Mad Harry

My schooldays are so long ago that I can't actually remember his real name, but I can see his wildly grinning face as if was only yesterday.

Mad Harry was the metalwork teacher. The man in charge of all sorts of amusing ways to kill or maim yourself including bench drills, lathes, high-speed buffing machines and all sorts of assorted files, chisels, punches, hammers - you name it, he had it.

Annoying Mad Harry wasn't a good idea. For minor infractions he'd put one of your hands in a vice and leave your there for the whole lesson. You'd be pinned, standing up, to bench for an hour and a half. More serious offenders would have two hands in a vice so you were straddled across two benches, impeding a walkway. And Harry would encourage students to give you a quick slap as they ducked underneath your arms.

Mad Harry was also a hurler. That is, he used to throw anything within his reach at an inattentive or whispering school kid. Again, hammers, files, random bars of metal - they were all thrown with terrifying violence and amazing skill. He never actually hit anyone - but he did part the hairs on peoples heads on a regular basis.

He was also, genuinely, paranoid. He had fixated on the IRA and was convinced they were out to kill him. So much so that he had a mirror-on-a-stick (it was a telescopic stick) that he used to check under his car for bombs. Every. Single. Day.

But my favourite memory of him was the one day he was late for school. He arrived at around 9.30, hammering his car through the school gates. Engine revving and screaming at about 6000 rpm, him travelling at about 10 miles an hour, when some six former yelled:

"CHANGE FUCKING GEAR!!!"

Harry did change gear and tried to run the six former down.

Fucking Hell Harry - I miss you....

Postscript: When Harry died in the late 90's, over 1000 former pupils turned out. Most of us were stuck outside the Church, smoking fags, swapping stories... The wake was fucking EPIC....

Cheers
( Legless Mister Stabby - shanks for the memory, Thu 17 Mar 2011, 11:56, 3 replies)

I also had a CDT/ metalwork teacher called Mad Harry
Or simply Mental... But the man was a fucking genius built a car for the Esso (I think it was Esso) challenge to drive as far as possible on a litre of petrol...
and we had an old Bond threewheel car to twat about in.

Salute
(Bonzodog29 is an unemployed sponge of the worst kind, Thu 17 Mar 2011, 12:21, closed)

Oddly I also had a metalwork teacher called Harry, who was also mad.
But we nicknamed him 'Cabbage'. If you were larking about you'd feel the rush of a piston flying past your ear. Crazy guy.
(Reverend Fister "a disciplined fuckwit", Thu 17 Mar 2011, 14:15, closed)

Maybe its something
to do with the name Harry, and the urge to melt metal.
(Bonzodog29 is an unemployed sponge of the worst kind, Thu 17 Mar 2011, 15:21, closed)