THE SPORT OF ROWING Huxley, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Percy Bysshe Shelley, one signatory of the American Declaration of Independence and even such fictional characters as Captain James Hook of the Jolly Roger, the nemesis of Peter Pan, Commander James Bond of the British Secret Service, and Bertram Wilberforce Wooster of the Drones Club in the Jeeves novels of P.G. Wodehouse.86 Interestingly, Hugh Laurie, the actor who played Bertie Wooster in the acclaimed 1990s BBC series, Jeeves and Wooster, is an Etonian and old oarsman in real life.87 While still at Eton he rowed Great Britain to a fourth place in the 1977 Junior World ley Royal Regatta88 with partner and fellow Etonian James Palmer (204 lb. 93 kg). Hugh’s father, W.G.R.M. (“Ran”) Laurie, an Etonian and Cambridge man as well, was the real rower of the family. He won the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race89 three times, twice at stroke. He also stroked the fourth-place 1936 British Olympic Eight in Berlin,90 and in a coxless-pair, he and his Cambridge 7-seat, Jack Wilson, who learned his rowing at Shrewsbury,91 another British public school, won the Silver Gob- lets at Henley in 1938 and Olympic Gold at Henley in 1948. Why Eton? Why of all places on Earth did this particular school become the birthplace of the sport of rowing? Throughout its hundreds Author It is an Eton tradition for students to carve their names on the walls, which by the present day have become almost completely covered. Careful study of this photo will disclose an example of the ground-breaking early work of Percy Bysshe Shelley. Championships in the coxed-pairs, and in 1980 he rowed 4-seat in the Cambridge Eight that lost to Oxford by a deck. That same year while representing Eton Vikings, Laurie (194 lb. 88 kg) made the final of the prestigious Silver Goblets event at the Hen- of years of history, Eton Col- lege has been a world unto itself. Everyone and every- thing was given a special name. Vivian Nickalls,92 among the several renowned 19th Century rowers who wrote memoirs about their days at Eton, related some of the nicknames given to mas- ters or “beaks” during his four-year tenure. They in- cluded Piggie, Badger, Peck- er, Hoppy, Ikey Mo, Broader and Hell.93 Wodehousian nicknames such as “Cher- ry” Pitman, “Tooley” Holland and “Muttle” 88 See Chapter 5. 89 See Chapter 4. 90 See Chapter 59. 91 For Americans, first syllable rhymes with “throws,” and the u-sound disappears from the 86 www.etoncollege.com 87 His current claim to fame is the American tel- evision series, House. second syllable. 92 See Chapter 24. 93 V. Nickalls, pp. 25-8 36
