Talk:Reach for Glory

Surely the character who befriends the Austrian is Curlew as in the book, played by Tomlinson. 192.190.202.10 (talk) 16:37, 15 March 2011 (UTC)Tim Leadbeater

I was at Harrow school in John Rae's English Class at the time The Custard Boys was published. He was an inspired and conscientious teacher who knew all the boys he taught. It is the most effective way of maintaining discipline, at which he excelled. Sir Winston Churchill had presented an annual prize for composition, the topic that year being "exploration". As my free time was devoted to exploring the organs in churches and cinemas within a radius of my bicycle rides from Stanmore, this was what I wrote about. It was a subject on which I was both passionate and expert! John Rae singled it out as being "in a class of its own." Though I didn't win the prize, praise from Dr. Rae was sufficient. I was a House Monitor in the Headmaster's house at the time, and there was a tradition that the headmaster, at that time Dr. R L James, joined the senior boys in the house for lunch. The most talked about scene in the book is a homosexual relationship between two of the boys, the physical aspect of which is described in the book. I asked Dr James if he had read the book and if so what was his opinion of it."Disgusting", he said and the topic was closed! However, I enjoyed it. Though not in the class of Young Torless by Robert Musil, it paints an accurate picture of the era. I believe John Rae had a "walk on" part in the film. 91.140.96.55 (talk) 09:55, 3 March 2012 (UTC)