Welcome to our KGV Alumni Stories page, celebrating the school's history through former students' narratives. These inspiring stories reflect their experiences, memories, and friendships at KGV, showcasing the diverse paths shaped by their education. Join us in reliving these moments and celebrating our vibrant community!
Alumni Stories
Ian Leighton
With KGV’s 100th Anniversary of Speech Day planned for November this year, this milestone has no doubt affected not just me, a former KGV pupil, but also many other former pupils. I think in particular of three former pupils: Elizabeth Grubb (nee X), Mark Isaac-Williams and George XYZ. They all attended KGV in the late 1940s, after the War. I find it so interesting to hear their respective recollections of that period in the school’s history. During the Japanese Occupation of Hong Kong, the school was used as a hospital for the Imperial Japanese Army. Elizabeth Grubb remembers all the doors in the school had Japanese writing written on them. There were stories of ghosts in the sports building, where people were being interrogated and killed. Even when I started at KGV in September 1962, many of us were convinced the sports pavilion was haunted.
I look forward to touring the school in November, to see the changes that have been made. I have for instance not seen the swimming pool. Being born and brought up in HK in the early 1950s, meant that inevitably you could swim well. Swimming became part of everyday life. I remember being taught to swim at both the YMCA in Salisbury Road and at the USRC in Gascoigne Road.
Do I have any regrets about my childhood in HK? Perhaps I should have made more of an effort to study harder. KGV was and remains an excellent school with superb teachers. Back when I started in Form 1 as it was called, the School was run by the HK Government’s Education Department. The English Schools Foundation did not exist back then. KGV was the only English speaking secondary school. As a consequence pupils on HK side had to travel by the Star Ferry every week day to Tsim Sha Tsui, then take a bus to school. In retrospect, I wish we had the opportunity to learn Cantonese. I understand it was not considered suitable or important as it was likely that in our 20s, we would leave HK when our expatriate parents returned to the UK. It was a short sighted view.
What has life taught me now that I approach the age of 73? What advice can I pass onto pupils at KGV today? I think be confident in what you believe in. We all have different talents. For some people, those talents are spotted early, whereas for most of us, this invariably comes later in life, when you feel you know what you want to do. Find something you are passionate about. As a young boy growing up in HK, I loved to sketch and paint. In 1961 when I was 9 years old, I won an art competition for children in HK. The competition was organised by the South China Morning Post and the sponsor was the department store Lane Crawford. It was the first prize I won and to this day, I remain very proud that I won the competition. Many years later, I reverted to my passion for art. It remains a source of great satisfaction and enjoyment. One of my paintings is a permanent exhibit at a museum in Scotland. The Gordon Highlanders Museum in Aberdeen. Another piece of advice is to be true to yourself. Young people today have to deal with pressures that I never experienced at a similar age. The pressure to have a particular shape or hair style so that you don’t appear different from your school friends. Be yourself. Have goals. Don’t be an island. Talk to your family about things which concern you. Never lose your “moral compass”. Maintaining your integrity is so important in life.
I wish you every success and happiness in your lives. Don’t waste your time. Enjoy what life has to offer. Study hard and remain focused. Be proud, as I am, that you went to KGV school. An experience you will never forget.
Best wishes
Iain Leighton
Petersfield, England, UK
Mrs Leicy Leighton
My late mother Leicy Leighton was school secretary of KGV school from 1968-1978. She was also PA to the school’s Principal. She loved her role at KGV and was reluctant to retire at the age of only 51. But my father was retiring from the HK Government at the age of 55 and they left for the UK in June 1978. Apart from long leaves, she had never lived in the UK. She used to call the Midlands the mid-levels. She drove rather fast and years after living in the UK, when stopped for speeding, she would say she was from HK and was never charged for speeding offences.
My mother took her role at KGV very seriously. She was dedicated to her work. Highly professional. Totally discrete and very diplomatic. At home in the UK, papers were always in order. She carried instructions in her handbag about what was to be done in the event of her unexpected death. That is how efficient she was. Some 31 years after she left KGV, she told my father and I an amusing story about her favourite boss. Eric Gore. I remember him well. A rather avuncular figure. A kind and very friendly man. My mother had not told anyone about this story before because she was mindful of having signed the Official Secrets Act in HK. That was what she was like.
