Bullying

Gordon Richardson: Extra Gravy


Gordon was born in 1953 in the Philippines. His parents lived and worked abroad so Gordon attended several mainstream schools, mainly in Hong Kong and India. At age eight, he was sent to England with his brother to attend residential mainstream private schools, first in Yorkshire and then in Cambridge. He then went on to study at university.

Here Gordon describes getting his own back on a bully.

  • Gordon Richardson
  • Gordon Richardson
https://howwasschool.allfie.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/gravy.mp3

Transcript

Yeah, well obviously they all knew I was different. Yeah, one or two, you know, I was at public school, in Cambridge I got – one or two people would tease me until one of them overstepped the mark and came up behind me one lunchtime and said, ‘Oh, did you want extra gravy on yours?’ And he put a plate and he absolutely filled it to the top with gravy, as much gravy as you could put on it, and then he just tipped it down my front.

Later that day, I was behind him going down a slope at the school and I went quietly behind him, dropped the wheelchair then just before I got to him, and ran into the back of his legs and broke his ankle. Perhaps a bit more than I intended. But he complained to the headmaster and the headmaster knew I was being bullied by this guy, but there was a limit to what you could do and he said, ‘Well, you’re a bully, you got beaten. Tough.’ After that nobody ever bullied me again.

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