Reminiscences: Ross Tzannes (pupil, 1952-1955)

I once appeared on stage with Jack Thompson when we were schoolboys at High in about 1955. Jack was Henry V. I was an English standard bearer.

The play was performed one windy afternoon on the steps of the Cenotaph in Hyde Park. The Herald generously suggested several hundred spectators watched the play. In fact the crowd was considerably less but a number of dogs did join in.

At one point the French Dauphin insults Henry by sending him a gift of a satin lined treasure chest. The chest is opened to reveal nothing but tennis balls! Unfortunately, as the lid was lifted at the top of the steps, the lid caught the lining. Dozens of tennis balls shot out of the chest and ever so slowly bounced their way down the steps into the Pool of Remembrance, to the barking of dogs and the amusement of the crowd.

It must have been some 15 minutes before the last of the balls finally plopped into the pool. For us on the steps it seemed an eternity. We standard bearers were mortified. Jack valiantly ignored the travesty that was unfolding and launched into his famous rejoinder speech, ending with the lines: “and tell Dauphin, his jest will savour but of shallow wit, when thousands weep more than did laugh at it”.

That is why Jack went on to become a great actor, and I retired from the stage.