MEMORIES OF RGS
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BY ANDREW FITTON (64-75) I remember the day in the late 1960’s that it happened. Back then, those of us who couldn’t keep up with the classicists, or who had no interest in trying, were offered the opportunity to take the “easy” route and study Economics instead.
Andrew the young rally driver, 1981 Below: Andrew in his role as Chairman of Swindon Town FC, 2009
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t best a poor Latin student, the school had written during the holidays to offer me an escape. But the choice was not to be mine because my Mother, a formidable widow who had enjoyed a war serving with the Intelligence Service in far off places, had already made that decision. The box had been ticked and the letter returned; fortunately our stars were aligned and so my tenure in Room 9 (for that was where most Economics was taught) commenced. We were a small group of “second-class citizens”, a “Dirty Dozen” led, in our case, not by Lee Marvin but by David Whitehead (Staff 65-72), a young (by RGS standards at the time) thoughtful man who loved his subject and who along with Roger ‘Rash’ Hennessey (Staff 62-73) drove the wedge to make room for this most important of subjects. In most disciplines, whether sporting, musical, or academic, success has more to do with inspiration than pure talent and David Whitehead lit the fire for many of us. The ‘AO’ Level syllabus at the time was titled something like “Principles & Institutions” and to its eternal credit it offered a wide ranging canter through, not only the basic principles of micro and macro but, just as importantly, the organisation of financial institutions, manufacturing, co-operative societies, unions, friendly societies, etc. We were guided by a man who wanted us to understand that there was a reason that Economics was a social science; the study of the satisfaction of needs and wants, scarcity and choice, not the mathematical modelling exercise that it