Eric Gore led a bachelor life in HK although he was married. His wife had found the humidity in HK not to her liking and she complained constantly of suffering from prickly heat. So she stayed back in the UK in Brighton. Eric was a popular man and was frequently invited out to dinner. He was gregarious and a wonderful dinner guest because of his stories.
One evening he was at dinner midweek in mid-levels. He had driven over to the HK side taking the vehicular ferry from Jordan Road. It was getting late after the dinner and he realised he had to get back to the vehicular ferry on Connaught Rd in order to catch the last vehicular ferry back to Kowloon. Off he went. Slightly worse for wear after several San Migs. Once he drove onto the vehicular ferry, he decided to get out of his car and stand at the front of the ferry as the ferry crossed over to Kowloon's side. The fresh breeze would do him good he thought. As he was standing there at the front, he heard someone shout “ Eric, Eric, come over here.” It was a friend of his from the Kowloon Cricket Club. “Good to see you” said James who was accompanied by his wife Janet and another friend Mike. “Gosh Eric we haven’t seen you in ages. Get in the car and we will have a good old chin wag and catch up”. James, Janet and Mike were in the same state as dear Eric. No one there was stone-cold sober. Eric got into the car. They chatted away. As the ferry approached Jordan Road, James said “Eric as we are heading towards Nairn House let’s drop you off at your place in King’s Park. No trouble”. “That’s great!“ said Eric. “Thank you so much. If it’s no bother.”
The next morning, Eric was up early as usual and having finished breakfast prepared by his Amah, he went downstairs holding his briefcase and was astounded to see his car was not in the garage.
It had been stolen in the night. Or had it? Then the penny dropped. His VW beetle car was still on the vehicular ferry going between HK island and back to Kowloon. He dashed upstairs to phone my mother at KGV. She was at her desk before 8am having dropped my father off at the Shamshuipo ferry for him to get to work. She also wisely had a second set of Eric’s car keys. He recounted what had happened the night before. He pleaded with her to get the assistance of Mr Sin at the school to get the car back. No one should know about his missing car. She gave him her word. No one but she and Mr Sin would know. She did keep her word. For 31 years she had told no one. Not even my father.
My mother had the most wonderful qualities. Above all kindness. She loved young people. After her unexpected death at Christmas 2011 in Zurich staying at the home of my sister Brenda, we received several lovely letters from former pupils and KGV staff, saying how my mother had helped them. One former teacher mentioned that my mother was extremely helpful in defusing tension between certain teachers from time to time. My sister and I and her wider family miss her so much. We treasure all the memories we have of her. She would be so interested if alive today to know about the plans for the 100th Anniversary of Speech Day in November this year. KGV had a very special place in her heart.
Sir YK Pao, the shipping Magnet, invited Mrs Leigton to launch a ship. This caused a little dilemma because normally, the invite would go to either the governor's wife at the time or the wife of another high-ranking official, such as the colonial secretary. Sir YK wanted to thank and respect Mrs Leigon for her kindness to him. She was the only one to greet him by speaking in Mandarin. He never forgot that.
Ken Salmon
I attended KGV in two separate phases, with a two-year hiatus when my parents dispatched me to a UK boarding school. The first phase was in Forms 1,2, & 3 between 1964 & 1967 and the second phase was in the 6th Form between 1969 & 1971 when I took the traditional ‘Science’ path of Pure & Applied Mathematics, Physics, & Chemistry as my GCE ‘A’ Levels.
After securing an honours degree in Computer Science at the University of Essex in 1974, my first job was as a design engineer for Digital Equipment Corp., then the largest minicomputer manufacturer in the world. After 6 years, it dawned on me that the folks who had lots of money and nice cars were all salesmen and I therefore moved into sales with a computer printer manufacturer, Mannesmann Tally, in 1980. After a further 6 years, I was offered a Marketing role at Rank Xerox and, in 1986 I commenced what would prove to be a 25-year career at Xerox, which included a 2-year assignment as an expat in Hong Kong – the city I was born and raised in!
