LE GRAND BAL

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Lieve vrienden

Judging from my photo above, this must have been the occasion when Graham gave that speech of welcome in Flemish. I remembered the speech vividly but was a bit hazy on the occasion until I was going through the Grand Bal photos.

The Grand Bal was a big occasion in the College. You can see from the photos that it was in dress dance mode. And some people traveled long distances to be there. The male/female balance in the student body was about 3:1 so there was no way it could have been purely internal affair. I am aware of at least two of the female students who had invited their boyfriends from back home, skewing the gender imbalance even further. Many of the male students did likewise though the process was not always a smooth one.

I'm aware of at least two anciens who were there with their wives/partners. John Lambert, from the 1957/8 promotion, was a journalist who specialised in European Affairs, as best I recall. Richard Norton-taylor, from the 1966/7 promotion, was also a journalist who frequently wrote for the Irish Independent.

All this added to the numbers participating . There were 54 students in all that year and attendance at the Grand Bal must have been at least double that. Just as a memo item, there were 460 students in the 2017/8 promotion.

The photos in this post are based on a selection from those I happen to have. I didn't take everybody and not all of what I did take came out usable. This was not the digital age and you didn't know what you had until the developed film came back from the photographers and then it was too late to do anything about it.

Even some of those below had to be rescued for this exercise with a little, or in some cases a lot of, digital massaging. I'm saying all this in case anyone gets the idea that I have excluded them for any reason. If they're not here they will hopefully turn up in another post in this series.

I have to start in with the Rector who is all dressed up for the occasion and has already managed to get two ladies in tow, fellow students Roberte and Luigia.

Staying with some of the staff for the moment, this is my economics Professor Rudolf Regul with my fellow student Monica.

More staff, lawyer de Vrese, Lukaszewski (who subsequently became Rector), and fellow student Roberte doing a quick refresher.

Junior staff member Jacques (La Charlotte) keeps Mrs Paklons company while Mr Paklons, administrator, is no doubt tending to another lady, or two.

A quick run through our fellow students from Central Europe.

This is Zdzislaw from Poland. I don't know whence the lady hailed. It was not all that easy to travel from Central Europe at that time. Apart from anything else, tensions with the Soviet Union were high and the absence of a photo of fellow student Vratislav from Czechoslovakia may have had something to do with rising tensions between that country and the Soviet Union which ultimately led to the Soviet invasion the following August.

Jordan was from Bulgaria and I said elsewhere that he probably had a, if not the, hand in the visit of the Bulgarian musicians and dancers during the year. He is seen here eyeballing Nuala.

This is Dan Dracula (sorry Dragulescu) from Romania pressing his suit with Marguerite.

This is my Marilyn Monroe shot of Patricia from Canada.

And while we're on the lurvly ladies, Karen from UK.

And, while we're on the UK behold Lord (to be) William (visitor) with Dame (to be, in her own right), fellow student, Helen.

Fellow student Terkel, from Denmark, subsequently came to visit me in Ballybrack. He had asked me what he might bring. I had told him and he did.

This is John Lambert, ancien and journalist who I mentioned above. I think by that time he may have been spokesman for the European Commission, unless there are two of them.

I'm still seeing Richard Norton Taylor's byline in the papers.

This is Albert de Vidas. Albert had his wife with him and they lived in town outside the residence. Albert was Jewish and I spent Passover with him in 1968, when most of the rest of the students had left for the holidays. I had stayed to type up my "thesis".

Funny how what goes around comes around. His wife, a red haired lady of Irish extraction, was convinced that the CIA was full of Commies (not chefs, Communists). Don't forget this was still the period of the cold war and the ghost of Senator McCarthy was always hovering in the background.

Pol, from Belgium, here with wife to be Laura, also had a guitar and both he and I were very popular at the cultural gatherings (drinking parties) held in various people's rooms throughout the year.

Pol joined the Belgian diplomatic service. In later life he was posted as ambassador to Ireland and he and Laura entertained me in the embassy in Dublin.

André also had a camera and took whacks of photos. I have some of them to this day. To the best of my recollection we used to pin numbered photos on the notice board and people could order copies at cost.

John Morton, from USA, had a local girlfriend, Ingrid I think.

Peter, my former German teacher. He of the broken, set, re-broken, re-set leg, of which you can see the signs. I suspect he did not get to take to the floor.

I can't go without showing off my silver clip-on dicky bow. Seen here with fellow student Luigia from Italy.

And when the party's over it falls to the veilleur de nuit to ensure that everywhere is locked up.

POSTSCRIPT

I said earlier I'd come back with the Whiskey story, so I'll give it a go.

In the run up to the Grand Bal I noticed an ad for Power's Whiskey in Le Monde. It was a substantial size bottle of Gold Label along with some text that suggested the French might like to try it. This image above is not it. That has long since gone, but it will hopefully get your attention.

Now, I thought to myself, Powers are trying to break into the French market and must be paying through the nose for this bit of marketing. So why not Belgium, or those countries which would shortly be represented at the Grand Bal. We were, when all was said and done, the European influencers of the future and conveniently gathered under one roof where we could sample the stuff in convivial surroundings.

The next trick was to get the whiskey and enough of it for the caterers to put it prominently on the menu, or at least advertise its availability as part of the bar service.

After some correspondence with Powers it was arranged that the whiskey would be with their agent in Ostend, but we'd have to collect it.

Well, instead of the crate we expected it turned out to be two bottles, nothing like enough to get it listed at the Grand Bal.

So, a marketing opportunity missed? But a grateful organising committee at the end of the night, so who knows?