The original idea underlying the story of an unlucky boy in One Year One Night by SL Roman came through a few key individuals. They included the principal of Strode’s College in Egham Dr Frank Botham.

Frank was very keen on media in general and ran a college with a number of courses in the subject including the highly respected vocational courses designed to turn out camera operators, producers and journalists. The college had a TV studio, editing suites and at one point, a college radio station.

This all coincided with the 300^th anniversary of Strode’s which had originally been a free school set up in 1706.

When the principal received a communication from the Evacuees Association near Egham about a special event, he realised this was an important event to attend and passed on the invitation to Sarah Onions, one half of SL Roman and at that point, head of Media Studies. So on a mild day in 2004, Sarah went with her student Stuart, carrying a video camera and tripod to cover the ceremony of the original unlucky boy’s headstone – the first one he would have, more than 60 years after his death.

Lots of people turned out to Englefield Green cemetery in southern England to say goodbye properly to the ill-fated boy, including Frank Botham. The mourners were mainly older with a solid representation from the Evacuees Association which was set up for those who went to live with another family in WW2.

A striking modern headstone had been created by a local architect who Sarah’s student interviewed on camera. The student,Stuart, also spoke to Tony Arkell who was the only child in his family who survived the bombing of the draper’s shop in Egham High Street. Tony had finished his education at Strode’s Grammar School (as it was by then) and had a good career. And Stuart filmed while Sarah interviewed Martin Waddilove who was a relative of the original boy Ken Carter from Brighton.

The principal of Strode’s College who’d passed on the idea for the film watched the filming from the crowd in the cemetery and soon after that, Stuart prepared a short video to be included in his coursework submission for the City and Guilds TV and Video course 7601 and passed with flying colours.

He was not the only student who used the story in a piece of coursework. One of Sarah’s A level Media Studies’ students – the British qualification for 16 to 18 year olds – also made use of a ghostly little boy haunting Strode’s College, with the use of a waif-like child staring down the staircase in the old-fashioned building, as part of a treatment and promotion of a film in the Horror genre.

When it came to dedicating their first young adult novel One Year One Night, Sarah and Laura thanked Frank Botham in the opening pages, for his role in the story’s development.

Coincidentally Laura Meloni Bywaters – the other half of the writing partnership SL Roman – also knew Frank through her husband Paul who was also a teacher.

So to sum it up, the principal’s timely enthusiasm for media first led to the tale of the unlucky boy being filmed for a vocational qualification. Nobody at that stage foresaw that the curious tale would reach around the world in the form of ‘One Year One Night’ by SL Roman.

Note to editor. SL Roman is the pen-name of Sarah Onions and Laura Meloni Bywaters who both live in the borough of Kingston in SW London. Sarah was born in Brighton in southern England and Laura was born in Rome. The graveside pix belong to S.Onions.

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