Miscellaneous crews of 1987 and 1988 with Graeme Purdy

During an idle moment last Sunday afternoon, I dipped into that definitive archive, the crew lists taken from the boat club dinner menus. (See Ken Drake Archive – Billygoats Society). It seems that in 1987 I had fallen into bad association with some of the rougher elements of the boat club. In the menu for the dinner celebrating the Lents I am listed in the 3^rd Men’s as Donkeyboy Purdy, rowing at 7 between Crabber Clayton and Warp-spasm Everson. Crabber was not known for his particular skill with an oar, but he had an impressively large lung capacity, made even more surprising by his habit of lighting up as soon as we’d crossed any finish line. I can’t recall where he kept his tobacco pouch, perhaps he persuaded our long-suffering cox to have it at the ready? Warp-spasm and I shared an appreciation of fine literature and spent many pleasant evenings in Fitz bar discussing the corkscrew storylines of Rogue Trooper and Slaine Mac Roth. In fact, Warp-spasm was named (I hesitate to say christened) after Slaine’s ability to channel the powers of mother earth and transform himself into a monstrous warrior. He made it a habit to frighten freshers in Natural Sciences by spontaneously impersonating what he called a sea monster by making the blood vessels and sinews of his neck bulge terrifyingly.

On the surface of it, the 2^nd Men’s of the 1988 Mays seems like a more respectable crew. However, our cox had her hands full as it was certainly one of the most argumentative crews I’ve had the pleasure of rowing with. In particular, there was a lot of backchat from Giles at bow, who would often question the necessity of another Power Ten, or a request to pull harder. I can’t blame him really, as in the Mays we ended up having to row over three times, which is enough to try anyone’s patience. In later years, Giles went on to write the excellent, “Last King of Scotland” and he became something of a celebrity, appearing on Masterchef as an epicurean judge. It rolled back the years when I watched him declare he’d rather, “barbecue his face” than eat one the offerings of a luckless sweat-drenched hopeful. Here’s a photo of us all doing our best.

Graeme Purdy, 1984

MEN’S 2^nd MAY BOAT 1988

Bow      G Foden                                                 

2            K Abnet                                                   

3            A Larsson                                             

4            B E Mayes                                             

5            J Driscoll                                               

6            P M Robbins                                       

7            S Pratt                                                    

Str         G Purdy                                                  

Cox       J Eggleston                                           

 Coaches          C Williams, B Potterill, P H Carroll, R Morgan