Ex hoc Metallo Virtutem

Liverpool Beatles Museum

Mathew Street

Liverpool 2

On Thursday 19th September, I was among an invited audience to witness the latest reveal at the Liverpool Beatles Museum on Mathew Street, and this one was rather special. 

The special guest was Tom Barry, currently a teacher at Calderstones School, formerly known as Quarry Bank High School for Boys.  John Lennon was a pupil here from 1952 to 1957.

Quarry Bank was founded in 1921 as Quarry Bank High School for Boys and its first intake of 225 pupils was on 11 January 1922. The school’s first headmaster, R. F. Bailey implemented a number of practices he had encountered at the public schools he’d attended in his youth into the new school in south Liverpool. He gave the school both a Latin motto, Ex Hoc Metallo Virtutem (From This Rough Metal We Forge Virtue), and a song:

Quarry men old before our birth*

Straining each muscle and sinew

Toiling together, Mother Earth

Conquered the Rock that was in you.

Prior to the war the school had been a fee-paying establishment, but following the 1944 Education Act, Quarry Bank became a free state run grammar school, open to all, if they could pass the entrance examination. 

On the morning of Saturday, 19 February 1952, John Lennon went to Quarry Bank school to sit the Eleven-Plus examination. [1] 

Introduced in 1944, the standardised examination was used to determine which type of school the student should attend after primary education: a grammar school, a secondary modern school, or a technical school.  The exam consisted of separate papers for Mathis and English, and a general intelligence test (what they now call cognitive ability).

John:  There's an exam in England that they hang over your head from age five, called the Eleven Plus: 'If you don't pass the Eleven Plus, you're finished in life.' So that was the only exam that I ever passed because I was terrified.

Terrified he might have been, but he was also bright. His place at Quarry Bank was confirmed shortly afterwards.

The influential R. F. Bailey had retired in 1947 after 26 years at Quarry Bank. His successor, Mr E. R. Taylor, nicknamed ‘Ernie’ by the boys (but never in earshot, for fear of being caned) was Head when John Lennon was admitted to the school on Thursday 4th September 1952.

Tom Barry on stage with Roag Best    

Tom Barry was working as a teacher in Ellesmere Port when he saw a position advertised at Calderstones School. Viewing the job as the perfect opportunity to combine his passion for teaching with his love of Lennon and the Beatles he decided to apply. 

During the interview, the Headteacher asked Tom to tell him a bit about himself. Mentioning he was a big fan of the Beatles, the head told him that they still had John Lennon’s school desk on site. Would he like to see it? Jumping at the chance, Tom was taken up to a room and shown a desk on which the name John Lennon was clearly inscribed. In Sharpie.

Addressing the museum audience, Tom recalled: I said, ‘that’s not John Lennon’s school desk’ to which his potential employer replied ‘er, well that’s what people have told us.’

‘I said not a chance. I’m sorry that’s not John Lennon’s desk... does this affect me getting the job?’

Thankfully, it didn’t. Tom got the appointment, and asked the Head if he could look into John’s school days in his spare time. 

What else was there to discover? There was a persistent rumour that the school did in fact have one of John’s old desks, and it wasn’t the one scribbled on in marker pen.

William Pobjoy

The story goes that when the Beatles were starting to break, Mr Pobjoy had instructed a caretaker, known as ‘Yozzer’ [2] to remove John’s desk from one of the classrooms and put it to one side, along with the School Ledger. 

Pobjoy’s actions were borne from a desire to disassociate the school from Lennon’s time there, rather than any admiration for his former pupil’s later achievements, or thoughts of historical preservation. The caretaker put them in the attic space.

When Tom got wind of the story, he asked if he could go and have a look. No one had been up there in years, and the lock was rusted: 'They’d lost the key, so we had to beat the door down to get to it.’

Once inside, Tom and his colleague Lee found the attic space was full, with some of the items dating back for nearly a century. While they estimate they have only been through 10% of the attic to date, they have already done some amazing work, locating old items of school uniform (not John’s ) and school magazines (which include contributions from John) which they have loaned to the Liverpool Beatles Museum.  Perhaps most importantly, they found the desk.

