Post date: 18-May-2020 07:28:29

John Robert or Johnny Rush (born November 1944) was a very smart and active student at William Ellis Grammar School. He became Head Boy which is top of the student hierarchy. This goes from Sub-prefect (who wore a special striped tie, not the ordinary one with oak motifs), Full prefect (they wore a black gown like that of the masters) and were about a dozen in number, with their own mess (room for relaxation), to Head boy, the top prefect. The prefects served the non-commissioned officers of William Ellis. Clearly they were inferior to the Masters (and the odd Mistress, such as Aggie Clough, the biology teacher), but they had power over the Other Ranks and kept order among the school boys. They had the power to give and hold detentions, but not to administer the cane. Only one of the Witches lot ever got to sub-prefect, Philip Howe, apart from John Rush, head boy. His intellectual prowess got him into Cambridge University, so he was clearly smart as well as determined. He was a great sportsman, by William Ellis standards.

As for me (Paul Ernest), Peter Sayers, Tony Barnett, Alan Shoobridge, Steve Moss, Alan Green, Dave Stevens, none of us was deemed worthy of being a sub-prefect. This was probably a legitimate assessment. For both in politics and in the school community we saw ourselves as rebels, setting ourselves against the dominant politics of the outside world, and subverting the power structure of the school establishment where we could.

To his credit, John Rush was able to play it both ways. His sporting prowess undoubtedly contributed to his standing in school, but he was no shrinking violet when it came to political protests and activity. Johnny was full of energy, and was very active in protest politics outside the school and he even stood as National Front candidate in the fateful school mock election of 1960 as an act of rebellion. (Of course Sid may not have fully grasped the irony of his candidacy for the National Front. Furthermore, to Sid, even the National Front may have been more respectable than the Communist Party. But this is only speculation!).

I recall a party at Johnny Rush's house in the early 1960s somewhere in the Kentish Town-Tufnell Park-Holloway area. The house was a small terraced house. There were rumours that a Holloway Road gang would be trying to break in to attack us, but Johnny reassured me that he had a shotgun and an air rifle as well as various knives, machetes and swords to see them off with. It made me a bit nervous. I love the odd pirate movie as much as the next person, but I didn't want to act one out! It was a good party - loud music, beer flowing, pretty girls to dance with! Doubtless the Witches set were there.

Needless to say we not stormed by ruffians from the Holloway Road. However, one should not underestimate the widespread nervousness about street violence, even if we middle class kids rarely experienced it. Gangs of youths sometimes gathered on Hampstead Heath when there were fairs, and there were stories of poor unfortunates getting set upon, I recall with horror that one had his eye kicked out, as well as the loathesome "queer bashing" on the heath.

John Rush was a tough guy who could handle himself, as indeed were a number of other William Ellis boys who lived in the Camden Town-Kentish Town-Tufnell Park-Holloway areas. This also included Philip Howe, Mick Low and Mic Parsons. And of course we had further tough guys in the Witches crowd including Julius Holley and Jeff Price.

John Rush obtained good grades at the A Level examinations, had a record of sporting prowess, most notably in Rugby Football, and won a place at Cambridge University. Rumours came back to us that he was elected president of the debating society and then spent the entire budget on port wine and retreated to his digs and drank himself stupid for weeks. At the time it sounded like a romantic tale both of rebellion and weakness, but in retrospect, it sounds exceedingly dubious.

What little else can be gleaned about him comes from the public record. He went on to havs a successful career as a literary agent, representing poets and other authors.

(From International Who's Who of Authors and Writers 2004)

I also heard he grew a beard when he went to Cambridge University, confirmed below. A mention of his cunning appears in a memoir.

JOHN ROBERT RUSH - LONDON - LITERARY AGENT

Overview

MR JOHN ROBERT RUSH is a Literary Agent from London. This person was born in November 1944 and is 71 years old. MR JOHN ROBERT RUSH is British and resident in United Kingdom. This company officer is, or was, associated with 3 Companies.

Their most recent appointment, in our records, was to SCENE AND HEARD on 1999-04-28, from which they resigned on 2002-12-31.

Address

XX Belitha Villas

London

N1 1PD

SHEIL LAND ASSOCIATES LIMITED. Est. 1962

YES: Full-length general, commercial & literary fiction and non-fiction. Also theatre, film, radio and TV scripts.