I have been married to Trish for 35 years and we have a daughter Vicki, and a son Barry. I have now been happily retired since 2011 and, instead of my calendar being filled with business meetings, it is now filled with meetings of a much more social nature! Some such meetings are KGV-related, such as the monthly dim sum gathering of the KGV ‘Southern Group’ in Southampton. There is also a group who meet for drinks and ‘yum cha’ in London’s Chinatown. There used to be an annual London Reunion arranged by the school when the KGV headmaster came on a recruitment drive for teachers, but this sadly no longer occurs. I have attended several KGV ‘Mega Reunions’ in Hong Kong, and look forward to the next one, which had been postponed from 2021 because of the Covid pandemic. While it is good to meet KGVers of different years at the Mega Reunions, it can be somewhat disappointing if you are the only one from your year to attend . . .
I have kept in touch with several of my peers from ‘my year’ at KGV and, although most are scattered across the globe, a few actually live quite close to me in the UK. As you can see, my links to KGV have remained strong over the years. This is a testament to a special if not unique, bond that KGV seems to foster among its former pupils. It is this bond which draws KGVers together for reunions, both local and international.
Jason Hall
It’s very hard to pick a specific memory but as I really enjoyed sport (athletics, cross country and hockey) so probably the times I represented KGV at all of the events related to these sports. The best part was being able to do all this in Hong Kong, what an experience!
My favourite teacher was Mr. Byrnes (Technical Drawing). A great teacher who made learning easy.
My advice to the current students of KGV is to always read around the subject. Every article on any subject, from technical articles to the news, has an inherent bias and will not give all the information or the complete story. It is especially important to read, with an open mind, opinions opposite to those you hold.
Once I finished my A-Levels at KGV I went to Sheffield to study a degree in Electronic Systems & Control Engineering. I graduated four years later with an honours degree and began working in the design office at FR Aviation (FRA) in the UK as an Avionics Design Engineer. After several years I moved into the Electronic Warfare department as an EW Development Engineer. The job involved quite a lot of flying in the company’s fleet of business jets that had been converted to train the RAF and Royal Navy. I even got to spend three weeks in Las Vegas flying out of a US airbase into the infamous Area-51 test range. After 11 years at FRA I moved into an R&D post at a company called Roke Manor Research, again in the UK. Here I worked on a huge array of projects for Naval Radar Design, Radar Modelling, more flight trials and other projects in the Radar, Communications and Security fields. One of the best projects I was involved with was developing the radar altimeter for the Beagle II mission to mars. Later I moved into a business development role ending up being the country lead for all business development in India for all the companies in the Chemring Group. After developing a taste for working in India I left to set up my own consultancy business specialising in the Indian market.
In parallel with my technical career I also have an artwork business and have exhibited in London’s Mall Galleries many times. I am currently in the final stages of publishing a book of Hong Kong cartoons based upon my time in Hong Kong in the 1980’s. A second book of Indian cartoons will be following next year. If you are interested, you can find my artwork at www.jasonhallart.co.uk
Rod Sell
I am not sure of my exact years, probably 1954 or 55 to 1962 or 63.
I used to have lunch in the school canteen. Every Friday the non Catholics ate fish and the Catholics kids the other meal. There was a Jabawocky mural on the canteen wall. I wonder if it is still there.
We used to go to the Cricket Pavilion to play bridge in our spare time.
During my latter years in KGV I joined the HK Volunteers, The Hong Kong Regiment there were half a dozen or more in the Regiment. I remained in the Regiment until i left HK in December 1966 for Sydney Australia.
For me School was a very social life, Because I lived on the Island at Causeway Bay. It took well over an hour travel each way, so I had plenty of time to do my homework on the ferry, bus or tram.
The message for the current generation.. School is not everything. You go to school to try to get a good mark. So you have better options later in life. 90% of what you learn in school you will never use again. What you do need is a good grounding in Maths and English so you are well prepared for work in the future.
You will continue to learn for the rest of your life. Find what interests you, and steer your studies in that direction. We waste a lot of years when we are young, studying things we will never ever use. The kids who knew what they wanted to do, were well advance from the other like me, who had no idea.
After I came to Sydney I joined Qantas Reservations. I stayed with Qantas until 1991 when I took a golden handshake.
After I left HK, I realised I did not know much about its history. So I started reading about the History of HK and China. I also collect Stamps and Coins, so I specialised in HK and British East Asia, which told me a lot more about the commercial history of the region.
I started a Stamp study group on HK Security Marking on HK Stamps.
