LESLIE CHUENG KWOK WING - CHAPTER 3: MY SCHOOL DAYS (SECONDARY) An autobiography by Leslie (1985) ~ Commercial Radio Rosary Hill Secondary School I considered life at Rosary Hill to be that of a grown up, i.e. my new found independence of boarding the school bus. I found secondary school rather strange, for instance, we were expected to pray. To be quite honest, even up to this day, I was never into religion. My knowledge of Catholicism, Christianity or Buddhism was rather basic. In those days, my voice was my only gift. Then was what I would consider my first step into the world of music. Although my knowledge of religious matter was rather shallow, so was my academic performance, but several teachers took interest in me because I excel in English. They chose me to lead the school prayer. I wonder for those of you who study in Christian-based schools, do you still practice prayer during assembly before you are allow to go home? I remember leading the class every single day chanting some mumbo jumbo, Our Father who is in heaven, halo be thy name. This sparked envy among some of my classmates, You little fool, who need you to lead the prayer, we can do that ourselves. My character began to change in secondary school. I began to lose interest in my studies. Maybe as I said, my sister pushed me too hard when I was in primary school. By Form one, she too was not too familiar with my work. Hence, she hired private tuition teachers to teach me. However, those tuition teachers were not too dedicated to my education, and I too slowly lose interest. By then my academic performance began to slip with the exception of the English language. I just aimed for a pass and nothing more. That was when my interest in sports gradually became stronger. Adapting To Life In Secondary School I suppose teenagers are materialistic. I remembered Puma trainers, and Adidas trainers were rather popular back then. I remembered owning a pair of Adidas for basketball. I feel that Rosary Hill was quite different to St. Luke. Students conversed in English rather than Cantonese. So as not to be deemed a failure, I trained myself to be fluent in English. The headmaster too trained us to use the English language. In the beginning, I really had not a clue of what he was going on about. Gradually though, I began to communicate better with him. The school often organized something call the Talent Quest. In those days, Yew So Yung was rather popular. There were a few boys imitating Yew in the Talent Quest. It was hilarious. It remained a mystery to me how they manage to find the Ôkaraoke version of Yews record in those days. I remembered this schoolmate who mime to Yews song. He was quite a sissy, although I am not sure where he is now. We used to play ball games. They were some inter-class and inter-school competitions being organized. I played badminton rather well. There was once, I was rather nervous, because I was playing against the headmaster. At the same time though, I felt rather honoured. I have never really participated in the Talent Quest, I was only an audience. I did not realize that I have a singing talent back then. In fact, do you know who first help me discover my singing voice? You guessed right, it was Yew So Yung! In those days, the music industry was not as developed as it is today. There were only two choices. There were mainly Mandarin songs and a small selection of English songs. Canto-pop was not a hit at all in my school days. I was not really into English songs those days, because it was mainly heavy rock in the likes of CCR and Deep Purple. I do know those English songs especially when going to parties. You wouldnt believe it, Yew was a really famous artist in Hong Kong; he was the VIP of Foon Lok Gum Siu (a HK entertainment show). His concerts were always full house. I went to Yews concert once. Many people imitated his songs. My big brother bought his records and therefore I was quite familiar with his songs. If you ask me if I still know any of Yews song, I am not kidding but I do still know some of those songs. For example Gum Tin Pat Wui Ka (I am not going home tonight), I know how to sing it. Two Most Impressive Western Movies When I grow older, I began to listen to English songs too and watched Western movies. The two most impressive Western movies at that time for me were Romeo and Juliet and Jeremy. I still remember the splendour of the two protagonists in Romeo and Juliet. The leading songs of Jeremy was really great, it was called Blue Balloon. This was when I began to immerse in Western music. I remembered learning the screenplay of the Original soundtrack of Romeo and Juliet. You must say, that was pretty great. Think about it, Shakespeare; I was not very Shakespearian. I dont know why I learnt the soundtrack, but I suppose I feel bad if I dont. It is like you dont know any Alan Tams soundtrack nowadays. 3 Photos
Posted on: Mon, 20 Jan 2014 03:49:59 +0000
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