EXTRAS: No reading fee. One of the UK's more dynamic agencies, Sheil Land represents over 300 established clients and welcomes approaches from new clients looking either to start or to develop their careers.

SUBS: Preliminary letter with s.a.e. essential.

CLIENTS: Peter Ackroyd, Melvyn Bragg, Catherine Cookson Estate, John Fowles, Alan Garner, Susan Hill, HRH The Prince of Wales, Bernard Kops, Charlotte Lamb, Van Morrison, Patrick O'Brian Estate, Esther Rantzen, Pam Rhodes, Martin Riley, Colin Shindler, Tom Sharpe, Brian Sibley, Alan Titchmarsh, Rose Tremain, Sally Ward, John Wilsher, Paul Wilson.

COMM: Domestic: 15%. US: 20%

CONTACTS: John Rush, Roland Baggot.

43 Doughty Street, London WC1N 2LF

T: 0207 405 9351 F: 0207 831 2127

Dave Stevens, a fellow graduate from William Ellis School phoned John Rush to invite him to the class of 1963 reunion, 40 years on in 2003 held at William Ellis School, but he declined.

At that reunion we were served fish and chips as a reminder of our favourite school dish served on a Friday (if you were lucky). Wealthier old boys (this does not include me) who had had successful careers in the City kindly paid for some good wines and memorabelia given away free (school photos, etc) to old boys.

I had the opportunity to enter Sid Baxter's (the Headteacher's) study/office again. It was no longer the vast hangar like room in perfect state of tidiness with an atmosphere of fear (mine, not his) so thick you could cut it with a knife.

I had last been in it in around 1962 over the affair of the explosives. We were all keen chemists and especially fond of reactions that did something dramatic. We discovered that if you put some simple chemicals together you got mildly explosive crystals of an unstable substance. This was said would explode if even a fly walked on it, giving a sharp 'crack' and a cloud of coloured gas. This time it was Peter Sayers and Rickard who had the bright idea of painting it on radiators in the school corridoor and on classroom door knobs. As this substance dries out it becomes explosive. Some hapless teacher, I forget who, was intruiged by the cracking noises as it dried out and bent down and poked a larger piece with his finger. It exploded in a minor way causing great consternation. "He could have lost his eye" was the absurd claim that lead to a school wide investigation.

To cut a long story short they knew it was our class, a bunch of about 12 science students, so they called us into Sid's office where we stood trembling. Sid asked each of us in turn if we had done it or knew who had. I denied everything, of course, I wasn't going to rat on my mates. Then he aked Alf Levy. Alf replied "I know who did it sir, but I cannot tell you. That would be dishonourable." Sid almost beamed at this honourable schoolboy, and sent us all into Spike's office next door to sort our selves out, with dire warnings of what would happen if we didn't. We agreed among ourselves that Pete and Rickard would own up, but that the rest of us would say we knew about it so we were culpable too. The idea was to dilute their punishment. So we marched back into Satan's den. To my horror I found that six of the group did not turn right into Sid's office but turned left and walked away leaving us in the shit. So there we are - the two culprits and four backups. Sid gave us all a very evil look and some heavy words, and then suspended the two guilty parties for 2 or 3 days each. We others were not punished. But I was always in Sid's black books' I always had been.

Years before, when Tony Barnett joined William Ellis School late, entering the 3rd form, his father Dan Barnett visited Sid to see how Tony was settling in. To be honest I don't know who initiated the meeting, whether is was Sid or Dan. Sid asked "So who does young Barnett, associate with, who are his friends?" Dan told him it was Peter Sayers and me (Paul Ernest). To which Sid responded "Yes, young Sayers is a good, decent chap. That other one, Ernest, I'd watch out for, I don't trust him, there's something sneaky about him". No comment. (Not that he was entirely wrong!)

Whenever I was in Sid's office, before or later, while still at school, I was terrified. The school cultivated terror very systematically, as the heart of its control regime. Revisiting the room 40 years later I was amazed that Satan's lair, the very heart of darkness, was just a ordinary, emotionally uncharged room. For the record, John Rush had nothing to do with any of this!