About the Author
Born in Dorking, Surrey, Paul aged nine migrated to Australia with his family, where two years later he won a scholarship to attend Melbourne Grammar School under the Headmastership of Brian Hone (later Sir Brian Hone). At Melbourne University he obtained a B.A. (majoring in History and Latin) and a Dip. Ed. Following a short teaching spell at Grimwade House, Melbourne Grammar School, he taught in England at Sunningdale School, Berks. For the first two years the Headmaster there was Charles Sheepshanks whose wife Mary is now a well-known author writing under the name of Mary Nixon. Subsequently he worked with Nick and Tim Dawson who took over the school as joint headmasters.
After returning to Australia and Grimwade House in 1969, Paul was appointed Headmaster of Haileybury College Junior School in South Road, Brighton in 1975 aged 33. In those days the Brighton Junior School (later renamed 'Castlefield') was an all-boys school ranging from Kindergarten to Year 8. During the time Paul was there the school grew from 290 to 440 boys. At the end of Term 1, 1983 Paul resigned abruptly over on-going disagreements with the Principal of Haileybury College, Michael Aikman, stemming originally from the Principal's proposal to demolish the historic building 'Castlefield' on the property. The building stayed thanks mainly to Paul's personal renovation, but Paul went. He spent the remainder of 1983 in Ewhurst, Surrey, where his parents had moved on their retirement. There he compiled the documentary history 'Headmaster for a While' initially from weekly letters to England he had written over the past eight years. Not only does this document pinpoint the gradual deterioration in the relationship between the two protagonists, but with the passing of time this documentary history has become a revealing social history on Seventies' and early Eighties' independent school education.
In 1985 after a short teaching spell at Wadhurst, Melbourne Grammar School, Paul was invited to be Head of the Junior School of Scotch College, Perth by the school's Headmaster, Bill Dickinson. During his eleven years there he concurrently worked for several years endeavouring to bring the reluctant other state branches of the Junior School Heads Association under the umbrella of the Australian Primary Principals Association.
Paul's great love has been the promotion of the cultural pursuits of drama, music and art. At Haileybury following the Melbourne Grammar School model he introduced violin tuition to all Year 4 boys with the Director of Music, Hume McGrath, and later with Louise Bladen, a similar system for Year 2 boys at Scotch. The scheme enabled both schools to produce successful junior school orchestras which often accompanied the school plays Paul produced. Most of these plays had casts of over a hundred boys accompanied by orchestras of forty or more. Three of the Sixteenth Century novels written in retirement are loosely based around three of the plays Paul wrote for the Scotch boys, namely 'The Perseus', 'Gloriana' and 'El Dorado'.
After returning to Australia and Grimwade House in 1969, Paul was appointed Headmaster of Haileybury College Junior School in South Road, Brighton in 1975 aged 33. In those days the Brighton Junior School (later renamed 'Castlefield') was an all-boys school ranging from Kindergarten to Year 8. During the time Paul was there the school grew from 290 to 440 boys. At the end of Term 1, 1983 Paul resigned abruptly over on-going disagreements with the Principal of Haileybury College, Michael Aikman, stemming originally from the Principal's proposal to demolish the historic building 'Castlefield' on the property. The building stayed thanks mainly to Paul's personal renovation, but Paul went. He spent the remainder of 1983 in Ewhurst, Surrey, where his parents had moved on their retirement. There he compiled the documentary history 'Headmaster for a While' initially from weekly letters to England he had written over the past eight years. Not only does this document pinpoint the gradual deterioration in the relationship between the two protagonists, but with the passing of time this documentary history has become a revealing social history on Seventies' and early Eighties' independent school education.
In 1985 after a short teaching spell at Wadhurst, Melbourne Grammar School, Paul was invited to be Head of the Junior School of Scotch College, Perth by the school's Headmaster, Bill Dickinson. During his eleven years there he concurrently worked for several years endeavouring to bring the reluctant other state branches of the Junior School Heads Association under the umbrella of the Australian Primary Principals Association.
Paul's great love has been the promotion of the cultural pursuits of drama, music and art. At Haileybury following the Melbourne Grammar School model he introduced violin tuition to all Year 4 boys with the Director of Music, Hume McGrath, and later with Louise Bladen, a similar system for Year 2 boys at Scotch. The scheme enabled both schools to produce successful junior school orchestras which often accompanied the school plays Paul produced. Most of these plays had casts of over a hundred boys accompanied by orchestras of forty or more. Three of the Sixteenth Century novels written in retirement are loosely based around three of the plays Paul wrote for the Scotch boys, namely 'The Perseus', 'Gloriana' and 'El Dorado'.
List of plays produced:
Oliver Twist, Becket, Great Expectations, David Copperfield, Antigone, All the King's Men, Benvenuto Cellini (Melbourne Grammar School: Grimwade House)
Murder in the Cathedral, Antigone (Sunningdale School, Berks, UK)
Oliver!, All the King's Men, The Children's Crusade, David Copperfield (produced by Brian Pekin and Trevor Davis), Ghosts of Castlefield (Haileybury College, Brighton, Melbourne)
All the King's Men (Melbourne Grammar School: Wadhurst)
Swinging Samson, Pinocchio i, Aladdin, Oliver!, The Children's Crusade, The Perseus, All the King's Men, Pinocchio ii, David Copperfield, Gloriana, El Dorado (Scotch College, Perth)
Oliver Twist, Becket, Great Expectations, David Copperfield, Antigone, All the King's Men, Benvenuto Cellini (Melbourne Grammar School: Grimwade House)
Murder in the Cathedral, Antigone (Sunningdale School, Berks, UK)
Oliver!, All the King's Men, The Children's Crusade, David Copperfield (produced by Brian Pekin and Trevor Davis), Ghosts of Castlefield (Haileybury College, Brighton, Melbourne)
All the King's Men (Melbourne Grammar School: Wadhurst)
Swinging Samson, Pinocchio i, Aladdin, Oliver!, The Children's Crusade, The Perseus, All the King's Men, Pinocchio ii, David Copperfield, Gloriana, El Dorado (Scotch College, Perth)