Hi Cathedralites,
As promised I aim tell you what I know about the Pharoah of Cathedral.
Stan Pharoah was Vice Principal during the time I was in school. He was a great man in more than one sense. Stan (he would say "Mr. Pharoah to you, young man!") was my class teacher in the 10th Standard. He taught Mathematics. His teaching skill was excellent. He made Mathematics interesting. He had a beautiful writing hand on the blackboard.
The feature about Stan was that he told us kids that if he had not been lifted you up by the seat of their pants and walloped you across the bottom -you could not claim to be Cathedralite! He told us of how even Zulfiqar Bhutto, who was then Prime Minister of Pakistan, had been so complimented by the Sphinx. As an aside he did mention that Bhutto was not very good at mathematics.
Stan had a heart of gold. He, his wife (her name skips me just now) and two children, Margret and Claire lived in the Girl's School. All were devout Christians. I used to encounter them in the Cathedral every Sunday morning.
Stan knew and loved every student. He was always prepared to help anyone that came to him. He made Ashok Kapur (Non-Executive Chairman of the YES Bank in Bombay) and me Prefects already in the last term of the 10th Standard. A great honour for us.
Stan retired from the school sometime in the early sixties and migrated to England as his daughters wanted him to settle there for their future. I visited him in his nice suburban home in Surbiton in Surrey in the mid-sixties. Although he was relaxed and happy and enjoyed his English country garden, he seemed to miss our Cathedral School every single minute.
Both his daughters finished their studies and were married in England.
As I moved away from London, I lost touch with Stan.
Maybe I was too good - I was not lifted by the seat of my pants by Stan, so I have little claim to be a Cathedralite - it would have been an honour to have been reprimanded by him!
Regards
Jacob Matthan
Savage House aptain 1959
PS: Maybe one of you out there can fill us in with more details you may have about this wonderful character which made Cathedral the institution it has become.
PPS: I am still waiting for authentic data about Connon, Savage, Palmer, Wilson, Barham - I have received considerable comments, but almost all are speculations. I am also looking for data about Gunnery, Kuruvilla Jacob, and earlier and subsequent Principals from any of you out there.
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