February 23, 2008
I have moved from my old site at www.pauljohnston.info, though the site is still up and running and archive material dating back to early 2006 can be viewed there. Today is the start of a new year of my life - my 63rd birthday - so it seems a good time to start a new blog.
February 23, 2008 at 5:28 pm
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February 24, 2008 at 6:14 pm
A belated happy Birthday.
i will update my link list to reflect your move
steve
February 25, 2008 at 8:42 pm
Thanks Steve. And for the greetings. It’s not bad being 21 for the third time!
March 6, 2008 at 12:51 pm
Dear Mr. Johnson,
Firstly a very happy birthday albeit belated. You probably won’t remember me but you taught me history in the London Oratory between the years 1984 - 1991 as well being my form tutor in the upper sixth and I seem to remember 4F2 (I think).
The reason that I’m writing to you is I was having a conversation with some friends and we were talking about teachers who we found inspiring and who never had the opportunity to thank. It then occurred to me with your life long devotion to politics and the power of the internet you might be easier to track down.
So firstly I would like to say thank you.
I still have an avid interest in both history and politics and despite peoples claims to the contrary find history more relevant today in understanding the fluid world we live in.
I often travel around the world with work and pleasure and find my understanding of the country I’m visiting is so greatly enhanced by a historical perspective and my hosts are grateful for me taking the time to understand them.
I was always amazed by your ability to speak without notes on seemingly any subject and to make it so interesting and so relevant this was especially true on the tour of the Battlefields which you lead in 1989 with Miss Devereux and Mr. Stableford. Standing at the Menin Gate listening to the Last Post is one of my abiding childhood memories.
Since leaving the Oratory I went on to University and seem to have established a career in the city more by luck than by design if I’m honest. I’m also a currently serving soldier in the Territorial Army and living in SW London with my wife.
I seemed to have gone on longer than I intended.
Anway thank you very much.
Yours gratefully,
Mario Humphreys
March 14, 2008 at 10:53 pm
Dear Mario,
Great to hear from you and thank you for what you say. I am glad you are doing well and hope you get a lot of fulfillment from your service in the Territorials.
You often feature in one of my favourite stories about our journeys abroad. I am sure it was you who, in a Youth Hostel at (so it seemed) the end of the runway at Nuremberg airport in 1991, met a young worker from East Germany who offered to exchange his Trabant for your packed lunch! They’re something of a collector’s item now, I believe.
My very best wishes to you and Mrs. Humphreys.