GCI, OH MY GCI!
GCI, OH MY GCI!
"Let me look that bucket."
"Oyelade, what did you say?"
"I said 'let me look that bucket.'"
This conversation took place between me and a senior boy with whom I found my missing bucket, in the first few weeks of my stay in the boarding house at GCI. My deficiency in the English language turned me from being the "accuser" into becoming a "defendant." I had omitted the article "at" from my statement. I should have said, "Let me look (at) that bucket." The senior literally ..... Read More
TAYO BANJO'S WIT
Field House was situated just before Grier House with Hockey Pitch and the Administrative Block of the Principal and Vice Principal's Office a stone throw away. The house had a rich diversity in the 1969 set; we had our Moore Plantation boys of Banjo, Oyelade and a later addition to the duo was Osibodu; we also had Oduwole and Aborishade. Aborishade, despite his diminutive stature always made sure that he was heard: LOUD and CLEAR. There were also Oyesina, James and Akinkugbe; not to talk of ..... Read More
Settling Scores Behind The Armory
Settling Scores Behind The Armory
GCI was a school with quite a large expanse of grounds with quite massive acreage. To us boys, it was huge. The school had this bifurcation whereby the boarding houses were distinct in terms of area of coverage from the school compound, the school compound had the lecture rooms, laboratories, assembly hall, principal, vice principals� offices and staff room.
In the school grounds, we had an armory which was slightly secluded though quite close to the ..... Read More
School Days At GCI Weren.t All About Academics!
GCI students were primed to excel in academics, sports and other extra-curricular activities. We were involved in March Past pageants during Independence Day and Children's Day; and GCI always came tops- obviously because we were better for them through our exposure to a very strong military Cadet Unit. One remembers Major Akinyemi "66 (a.k.a. Carter).
Our Dramatic Society was also very active. There was a play production every school year. It was an avenue for students to showcase their ..... Read More
1972 - A Year of Clamors
GCI's regulation outfits for social outings are specified by Class levels. So, by his clothes, it was easy to decide which Class a GCI student was in. Forms 1-4 students wore khaki shorts with their white shirts. Form 5 students wore pairs of white trousers; and Lower and Upper Six students wore pairs of grey trousers - with their white shirts.
However, in 1972, a revolution took place. The Class of "69, in Form 4 at the time, decided to lobby for permission to stop wearing pairs of ..... Read More
That Man From Istanbul
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPyNQB9ZjZk
ED�s Note: More than 40years after leaving GCI, one would have thought that the Stature of Limitations on all matters that occurred during our tenure in GCI would have expired. Apparently, not so: on some matters, piecing together the information on what really happened had been guarded and sketchy. �That Man from Istanbul� is obviously one of them. Why this is so is unclear. Nonetheless, the picture is a wee bit clearer, from this testimony and ..... Read More
WOOD STOCK (SCALA CINEMA, SABO)
Woodstock is a 1970 documentary of the Western pop culture; Woodstock festival took place in August, 1969 somewhere near Bethel in New York. The film was directed by Michael Wadleigh and won an Academy award. It featured a number of artists which included Joan Baez, Crosby, Still Nash, Joe Cocker, Carlos Santana, Janis Joplin, Sly and the family Stone and of course the Iconic Jimi Hendrix who played Spanish Castle Magic and Voodoo Child.
Hendrix was the guitarist that caught everyone�s ..... Read More
DAHOMEY FRENCH TRIP
I remember with nostalgia our French class trip to Benin School, Ibadan. The boys who were on this trip will remember the journey in our famous Black Maria driven by Alaska from Ibadan, through Lagos and Idi-Iroko to Cotonou. We studied for one week with the students of L'�cole Secondaire Protestante. The presence of girls among us made the trip a very exciting one. One of the highlights was our visit to the floating village of Abomey. We travelled in two groups and in two boats. As the pilots ..... Read More
Anger!!!
Inter-house sports competitions were a big deal in GCI. The frenzy was usually far more than when GCI played against other schools. Houses competed for laurels in athletics, soccer, hockey, and cricket; and oh the pride of winning the trophy.
The final of the inter-house hockey tournament in 1965 was a particularly high-pitch one. Field House was playing Swanston and it was the second successive year the two Houses were meeting in the final. Swanston House had won in 1964, so the 1965 game was ..... Read More
When The Bugger Was Bugged
There was a soft-sell College Magazine in those days called the �College Gossip'. This was a magazine specially published to checkmate students who generally misbehaved or exhibited acts of misdemeanour or, in GCI colloquial parlance, "Ibara". Now "ibara" was the shortened form of "ibara eni je and was aptly applied to any act of misbehaviour that was deemed uncivilised or against the norms of the society and ethos of the school. The interesting thing was that this magazine was supposed ..... Read More