My time at Chandos was during the 1970’s (the true yobbo era)…  If you didn't smoke or have a pair of Dr. Martens you were going to get a right kicking for sure.  I transferred to Chandos from an equally grim school in Edgware called Camrose.

Unfortunately my memories of Chandos are not as favourable as some others.  I remember being beaten almost constantly by those two sadists Rumble & Bellion for such minor infractions as running in the hall.  Their cruelty was only matched by the thugs that attended the school.  All new boys were subjected to "The Rack" - being wrapped around the netball posts until your joints almost came out of their sockets.

On my first day at Chandos, a horrible guy called Paul Lane hit me with a bog chain to test my resolve.  The fact he had a few brothers at the school gave him some 'street cred.’.

The Mc****s and Sw****s of Harrow were also pupils to add to the thuggery.  Basically, if they wanted anything you gave it to them, if you didn't want to fight the whole family after school let out.

I fought a battle with one of the Gibb's brothers for 20 minutes in the netball pit by the top playground, I duffed him good and proper.  Years later he turned up at the Bobbysox Club in Willesden and tried to clobber me with a bottle (how's that for holding a grudge).

One character, Nicholas Holt, tried to stab me with a board compass while Mr. Barker was out of the class - I had previously bought the protection of one "Chalky Khan" (with cigarettes) who prompty battered Holt in the boy’s bogs.

I made a great friend from my class named Eddy Clark, he was a little guy but a ferocious fighter.  He had an older brother named Ray (Thank God!).  Ray beat up Arthur Mc***, so he was a respected bloke.  We teamed up as pals, so we didn't get to much trouble after that.  I heard Eddy died about 10 years ago, apparently he became an alcoholic spending the best part of his life at The Crown in Stanmore.

Other teachers I remember were Mr.Snell (PE), not a friendy fellow, 'Chalky’ Chandler (Math) a hapless, doddering old geezer - he once gave me the whack in the corridoor but was too feeble to hurt me - Mr. Flanders (PE) thought he was Robert Redford, he was also 'having it off' with the women's gym teacher.  I forget her name but she had a mastectomy and had fake breasts, not in a good way either (you know she was the brunt of many jokes).  There was also a Mr. Baker another old codger, but I forget what he taught.  He did give me and Chalky Khan the whack once for laughing uncontrollably in his class, for some unknown reason we got a fit of the giggles and couldn't stop.

Mr. Davter seemed o.k. but I always suspected he was gay - he was always trying to get me to join the army, this during the whole Northern Ireland conflict - great teaching!

'Bummer' Budd was another excrutiating gay teacher who liked to dry the boys' backs in the communal shower (how disgusting!)  He also had the afrontery to tell elaborate stories in class about being a Spitfire pilot in WW2, yet there are no records of him in the RAF files.

I once held the record for being caned the most along with a bloke named John Smith and a pair of hapless twins called the Kennedys.  I remember one instance the Kennedys got a good hiding for using their school ties as slingshots.  It seems funny now, but it was terrifying at the time.  Bellion used to give you a beating then sit you down and give you orange squash and tell you what a naughty boy you'd been and how he hated to hit you.  He gave up on me in the end Ha! Ha!...

I'm hoping Bellion & Rumble have turned their toes up, otherwise I'd like to belt the both of them for the cruel hidings they gave me as a young boy.  I had constant stripes on my behind from being repeatedly caned for almost nothing by these two vicious creatures.

Mr. Tucker was another big, fat, bloated, talentless bully that cruelly tortured children by pinching them for minutes at a time.  I wish I had a better experience at this rotten school but that's the way it was for many of us.  This school was run like a Dickens novel, it would be demolished by todays standards and all those teachers would be in prison for crimes against children.

I think I could actually write a book on my days at Thistlecroft Gardens.  Great characters with nicknames like "Chopper" & "Spicer" and a teacher called Mr. Lucas who clouted me silly for catching slow worms on school property.

My brother was more fortunate, he passed his 11 plus and went to Downer.  We basically hung out at the weekends in a long gone record shop in Edgware called Sellanby’s.

During the week most kids from Chandos would play in either King George V playing fields on the corner of Honeypot Lane or at the "Spinney", a huge wooded and park area between Canons Park and Edgware.  Also, the derelict railroad tracks near Belmont Circle were a popular hang-out for some of the blokes.

I believe Debenhams in Harrow was called "Sopers" back then.  A few of the older kids would hang-around in the cafe in the store and the Wimpy bar across the street.

Of an evening, kids would try to "bunk in" to either The Granada in Harrow or The Odeon, towards Wealdstone, to watch the latest kung-fu films, then try and practice their new kicking moves on some poor fellow at school the next day…

I hope I don't upset some of the fellows I've mentioned, still, if they want to come and bash me up they will need to travel a few thousand miles, instead of jumping me by the bike sheds like in days gone by.  I emigrated to the USA in 1981.