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moustache. He hated the masters for working up the boys. He went off into the dark and cried for Mrs Attlee.’
    This last experience probably followed the defeat of Clement Attlee’s Labour Government by Winston Churchill’s Conservatives in October 1951. To it, Chatwin attributed the fact that ‘never, even in my capitalist phase, was I able to vote Conservative’.
    Hugh says: ‘There were two sides to Bruce’s early life. There was his ability to relate to adults and their world, and to reflect back the joy they expressed in their hope for his generation of War Babies; and then there was the private business of being a small boy who had not been brought up with other children, who found himself confined in a very strict, highly disciplined, seminary-like institution. Old Hall could be a frightening place.’
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    The Old Hall School | Wellington | Shropshire | [1949]
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    Dear Mummy and Daddy,
    I hope you are all well. The Rocket-a-Copter is going most beautifully. It goes about 100 feet high. It got caught in a mulberry tree. One of the boys climbed up and got it down. All the wings have broken but I have mended it again. I am making another model village for Hugh . . . At the end of term I am doing a play called Fat King Melon 8 . I am going to be a Highwayman,
    Bruce
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    The Old Hall School | Wellington | Shropshire | 29 January [1950]
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    Dear Mummy & Daddy,
    I am in bed with flu. My temperature has been 103 but is now normal. I have nearly finished The Georgian Mansion. It is a bit dull but very nice. We had a film Arthur Askey in ‘I Thank Thee’. It was extremely funny. I have been doing a terrific wooden jig-saw puzzle of the ‘Queen Mary.’ It has 400 pieces. I am sorry my writing is not very good.
    With
    Love
    From
    Bruce
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    The Old Hall School | Wellington | Shropshire | 4 February [1950]
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    Dear Mummy and daddy,
    I hope you are both well . . . I have completely recovered from my flu. Thank you very much for sending me the Meccano Magizine and the Chilrens Newspaper . Please don’t send me any comics when I am ill they bore me. A boy’s magazine such as Boy’s Own would be much more appreciated.
    Your affectionate son,
    Bruce
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    The Old Hall School | Wellington | Shropshire [autumn 1950]
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    Dear Mummy & Daddy,
    Boss hopes to put on a Midsummer Night’s Dream at the end of term and he has asked me to play the part of Billy Bottom. We had a Will Hay film on Tuesday called ‘Boys will be boys.’ We have not played soccer yet because of the rain. Please could you send me a tube of balsa cement, two + ⅛th of an inch square strips of balsa wood. And a piece of balsa wood 3˝ x ½˝ x 2ʹ because we are making a model of Mevagissy Harbour. 9
    Love
    Bruce
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    The Old Hall School | Wellington | Shropshire | 3 October 1950
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    Dear Mummy & daddy,
    I hope you are all well . . . We have had snow here. It is thawing but it is extremely hot . . . I came 10th in maths exam with 38 marks. I came 4th in Scripture with 52 marks. In History I came 3rd with 54 marks. The play is getting on all right now. We are going to watch a Midsummer Dream which is on television today. Mr Fee Smith has hired a large 15˝ screen set. We had a nice service in chapel to-day as it is Advent Sunday. My model speedboat is completed, so please could you send some blue and silver dope and two paint brushes. You will get it at the Model Aerodrome. On Monday I had the wacking 10 , for refusing to give a chit in which was not true. I was beating the master (Mr Poole) in an argument. He knew he was losing so he said ‘Well, it’s too late now I have reported you to Mr Fee Smith, and he told me to write you out a chit, he told me.’
    with love
    from
    Bruce
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    The Old Hall School | Wellington | Shropshire | 10 December 1950
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    Dear Mummy & Daddy,
    I have just discovered that my