"During my time as Director of Development at QEH, I was fortunate to meet many fascinating OEs.

Stephen Burrough was certainly one of these.

Despite our difference in age - Stephen was at QEH between 1954-1962, whereas I was a pupil from 2003-2010 - it turned out we had much in common. After our respective stints on Jacob's Wells Road, we both attended King’s College London to study languages.

Although clearly Stephen spent more time learning his subject than I did, utilising his language skills by moving to France in 1970 where he taught English to French adults in their various professional contexts. He continued living in France for the remainder of his life, based in Ars-en-Charente.

After exchanging emails and calls, it was a real pleasure to show Stephen around QEH when he returned for a visit and regaled me with many anecdotes from his time at school. I encouraged him to share one of these in the first issue of 1590 (still available to read on the Elizabethan Society website). It was a fantastic tale of how he cycled from Bristol to Bergerac to see his French penpal, accompanied by two classmates. A feat he undertook again when he turned sixty.

This story really captivated me, and I knew it would make a brilliant book. With Stephen’s blessing, I used his school escapades as the basis for my second novel.

In 2019, as I recreated Stephen’s journey (albeit by train rather than by bike!), I visited Stephen in Saintes - a beautiful, historic town near his home - where we spent the day, conversing over a long lunch.

It was abundantly clear that Stephen was both extremely proud of his QEH education, and had also continued to live by the mantra of the school’s hospitable ethos.

I was delighted to send Stephen a copy of the finished book upon publication and hear how much he enjoyed having his story brought to life. Unfortunately, my only regret is I didn’t take him up on his generous offer to visit again and stay in his home in the Cognac region for I know he’d have had many more wonderful stories to share."

~ Written by James Bailey (2003 - 2010)