I have created a catalogue of all markings we have recorded, with the histories of the Companies involved. You can view it at http://rodsell.com/hksmsic/hksmsic.html
Hong Kong had its own mint to make coins in 1866 to 1888. It was situated at Causeway Bay, near where the magistracy is today. It was financial disaster and was sold in 1888 to Japan and became the Tokyo Mint. HK was always about trade and finance. It was the gateway for trade to China. Today it is not that important, as the trade goes direct to many other cities. However whilst HK is a financial hub for the region. It will be important.
I can remember, I think 1964, when there was a bank run on the Hang Seng Bank.
People queued up to take out their savings. They then went to the HKSBC and deposited the money. By the following day the Hang Seng Bank went from the 3rd biggest bank, to a HKSBC subsidiary.
Elizabeth Grant
Easter 1947.... to Summer 1954.
I am an OLD KGVer....back to 1947 when it was still CBS and when my mother and I joined my father again in HK after the war. He was with Jardine Matheson. The ships were commandeered by the RN and so he was Royal Navy Reserve and ultimately a POW in Japan.
As a pupil back in the '40s, I was entitled to free life membership of the FP society. Naturally I was GLAD to do that, but have had no contact of late as I was extremely badly hacked on my computer and lost EVERYTHING including all my HK KGV contacts.
I had no way of finding them. So perhaps, through you, I might be able to re-instate myself if you check me out on the archives!!! I was then Elizabeth Grant and stayed from 1947 until I left for University in Edinburgh in 1954.
REFLECTIONS ON MY LIFE SINCE KGVS.
Leaving KGV in July 1954 was a terrible wrench. It was all I had known for the past 7 years, since mid- April 1947 when I arrived back in HK and School started for the Summer Term. By the time I left (as Head Girl only for a short period after Hilary Hale who preceded me went to Canada), only Mrs Marion Hill, our maths teacher and Head of the Junior Department, had been there longer than me! She had taught pre-war in CBS.
Everyone else had come to school after 1947.
So, here I was, on P&O S.S. Canton, going to Scotland, my home country, where I had NEVER lived ! I was 17 and going to University in Edinburgh on a HK Scholarship which I shared with Judy Potter( Headmaster's daughter) who went to Art College in England.
During my studies in English leading to my M.A. Degree, I had a year doing Phonetics. I loved this so much that it led me into my profession as Teacher of the Deaf for which I did a post-graduate course at Manchester University. After qualifying, I taught, blissfully happy, in Donaldson's School for the Deaf in Edinburgh!!
My life was beginning to change though and in 1960, my husband, Rev. George Grubb and I, were married at the Kirk of the Greyfriars which I had joined after leaving HK and was at University.
In my young days I had always been on the move in the Far East and in many parts of Australia during the 2nd WW. In fact, I had circumnavigated the globe by 1945!!!
Now began a life of MORE travel! After 2 years in Wakefield, where our son was born, George was commissioned into the R.A.F. as a Padre. They called him a Sky Pilot!! For the next 8 years we were constantly on the move in England, then Cyprus, where our daughter was born, back to England and then finally to Germany.
Because we didn't want to send our children to Boarding School, we returned to civilian life in Edinburgh and George spent the next 30 years from 1970 as a Parish Minister where my life became busy as a Minister's wife and home-maker while the children went to school.
In 1976, my life changed again because I was asked if I would return to Donaldson's to resume my teaching career. "It would only be for a term as a member of staff was on sick leave" so they said!! That single term turned into 24 years and I finally retired in 2000 just before my 65th birthday!!!! I retired in the year 2000 and by then, no one in school had been there longer than me......shades of KGV repeating!!!
Now a completely new phase of life started.
After all his years in Ministry, George was elected to become a Councillor in the City of Edinburgh Council, and he began the next 13 years of civic service in the city where he had been born and brought up. The final 5 years in the Council, he served as Lord Provost of the City of Edinburgh and I became the Lady Provost, first citizens of our great Capital City.
This was a huge privilege and honour, wearing the fabulously valuable Chains of Office and we were involved from 2007 till 2012 in constant civic duties, more travelling and simply wonderful experiences.
