I was a student at Woodberry Forest School in Virginia when I applied for the ESU Secondary School Exchange Scholarship for the 1967-68 school year.

Four of us from Woodberry were selected to compete for the scholarship and flew up to Philadelphia with our headmaster, Baker Duncan, for interviews with other heads of school.

On the flight back to Washington, I was seated by Mr. Duncan who confided in me that my response to a particular question would very likely help me in the selection process.

In one of my interviews, a headmaster from a New England school had described to me how rugby players after a match would often take a bath together, and asked if that would create a problem.

Not knowing the import of my reply, I responded that it would depend entirely on the size of the bathtub.

I was selected for an ESU scholarship, and attended Bancroft’s School in Woodford Green, Essex, and played on the Second XV rugby team that fall. 

After a match on a cold and wet afternoon, the “bathtub” in the pavilion by the pitch had been filled with hot water, and the entire team piled into it, including me. It was more like a wading pool than a bathtub, and it was quite large. And I was glad to be in it.

My year on the ESU Secondary School Exchange Scholarship remains, all these years later, as one of the most enjoyable and rewarding experiences of my life.