WISBOROUGH LODGE STAFF Mr. BROOK - late 1940s to early 50s.
| Shaun Mather was a pupil in Mr. Brook's classes and was able to relate a rmarkable incident. I (Rob) can confirm that it happened, since I was in the same class, though absent on the particular day (most unfortunately). It made Mr. Brook a hero to the boys, many of whom actually believed he had done what he claimed. Here is Shaun's account:- |
"One day Uncle 'Sin' produced a .22 revolver out of his bag and said that he could catch a bullet fired from a pistol with his bared teeth. Impossible Sir! you'd be dead Sir! we boys exclaimed. I'll prove it to you said Mr Brook. A volunteer to shoot at my head! exclaimed Brook. Borrisow put up his hand. Mr Brook showed us the empty chamber with one cartridge in place, then told Borrisow to walk back a few paces, turn around, take at aim at Brook's head and fire. Borrisow, a bit bewildered "Are you sure, Sir! really,really sure" then fires. Brook throws his head back and extrudes a lead bullet between the teeth with manipulations of the tongue. Uncle 'Sin" was the talk of the school for weeks and a bit of a hero too. Now, would MacD have allowed such an act to have taken place had he known in advance? I doubt it. I guess it would, nowadays, be classed as an irresponsible act within school boundaries. What about to-days mania for litigation - eh? A boy, under age, handling a firearm without specific training - food for thought! We know now, as adults, that the cartridge was a blank but back then we thought Mr Brook was next to Superman. All this goes to show that we now live in a totally different world. The saying "The Good Old Days" holds true!" Shaun Mather |
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Obituary article on our Maths and English teacher Mr. Sinclair Brook