For me it was as if all my schooldays at the cosmopolitan KGVS had been a complete preparation and training ground for this new life I was about to lead. Having been schooled with friends from so many different countries, I felt completely at home meeting with our own Royalty along with so many dignitaries, Ambassadors, and Consuls from all over the world and had visited many of their own countries. Of course the Chinese Consul, a most charming and beautiful lady, became on of my greatest friends and I loved Chinese New Year, Moon festival , Chinese National Day, among many other events of hospitality at the Consulate.
We were also involved with bringing our 2 Chinese Pandas to Edinburgh and that was a great highlight for me as a born and bred Hong Konger!! Sadly for us, they are now back in China after 20 years here!!
We had to go abroad several times to represent Scotland, as Edinburgh was twinned with many overseas cities. Krakow, in Poland was one and Munich in Germany was another. We also went out to Sydney in Australia to accompany our Edinburgh Festival Military Tattoo.
That was wonderful for me to return to Australia all those years later , thankfully in Peace Time, after the terrible experiences of evacuation from HK and Singapore to safety and great kindness there in WW2.
We also went to Kyoto in Japan to promote our Scottish silversmiths who were meeting with their Japanese counterparts in silversmithing and naturally we went with all our tartan regalia too as well as our fabulous Chains of Office! It was a lovely trip and I'm still in touch with our delightful interpreter.
BUT THE BIGGEST THRILL OF ALL.......came on our return journey to the UK.
Because of my background, George and I were allowed an extra 2 days to make a diversion which I could arrange entirely separately and privately from our Council Duties.
GEORGE, (for the first time), AND I, WITH FEELINGS BEYOND DESCRIPTION, CAME BACK TO HONG KONG!!!
This was 2007 and the first time since 1954 that I had been back to the land of my birth.
I was able to take George down MY Memory Lane and introduce him to places I had described all my life to him!!!! He kept asking me if I knew where I was going! Of course it was massively changed in the 53 years since I had left, but all the streets were the same and I knew exactly where I was going!!! We walked everywhere on Kowloon-side, then to the Star Ferry and all round HK-side to the Cathedral where I had sung in the choir and up the Peak tram and round Lugard Rd!
The only time we took a taxi was to go to SCHOOL.
THAT WAS THE BEST THING OF ALL!!! I actual fact, though, it was Half Term so only the Office Staff and a very few Senior pupils were in being given extra tuition before the exams. So I was able to roam the corridors gazing into my old classrooms and "peopling" the emptiness with all my old friends again as if no time had passed. Nothing could intrude into my memories and my heart was FULL of joy. I had left aged 17 and had come back at almost 70!
YES it had changed so much. Only Peel Block was there in my time and it wasn't called that then! It was just "the school". I did ask why they had allowed flats to be built so close to the school only to be told they were not flats! They were classrooms!!
I loved going into the Hall again which was all set up with desks ready for the exams to begin.....just as in my day! So not everything had changed!!
"Never in the field of human conflict..." burned into my deepest thoughts as MY time was so shortly after those words were spoken by Churchill.
One young friend in Edinburgh Council asked me if I had studied WW2 in history at school.
My reply was "No. It wasn't history. It was only the day before yesterday." i.e. the year before last .....1945 to 1947 was only 2 years!
I will never forget Remembrance Day Assemblies in school in the immediate years after the war. The sound of children who had been through the horrors of internment camps weeping as they remembered the privations and lost relatives and friends. It was heart-rending.
"Those days are gone now and in the past they must remain..." is one of the lines we sing before any Scottish Rugby Match. And so those long gone WW2 days also must also remain in the past.
Now we need look to the future and I can assure the school leavers here that they can never have a better experience or preparation for a life of fulfilment and service in the days to come after school than they receive here in KGV. That is my own experience and there is never a day passes but I think of my wonderful school
"Here are we gathered from many a nation,
Arts to acquire that our people may serve...." the first 2 lines of our School song and motto.... Honestas Ante Honores .
I wish all the school leavers the greatest future ahead. In 1954, I could never have foreseen or imagined the full life I have lived. I will be 88 in December and even now, 70 years after leaving KGV, I know that you will have had the best preparation you could ever have for the life you will enjoy after your schooldays are over.
Go forward with pride and thankfulness and carry the Lion's Crest in your hearts forever.
That's where it is in mine!! And as the last line of the song ends.....
"Honour the name of King George the Fifth School" as indeed I do daily!!
