Through a friend at Colfe’s Grammar School, Jim got to know a farming family at Little Marlow in the Buckinghamshire area. Often he cycled to the farm for a weekend , hanging onto the side of trucks for a tow along the way. On the farm he helped to milk cows, plough the fields , handle equipment and look after livestock. Although a small farm, the people ate well and seemed better off than his family. A desire to become a farmer when he grew up developed .
Returning late one Sunday from a pleasant time on the farm , Jim found a disturbing situation at home. His mother, crumpled and crying , was sitting on the floor in the corner of the dining room. The entire house had been stripped by bailiffs .
Recalling the event , he said :“There was nothing in the way of furniture, no knives, no forks, no towels, no sheets, the house was stripped bare and she was enormously distressed . I can remember trying to comfort her and she told me that as a result of bills not being paid by my father the bailiffs had come around and taken away all our possessions. I was deeply furious . Over the years , I have campaigned strongly against racial discrimination , but I must admit that then I had a deep hatred for the Jews because they were bailiffs.”
“ I raced around on my bike and got relatives and friends to provide bedding, pots and pans and other household needs. But I had already determined to get revenge on the bailiffs . In those days , chemistry sets were popular and you could get the ingredients for gunpowder, I found out where the bailiffs lived, and set to work making flying bombs . Using cardboard and plywood , doorknobs filled with gunpowder , live matches and pieces of matchbox , I made primitive gliders which exploded on impact. “At night I would ride pretty fast past a bailiff’s house, launch the flying bomb and ride off quickly ; there was a pretty big explosion.
“ The aim was to terrorise the bailiffs and pay them back for their act of cruelty on my mother. It is a wonder that I did not blow myself up in the process . Nobody got hurt as far as I know It was revenge for an act of total brutality on a human being .”
While it might be considered strange that Bowditch engaged in such activity against bailiffs, it should be known that a popular British boys’ magazine urged children to buy aerial bombs called whiz bangs which were gliders with an explosive tip. These were described as being ideal to scare policemen, old ladies and postmen. The idea was to sneak up on your target, launch the glider and the resultant explosion would frighten your victim . Adverts for these bombs carried drawings of a little old lady with a walking stick , a tubby policeman and a tired looking postie with a sack of mail. The campaign against bailiffs lasted about three months, during which time he enlisted the help of some members of the punchy Boadicea Gang.
As if bailiffs were not bad enough, Jim had to contend with a thankless headmaster. Caught by prefects puffing a cigarette , he was hauled before the same headmaster who had enlisted his assistance to wipe out flying. Instead of getting a mild reprimand, as Jim expected, the headmaster decided to make an example of him. The headmaster, carrying a cane ,took him on stage in front of the entire school assembly of about 500 pupils and said smoking had to stop . He then called the porter up and Jim was told to jump on his back and put his arms around his shoulders .
The headmaster then proceeded to pull up Jim’s shirt and take down his trousers . He then “got into ” Jim with the birch . “ It must have been a ludicrous sight, ” said Bowditch , “ because the headmaster was this strange little monkey-like man, very small indeed, wailing away at me sitting on the back of the porter. After that , he left the stage and summoned me to the study where he gave me a lecture on why he had done what he did. Then he told me to go home and not return until the next day. ”
It had been an enormous indignity being beaten before so many people ; he did not smoke again until he joined the Australian Army. Jim went on to have recurring nightmares about being chained to a block of ice and often wondered if it was due to that public flogging .
Returning late one Sunday from a pleasant time on the farm , Jim found a disturbing situation at home. His mother, crumpled and crying , was sitting on the floor in the corner of the dining room. The entire house had been stripped by bailiffs .
Recalling the event , he said :“There was nothing in the way of furniture, no knives, no forks, no towels, no sheets, the house was stripped bare and she was enormously distressed . I can remember trying to comfort her and she told me that as a result of bills not being paid by my father the bailiffs had come around and taken away all our possessions. I was deeply furious . Over the years , I have campaigned strongly against racial discrimination , but I must admit that then I had a deep hatred for the Jews because they were bailiffs.”
“ I raced around on my bike and got relatives and friends to provide bedding, pots and pans and other household needs. But I had already determined to get revenge on the bailiffs . In those days , chemistry sets were popular and you could get the ingredients for gunpowder, I found out where the bailiffs lived, and set to work making flying bombs . Using cardboard and plywood , doorknobs filled with gunpowder , live matches and pieces of matchbox , I made primitive gliders which exploded on impact. “At night I would ride pretty fast past a bailiff’s house, launch the flying bomb and ride off quickly ; there was a pretty big explosion.
“ The aim was to terrorise the bailiffs and pay them back for their act of cruelty on my mother. It is a wonder that I did not blow myself up in the process . Nobody got hurt as far as I know It was revenge for an act of total brutality on a human being .”
While it might be considered strange that Bowditch engaged in such activity against bailiffs, it should be known that a popular British boys’ magazine urged children to buy aerial bombs called whiz bangs which were gliders with an explosive tip. These were described as being ideal to scare policemen, old ladies and postmen. The idea was to sneak up on your target, launch the glider and the resultant explosion would frighten your victim . Adverts for these bombs carried drawings of a little old lady with a walking stick , a tubby policeman and a tired looking postie with a sack of mail. The campaign against bailiffs lasted about three months, during which time he enlisted the help of some members of the punchy Boadicea Gang.
As if bailiffs were not bad enough, Jim had to contend with a thankless headmaster. Caught by prefects puffing a cigarette , he was hauled before the same headmaster who had enlisted his assistance to wipe out flying. Instead of getting a mild reprimand, as Jim expected, the headmaster decided to make an example of him. The headmaster, carrying a cane ,took him on stage in front of the entire school assembly of about 500 pupils and said smoking had to stop . He then called the porter up and Jim was told to jump on his back and put his arms around his shoulders .
The headmaster then proceeded to pull up Jim’s shirt and take down his trousers . He then “got into ” Jim with the birch . “ It must have been a ludicrous sight, ” said Bowditch , “ because the headmaster was this strange little monkey-like man, very small indeed, wailing away at me sitting on the back of the porter. After that , he left the stage and summoned me to the study where he gave me a lecture on why he had done what he did. Then he told me to go home and not return until the next day. ”
It had been an enormous indignity being beaten before so many people ; he did not smoke again until he joined the Australian Army. Jim went on to have recurring nightmares about being chained to a block of ice and often wondered if it was due to that public flogging .
