"KobY" Kobylanski

[Rogernoble]

Koby was a Hugarian refugee from the 1956 uprising. Unless my memory has faded I remember him as big man who taught us French.

My clearest memory of him of him is in his other "job" as the mower of the outfields with the machine (Atco ?) which looked like a giant pair of barbers clippers. We would all be surrepticiously watching as he would occasionally find a long lost cricket or hockey ball. There would be a resounding bang as they disintergrated. On one occasion he was working at the bottom of the lower field near the wood. He stumbled and the machine dragged him to attack the nearest tree. I cannot remember if the machine survided  the encounter.

Rob Spooner recalls his ancient Lambretta:"I think you are probably right about 'Koby' being from the Hungarian uprising. He used to ride an ancient Lambretta and on one icy day took me on the pillion for a spin! No crash helmets then, just short grey flannels, no gloves but boy was it fun!"

David Rangeley also emebers him:
"Round about 1963 I was hitch-hiking through France, heading from Nice to Grenoble.  Late afternoon picked up by a nice chap who said that I would not get to Grenoble that night and would I like to stay the night at his family holiday home in Beauvezer les Alpes, where he was bound.  One of his sons said that he had worked in England as a teacher.  Guess where?  He had replaced Kobylanski who by all accounts had become mentally ill".

Roger Noble

[fosterp]

I remember Koby well too. He said he was a 'White Russian' emigré, as I recall. He had a fervour and a zeal that was occasionally quite combustible in French lessons. I do remember an excruciating end-of-term play where he recruited a young Ricky Kempster to play some role which somehow included Koby reeling around the stage impersonating a drunk Topol or something.  The Whickers and parents weren't hugely amused as I recall. Shame - perhaps that was an early indication of his struggles with mental disease.  In about 1973 I ran into him again.  At Speaker's Corner, on a soapbox, expounding.  I said hi. He seemed OK really...  a bit distracted... but then so was I, I guess.  The hippy years were well underway.