 How Did "Gunner"
Wright get his Name?
|
Janet says - "Did you know how
"Gunner" really acquired his name? Rumour had it when I
was at school that it was because he had been a "gunner" in the
war, but actually, this could not have been further from the truth.
My father was born in 1919 and went to Campbell Square Intermediate
School. Frank Wright was his French master around 1931/2. He acquired
the nickname "Gunner" because he was an ace "pop shot"
with a piece of chalk. If anyone was not paying attention, he would
aim and fire a piece of chalk at them from whatever distance, and score a bull's-eye
every time. Hence the name 'Gunner', which was coined by my dad's
class.
I
don't think my dad ever forgave "Gunner" for one thing.
Apparently my dad was really good at French and Gunner gave him 100% for
his French exam result. Next time round, despite getting everything
right, Gunner only awarded my dad 99%. When my dad asked him why,
Gunner turned to him and said "No one is perfect Frank Facer, not
even you!" (OUCH!!). Amazing how some memories remain. My
dad never forgot that remark - or that he did not get 100%.
"Gunner"
was born in 1906, therefore he would have been
too young to serve in WW1 and had acquired his nickname before WW2 started."
|
|
Muriel
Dillon (Gunner's sister) remembers that he taught at both
Kingsthorpe Grove school and at Campbell Square Intermediate for boys aged
11 – 14, before going to Trinity. Whilst at one of these schools,
and she thinks it was Kingsthorpe Grove, he had a problem with one of his
eyes and had to wear an eye patch for some time. This was the origin
of his nickname – the "one-eyed gunner". There are
several references to this character on the internet – it appears to
have been both a real person (Siege of Colchester c1650) and a folklore
legend. Whatever the link, my brother was perceived as this one-eyed
gunner, which subsequently became shortened to just Gunner and remained
with him for the rest of his life.
So
now we have it; the definitive version. |
There has been much speculation about how "Gunner"
got his nickname. Janet Facer (Trinity 1962 -67), who married John
Anderton (also, 62-67),
sent me this interesting piece of knowledge on "Gunner".
Some people believe that "Gunner" got his
name because he was a gunner in the war, whereas another theory is that he
always used a gun to start sports day. Janet believes that is was totally
different, and her explanation is shown in the top panel on the right.
However, recently Margaret Dillon (Trinity 1967 - 69), now
Margaret Rudd, is Frank Wright's niece. Her mother, (Frank's sister) is
still alive. Muriel Dillon (Wright) is over 90 and having had some of her early
memories rekindled, she has come up with a different explanation of how Gunner got
his nickname, which is in the lower box on the right. This should be the
definitive version.
Pete Chillingsworth also
remembers that he used to deliver meat every Saturday morning to
"Gunner" and Mrs "Gunner". Every week he would take
the meat to the house from the butcher's shop in Broadway East and normally Mrs
W would give him a 3d tip. One Saturday Gunner answered the door, and said
"come in quickly, the Boat Race is about to start". On his
TV there was a fuzzy picture, and Gunner said, "I will improve
that". He started twiddling knobs and both the picture and sound then
disappeared.
After much frantic twiddling he got the sound back again just in time to hear
them confirm the result. [There
is much more about "Gunner" - click here to read it]
Pete also believes that Buzzer got his name since he
"Buzzed Around Like a Bee". - What have you heard?
[ Previous ] [ Up ] [ Next ] |
