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Full names - James Charles Briggs, known variably as Jim or Jimmy during School and University times and James when I started to earn a living. Since this is about the School, then I'm Jim!
I started at EHGS in 1944 and left, after three years in the 6th form, in 1951. Then followed two years National Service in the RAF, where I was a Nursing Orderly, reaching the rank of Senior Aircraftsman (SAC) the rough equivalent of Lance corporal in the Army.
After my National Service I studied Medicine at St Thomas' Hospital Medical School in London, qualifying in 1958. After this followed the necessary post graduate training posts for about two years. I then concentrated on Pathology and I went back to STH for this. I ended up specialising in Histopathology - the study of disease in tissues. I passed the final examination of the College of Pathologists (it hadn't been given its Royal charter at that stage) and found a post in 1965 as Consultant Histopathologist at Frenchay Hospital - one of the three large hospitals in Bristol. Prior to this I had met and married my (German) wife in 1961. We bought a house, continued to raise our two children and, when the time came, I retired aged 60 in 1993, after 28 years at the hospital. During this time I developed a special interest in one form of skin cancer - malignant melanoma. I wrote many papers on the subject and developed a small international reputation - small but international!
Like many of my school mates, some of whom gained knighthoods, became professors, or prominent in other fields, I did lots of other things, but that's another story. A few more details on: My Home Page
Jim Briggs