Ken Wheatley was a pupil at the Royal High in the 1950s and later taught art there from 1961 to 1965. He has been in touch with the Club recently and tells what he did after leaving the school –
“After I left the RHS I joined STV as a set designer I learned the basic skills of my craft and stayed with them until 1970 when I was offered a position at ATV in Elstree. At that time they specialised in Light Entertainment shows with American stars. I had the pleasure of designing sets for amongst others Bing Crosby , The Muppets and many others. In 1978 I was offered a contract as an Art Director on a film called Quadrophenia which became a cult classic so I left ATV and worked freelance for the next 22 years on a mixture of projects finally in 2001 as Art Director on Conspiracy with Kenneth Branagh, Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci . I then retired and went to live in the south of France where I ran an art gallery in Arles sur Tech a small town near Ceret in which Picasso had lived and worked for a time. Returning to the UK after 10 years I have a quiet life in rural Suffolk. I wish you all the best Ken Wheatley”
A comprehensive list of Ken’s film and TV work can be found on his IMDb page.
A photo of the teachers taken in 1965 illustrates this post, but we don’t know if he is present.
If you’d like to get back in touch with Ken, or share memories of his time at school please leave a comment below, use our contact form, contact him on 07394076453 .