Eleanor Sackett
I studied at KGV School from 1972-77. I was in Crozier and was House Captain in '76-'77.
I started KGV in Form 2 having come from a traditional all girls grammar school in England. The transition to a co-ed secondary modern was a big change for me and it took a while to adjust to making new friends, the classroom dynamics and how we interacted with teachers.
Playing sports helped and as I had some natural ability I enjoyed it. I think the House system at school also contributes to becoming a team player and together with the Prefect system that was in place in Sixth Form at the time (Y11-12) also brings out inherent leadership qualities. Besides inter-house competitions, Mrs. McArdle, PE teacher for the girls, entered me in virtually all inter-school sports from athletics to cross country. I also played hockey and in sixth form was selected to train with Hong Kong Schoolgirls.
My favourite teacher was probably Mr. Ryan. Michael Ryan arrived at KGV when I was in Form 3. He transformed our music lessons into pro-active, fun sessions and made everyone feel they had some musical ability. He inspired me to join the school choir and I loved it. The highlight was Handel's Messiah and we performed this outside school also.
After A Levels, my family left Hong Kong. Returning to Hong Kong four years later with a business degree, I was hired by Nike. My love of sports, travel and a year's internship at Saatchi's ad agency in London was a perfect fit.
I spent my first 4 months training in Oregon, USA and returned to open their first Asia Pacific sales office. The sports and fitness/athleisure market was growing exponentially and Nike was growing very fast. As Nike's A/P office expanded I grew with it and became Regional Marketing Manager.
Growing up in Hong Kong in the late 60's and 70's and going to such a multi-cultural school gives us a uniqueness, an edge, a 'can-do' attitude, team spirit and loyalty - qualities that are invaluable and appreciated in the workplace. Qualities that that stand out when being recruited and promoted.
I was chair of the KGV Alumni Association for 12 years and in that time was blessed with the opportunity of connecting with so many former pupils and attending many events at School. There is definitely something that connects us all no matter which year we went to KGV School.
In 2006 during my chairmanship of the KGVAA I had the privilege of being the guest speaker at KGV's 82nd Speech Day. Social media was in its early days then and I remember emphasising to the senior students who were graduating the importance of not losing their connections from school, not only with school friends but also teachers and the alumni.
KGV School is the common denominator which influenced and moulded us during the important teenage years when we're getting to know ourselves better and becoming young adults and this bond enables us to connect so easily with other KGVers everywhere in the world.
Kishu Lalchandani
Our whole family landed in hk by boat in 1953. My parents had 6 children. All of us, except the youngest sister, excelled in sports. Five of us went to KGV School and we indulged in sports there.
My brothers Ram and Gopal were great in cricket and they represented HK in cricket for many years. From the age of about 11, Gopal was also fantastic in athletics, cross country, sprint, hockey, squash, tennis, etc. He was extremely talented and a prodigy in most sports. Represented several clubs, also, which were KGV, IRC KCC, CAVALIERS, HKCC, and LITTLE SAI WAN. He was HK School Boys Captain for several years and won the majority of games, always scoring runs, taking wickets and remarkable fielder.
He was so generous and very fond of children. Extremely popular, humble, and well respected. Gift of the gab, a joke a minute man, and what an actor. He could imitate Charlie Chaplin, Peter Sellers and countless others. Most of us attended Ellis Kadoorie, and our secondary school was KGV. From the 1970s, Gopal and Ram represented HK and played quite a few games overseas. They both new well known professionals like Garfield Sobers, Nawab of Pataudi, Brian Laura, Wes Hall, Tendulkar, and so many more.
A lovely idealist, intelligent, realistic, and so much more. Gopal was placed here in this world for a reason. Many loved and respected him. He never showed the pain and suffering he went through at times, especially with his knees. A brilliant sportsman and a truly incredible person. Mister one of the kind.
Gopal also played for Hong Kong for many years. He was also a fast bowler and a middle order batsman. He was a excellent cricketer in his own right. Gopal played for CCC, IRC, LSW, KCC, HKCC and Centaurs. Gopal played 51 or 52 consecutive seasons in Hong Kong which was a unbelievable record!
Above all, Gopal was a kind generous man and his witt on and off the field will be sorely missed. He was an icon.
Bless u, Gopal, my dear brother. RIP, gone, but never forgotten.
Kishu Lalchandani
