In
addition to what I learned in school — which wasn’t an overwhelming lot — there
was a great deal that I learned at school, outside the classroom, which was of
value to me. Also I learned more still in my holidays, from my brothers.
These
additional sources of education were: Theatricals, The Woods, Seamanship. Later
on I got more advanced lessons through: Foreign Travel, Big Game Hunting,
Active Service.
I
had thought of calling this book Bombshells
of my Life. My reasons for doing so was that most of the important steps in
my career have been unexpectedly sprung upon me by fortune or outside agencies.
THEATRICALS
My
first bombshell fell upon me when, as a small boy at Charterhouse, I suddenly
found myself ordered to play the leading part, Bob Nettles, in a comedy called
— To Parents and Guardians.
Dr. Haig-Brown,
who had very far-sighted views, looked upon play-acting as a useful means of
education for certain intellects among the boys, and so he encouraged, in fact
almost ordered, theatricals among us.
I was thus among
the fortunate ones commandeered, and have ever been thankful for the start it
gave me in that line, and which ultimately afforded me a helpful training
towards public speaking and self- expression, but more especially towards efficiency
in spying by developing the essential ability to change one’s character, voice
and appearance to meet the occasion.
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