that election to Labour, Heath spoke to the school's pupils at the following speech day. In 1975, an additional building, the New Block was constructed on a very tight budget. "Sozzlehurst and Hiccup": 1980–1999 In April 1977, John Sennett (b.1934) was introduced as the new headmaster. Born in Plymouth, he had studied history at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge and subsequently taught at Manchester Grammar School. A Quaker and pacifist, he had refused to serve his national service, resulting in some initial suspicion about him, however his support for the grammar school system and his conscientious, genial nature enabled him to get along with the school's staff. In 1981, the school celebrated its golden jubilee with a variety of events, including a Jubilee Walk that took in both Station Road and Crittall's Corner; these activities were used to raise money for an extension to the school's library. That year's school play, a performance of William Shakespeare's As You Like It, was directed by English teacher John Hazelgrove and won Bexley Arts Trophy's Best Play of the Year award, beating a variety of adult drama groups. In December 1982, sixth formers held a morning Christmas party in the sixth-form centre, during which alcohol was consumed. One pupil fell over and was taken away by ambulance with minor injuries, while another pupil was sent home for being drunk. During the ensuing Christmas holidays, Sennet decided that he should punish those who had been involved in the party. In January 1983, at the start of the spring term, he requested written confessions of guilt from those who had consumed alcohol, stating that this would result in a one-day suspension, with 160 pupils producing such confessions. At this point he changed his mind, deciding that he would provide different degrees of punishment based on the quantity of alcohol that each student individually consumed. The sixth form body refused to accept this, deeming it to be a form of victimisation and so insisted that it be judged as a collective and punished accordingly. Sennet then suspended all 160 pupils for a day. Somebody had contacted a British tabloid, The Sun, to inform them of the events and being a slow news day, they ran the incident on their front page, proclaiming "School Band 157 Boozing Pupils". The journalist responsible, Robert Bolton, added fresh elements to the story, claiming that 5 students had had to be taken