'Goodbye Mr Chips' by James Hilton, an Old Leysian, was based, probably, on the characterisation of an OQ, Joseph Clark Isard. He was at Queen's from 1868 to 1873, finishing his school career at the Leys School, 1875-76. He was a very able pupil, proficient in Greek by the age of 11 and he later studied Classics and English at Cambridge.

He returned to the Leys in 1880 as a teacher who immediately made his mark in the classroom, on the sports field, with Old Leysians, and the development of the school's facilities. He became the school bursar and, briefly, was an interim headmaster.

In his retirement, he communicated with Dapper Channon, himself the epitome of Mr Chips, and sent him an exercise book of considerable interest. The front cover shows the book was J.C. Isard's and is titled 'Legendary Poems Etc'. The poems inside were written by boys other than Isard, an example of which is 'Pumpa Carter', below, written by Peter Harris. In his 'History of Queen's', Channon provides two other examples, following which he refers to the last page of the exercise book on which is a petition complaining about the excessive punishments meted out by the Masters (see below). This is handwritten, dated Xmas 1872 and signed by 83 boys, a number representing a large proportion of the pupil body, about 150. The first signature is that of J.C. Isard. However, it seems unlikely that the petition was presented to the Headmaster or the Governor since it remained in Isard's possession before he passed it to Channon.

Channon then explains that something he calls 'the Great Rebellion' followed, presumably at some point in the New Year. Several boys protested against the discipline of one Master by absconding from school for a day. The three ringleaders were expelled. Given Isard left Queen's in 1873 and did not resume his schooling till 1875 (the opportunity arose as the Leys opened that year) was he, I wonder, one of the three expelled? After all, his signature was the first on the petition which suggests he was a leader on that occasion and perhaps he went a step further in 1873.