At school I had been a member of the cadets and, in my final two years, I was promoted to company Sergeant Major. It was my responsibility to bring the school to attention every morning and after lunch break. �Attention!� I would shout as the school formed lines and marched to their various classrooms. It was a cushy job with loads of perks. For one I avoided having to look at the Headmaster, Brother Frederick, who I hated with a passion. He was also the maths teacher so it was a double hatred. On the plus side, as RSM, I had access to the cadet quartermaster store and we used it as a private clubroom. We also had another 'club room' used by some of my fellow 'thespians' including my mate John Hargraves, who became a very successful actor and, sadly, died far too young. There were a few other celebrities at school including Bob Windle the Olympic swimmer. In 2003 I attended the 40th anniversary of my class and reminded them of the terrible mischief I had instigated as a student.

'Regimental Sergeant Major Warren Fahey

I was a troublemaker. I was also a non-believer attending a serious Catholic school. I had already made my mind up that I was an atheist or something down that track. Religion simply didn't add up and, besides, I had already started to expand my mind, with my father's encouragement, by attending meetings of strange groups like the rationalist Association and my weekend visits to Speaker's Corner in Sydney's Domain. In the Domain I would listen to old Wobblies and nutters of every variety. I had also started to go to my first folk clubs and these were considered hot spots of free speech. I was damned.

I instigated some naughty pranks and especially during the daily session where the class recited the rosary, that dull invocation to the heavens. We had two very placid old brothers who led us in the rosary and each boy had a turn to recite a decade. I was never allowed to participate because I would inevitably start giggling. My classmates would only have to pull a face in my direction and I'd be ordered to stand outside until the session was over. Once I brought in two matchboxes of those tiny black and orange stink beetles found on citrus trees, as the rosary flowed the beetles started crawling out of their prison. By the time the rosary was over there were bugs crawling all over the place. On another occasion I actually pinned a thumbtack to the cord that hangs from the brother's cassock. He slowly walked not realising he was anchored down. I got into trouble again. There was one classic adventure where a neighbouring lad, Warren de Maria, who is now a leader in social reform in Queensland, set fire to his desk. In those days we still had desks with inkwells however we had recently changed over to fountain pens. The inkwells were ideal little furnaces for those who were experiencing the cold or wanted to fry something like a jaffa skewered with a paperclip. We used kerosene as fuel because it was invisible. Unfortunately de Maria's desk caught fire mid-lesson. Big trouble.

I mentioned Brother Frederick, or Fred as we called him. He was a nasty piece of work and much hated by all the students. He had a bad habit of prefacing just about everything he said with 'Now look now� � I started to run a tally on his 'now, look nows' and every time he'd say it in class I would tick my statistical chart. Everyone knew I kept this tally and every time Fred uttered the phrase the entire class would look in my direction. It was bound to get ugly and it did. One day Fred ran down the aisle to my desk demanding to know what was so funny. His opening words were �Now look now Fahey' � I couldn't help but start laughing and was marched out of the class and nearly expelled. I never told him why I had laughed. On another occasion Fred was teaching us maths and one of the student's parents came to the door and was obviously angry. As it eventuated Frederick had banned the man's son from football because of some academic hiccup. The father wasn't having anything of this. He started shouting to Fred to �Come out here� to which the not-so-good brother replied; �Now look now, I am teaching and you will have to wait.� These were fighting words and you can imagine our fascination as the irate parent responded with �If you don't come out I'm coming in and I'll throw you out that bloody window if I have too�. Such fun and games.