‘We weren't quite sure if it was actually the desk belonging to John, but we've now found a document from the headmaster's PA which notes down the task for the caretaker, so we have written proof’ Tom said. There were rumours that John had carved his name into the wood, but they have not been able to find any evidence.

Tantalisingly he added: 'It's one of those old-fashioned lift-up desks but it's locked and we don't want to break it open so it could be there is something inside.'

May I humbly suggest that the school considers contacting BBC’s ‘The Repair Shop.’ I imagine the producers would jump at the chance to feature an item with such an interesting back story. 

The school ledger

The school ledger which shows that John Winston Lennon joined Quarry Bank School on 4 September 1952. New entrants would have their name, date of birth, address and details of their next of kin entered into the ledger. When the pupil left the school additional information would be added, recording what they were planning to do next, their job prospects or planned further studies.

Precisely ten years later this particular pupil would be at EMI Studios in Abbey Road recording the Beatles' first single 'Love Me Do'.  

Geoffrey Lee loaned John his guitar, the first he ever played.  This being Liverpool he had to have a nickname, in this case George, in reference to the famous Liverpool department store George Henry Lee. 

The great news is that Calderstones School are finally putting themselves prominently on the Beatles tour map by offering tours of the school where visitors can view other items which haven’t been loaned to the Museum. The tour will showcase historic spots like the stage where John performed with his first band The Quarrymen at the school dance, and the wall which originally separated Lennon and his classmates from the neighbouring girls' school, which he was known to have scaled on occasion.

Although Pobjoy may have sought to remove references to John's legacy from the school, after the passing of nearly seventy years, the Lennon association is now regarded as noteworthy and something to be celebrated, and it seems current students at Calderstones are well aware of who once walked down the corridors.

Tom said: ‘At the start of the year we always have new students coming in who are so happy to tell us ‘This is where John Lennon went to school' and we say we know, we work here!'

Preparing the tours has been a mammoth undertaking for Tom and Lee alongside their teaching duties. They will draw on the recollections of those who knew John during his Quarry Bank years, not only those who have published memoirs such as Pete Shotton, Michael Hill, and Rod Davis (via Hunter Davies), but new sources such as Harry Gooseman and other contemporaries. 

As well as having the opportunity to view further unseen treasures from the Quarry Bank archive, visitors will also be able to purchase exclusive memorabilia including an authentic Quarry Bank tie, personalised Quarry Bank report cards, mugs and key rings. I’ve been in touch with Tom suggesting that they might consider offering replica cap badges too. I reckon one would look nice framed. 

For years I’ve wondered why the school hasn’t capitalised on their Lennon connection. Although easily viewed from Harthill Road, the building is not generally accessible. One can’t simply walk onto school premises with a camera, for obvious reasons, and I know I’m not the only fan who will be excited to tour the school in an official capacity. As soon as I am able to visit I’ll post the photos here.

John had several pieces printed in the school magazine, including his poem, The Tale of Hermit Fred.

I was curious about the significance of this blazer currently on display. Could this really have been the colour worn by John Lennon? The photos we have of him at Quarry Bank are all in black and white, so I always assumed the blazer was black, dark blue, or maybe dark green. 

Tom confirmed that while this blazer did date from John's time at the school, it was only worn by prefects. Apparently, it wasn’t something they wore daily, just for special school events. The usual uniform was black, and the present uniforms at Calderstones school were designed with John's in mind. 

NOTES:

* Sometimes translated as 'Strong before our birth'.

[1] The name derived from the age group for secondary entry: 11-12 years.

[2] This being Liverpool, the nickname indicates the caretaker's surname was Hughes. See the Liverpool footballer Emlyn 'Yozzer' Hughes, and most memorably the character 'Yozzer Hughes' portrayed by Bernard Hill in the 1982 television series Boys From The Blackstuff. I've tried to find out how this originated and the only explanation I've come across suggests it derives from the surname Hughes being pronounced 'Yooz' in a Liverpool accent. As 'Yozzer' and 'Hughes' are effectively the same word, nobody was ever called 'Yozzer Hughes' prior to the Blackstuff, in the same way nobody would be called 'Smithy Smith' or 'Jonesy Jones'. You'd just call them 'Smithy' or 'Jonesy'.

Mark Ashworth, 19 September 2025.