SCIENCE AND A ROYAL VISIT
In one of the more surreal events of my years in the English High School of Istanbul, I came face-to-face with Princess Anne, the daughter of Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain. The year was 1971, and it happened, of all places, in a chemistry lab at the school, located on the very top floor.For most of the 20th century the English High School stood as a bright beacon of British colonialism in the exotic lands of the Muslim Turks. The Brits, of course never actually colonialised the heart of the Ottoman Empire, as they did India or Egypt, or[...]
MR. WILCOX
The English High School of Istanbul of the 1970’s was a remnant of its glorious past as was the mother country it represented. It clung on to old traditions, at least on the surface. Beset by endless financial difficulties, the school seemed to hold together by a thread, and indeed disintegrated several years after my graduation in 1974. But in the late 1960’s, when I entered it, these traditions, not yet eroded by financial cutbacks were still very much alive.They included a proper uniform befitting the fortunate children of the British upper class, and an extensive sports program practiced in[...]