* Every participant in the school’s annual Latin debates sported a classical tag. By straightforward translation, Wiseman was Sapientissimo Ingenti and Barrowclough Tumulus Vallis. Cary Gilson was Carus Helveticus, in honour of his Alpine enthusiasms, and Rob had been his diminutive, Carellus Helveticulus. Wilfrid Payton was Corcius Pato and his younger brother Ralph Corcius Pato Minor. Vincent Trought was a very fishy Salmonius Tructa Rufus; but ‘Tea-Cake’ Barnsley was Placenta Horreo, from the Latin words for ‘cake’ and ‘barn’. Tolkien’s tags were all puns on his surname rendered jokily as ‘toll keen’: Vectigalius Acer, Portorius Acer Germanicus and, with a nod to his mastery of languages, Eisphorides Acribus Polyglotteus.