My Dad: Early years

My Dad, Nigel Henderson, was born on 1st April 1917. He was proud of being an “April Fool”: I think somewhere it had associations for him with the “holy fool” or “innocent”.
His father, Kenneth, a taciturn and stern man by all accounts had been wounded in the Great War and the relationship between him and my grandmother, Wyn, was pretty wobbly and eventually fell apart, with Kenneth heading off to live in Argentina.

My dad and his elder brother Ian spent parts of their childhood living with their mother but at other times with their paternal grandparents, being packed off early to prep school and later on to Stowe, a public school in Buckinghamshire. Dad excelled at cricket and loved games in general. He told me a rather poignant tale about playing for the school cricket team on a particular afternoon when his father came to watch, which was not a common event. Going out to bat, he did pretty well, scoring over 50 runs. Finally he was caught out and walked proudly back towards the pavilion. His father met him with a stern expression, saying “Wipe that smile off your face, boy!” Apparently one was supposed to maintain a stiff upper lip at all times.

Eventually my Dad rebelled. One of the significant rituals of the era was ‘Empire Day‘ when the entire school was to assemble in front of a dignitary and the Union Jack was to be raised as all looked on proudly. My Dad set fire to the flag and hoisted it up. Needless to say he was expelled.