘You will never get anywhere in this day and age playing long meandering pieces of music, no one’s interested anymore’….he never listened to me though.
TJTB – and, anything else?
AF – Oh yes, guitar and flute, although I thought he was never going to excel in either of those, stick to history I said, he was good at history. History and agriculture.
TJTB – What about his writing abilities?
AF – He was so, so, again he was a little prone to being verbose and obscure, for example he submitted a piece once about ‘What I did on my holidays’. 22 complete sides of foolscap with references to his trip to look at the animals in the zoo and how he’d like to be one. He’d frequently wander off on a tangent. ‘IAN ANDERSON’ I would shout across the class, ‘WONDERING AGAIN, LAD?’, He was a bit of a dreamer, nice lad though, always looked smart in his silver buckle shoes and those downy little sidies of his.
TJTB – What about his mathematical abilities?
AF – Old Dr Ogenbrom took him for maths, as far as I can recall, he seemed to do quite well, never had trouble knowing his exponential functions and that zero to the power of ten really equals nothing at all.
TJTB – Did he show any early interest in classical literature?
AF – Not really, only the curriculum books and old copies of magazines like Time, which I think he later had little time for.
TJTB – Was he an extrovert?
AF – Well he occasionally wore his jock strap outside his cricket whites, but other than that no, he was a well rounded young man.
TJTB – Thanks for taking the time to talk to us.
AF – My pleasure, would you like a cup of tea dear, before you go?
Thanks to Ms April Furst for that insight…..
Miss Furst, is now in her late eighties but we managed to get a brief but interesting insight into her accounts of the young Ian, and ‘the young blades’ he hung around with.
TJTB - So, Miss Furst, thank you for talking with us, I wonder, can you recollect whether the young Ian showed any signs of his promising musical talents when he was at school?
AF – Well, yes, he was always toying with any instrument he could lay his hands on, I recall he was particularly good at the saxophone, but his classmates were so critical of his style of playing, I think it was jealousy on the part of those who couldn’t apply themselves like young Ian. He was a very determined young man, although he looked a bit unkempt the last I saw of him. I heard he was a bit of a down and out, is that true?
TJTB – No, no, I think you may have got the wrong end of the stick there…
AF – It frequently happens at my age, young man!
TJTB – Er, yes….Hmm, Were there other instruments that Ian took up at school?
AF – Piano, definitely the piano, or was it the marimba, no piano, I remember sitting with him while he composed a little tune he called ‘Round’. it just went on forever and ever….’More brevity’, I used to say, ‘You will never get anywhere in this day and age playing long meandering pieces of music, no one’s interested anymore’….he never listened to me though.
TJTB – and, anything else?
AF – Oh yes, guitar and flute, although I thought he was never going to excel in either of those, stick to history I said, he was good at history. History and agriculture.
TJTB – What about his writing abilities?
AF – He was so, so, again he was a little prone to being verbose and obscure, for example he submitted a piece once about ‘What I did on my holidays’. 22 complete sides of foolscap with references to his trip to look at the animals in the zoo and how he’d like to be one. He’d frequently wander off on a tangent. ‘IAN ANDERSON’ I would shout across the class, ‘WONDERING AGAIN, LAD?’, He was a bit of a dreamer, nice lad though, always looked smart in his silver buckle shoes and those downy little sidies of his.
TJTB – What about his mathematical abilities?
AF – Old Dr Ogenbrom took him for maths, as far as I can recall, he seemed to do quite well, never had trouble knowing his exponential functions and that zero to the power of ten really equals nothing at all.
TJTB – Did he show any early interest in classical literature?
AF – Not really, only the curriculum books and old copies of magazines like Time, which I think he later had little time for.
TJTB – Was he an extrovert?
AF – Well he occasionally wore his jock strap outside his cricket whites, but other than that no, he was a well rounded young man.
TJTB – Thanks for taking the time to talk to us.
AF – My pleasure, would you like a cup of tea dear, before you go?
Thanks to Ms April Furst for that insight…..
