The Haileybury Society was delighted to hear from John Knights (Ha 46) recently about his years at Haileybury, including when the school was used in the making of the 1948 film, the Guinea Pig, starring Richard Attenborough.

The Guinea Pig was a well-intentioned if somewhat whimsically optimistic film in which Attenborough, playing the son of a working class tobacconist, is given a scholarship to the fictional Saintbury public school. The film was based on Warren Chetham-Strode’s response to the issues of social mobility in education arising from the 1940s Fleming Report for the Board of Education.

Sheila Sim at Haileybury — *Above: on set at Haileybury, Sheila Sim being filmed by the cricket pitch in the late 1940s*

Someone draws the eye

The film was largely shot at Sherborne in Dorset but Haileybury, being close to Britain’s cinema making centres in Hertfordshire and the south east, formed the backdrop for some of the scenes. It was during the filming of these scenes that Sheila Sim (later to become Lady Attenborough) and other actors (including Anthony Nicholls and Robert Flemyng) were to appear in the school grounds during a few halcyon days back in the 1940s.

Yet despite all the celebrity, it seems that there were other attractions that day. As John writes,

“Sheila Sim came to Haileybury in 47/48 to take part in a film , probably the Guinea Pig , as they needed our pavilion and cricket pitch . Very exciting , especially as one of the extras was absolutely gorgeous , we all fell in love with her!”

It is not clear whether any of the boys succeeded in winning the gorgeous extra but John was able to obtain a wonderful photograph of Sheila (above) and also obtained her autograph – the photo is signed in ink on the back.

Sheila Sim autograph — *Above: Sheila Sim’s autograph from the back of John Knight’s photograph*

A familiar backdrop?

Eagle-eyed film buffs watching the film will recognise Haileybury’s familiar cricket pavilion in the backdrop to one scene. While Sherborne gets the credit for the bulk of the locations, there’s no denying that the pavilion is grand enough to grace the greatest of films!

Pavillion in background of The Guinea Pig — *Above: Pipe smoking and pavilions – Anthony Nicholls and Robert Flemyng and a familiar backdrop for many Haileyburians*

We are always grateful to hear from OHs about their memories of the time at the school. Please do send us your stories – we would love to share them with the entire OH community.

(images: Apart from the photograph of Silvia on set, and her autograph, the remainder of the images in this article come from I Thank You Arthur, an excellent film blog celebrating films from many decades.)