I was appointed a residential tutor for three months in Oslo by the Admiral who was commander-in-chief of NATO naval forces of Northern Europe, to tutor his son, Patrick, who was about to take his Eton entrance exam.

Patrick turned out to be bright and easy to teach, but had been badly spoilt by his mother and was lazy. I lived with the family for the three months, having every meal with them and being included in the many dinner parties which they gave, both official and private, to which Patrick was too young to go. As I was 19 at the time, about to go up to Oxford, it was a wonderful experience and I found that I really enjoyed tutoring and had a natural gift for it.

Life was very social; many tennis, swimming, lunch and dinner parties, to which I was also invited. The British general, who was Commander-in-Chief of NATO ground forces in Northern Europe, and his wife became friends of mine and she was a painter who painted Patrick’s portrait.

The admiral was a keen fisherman and the four of us drove up to Sandane to fish on the River Gloppen, spending the night on the way at the Kvikne Hotel in Balestrand in the middle of the beautiful fjord country. I tutored Patrick in the mornings and fished in the afternoon and one day was lucky enough to catch a 36-lb salmon. Patrick was a complete delight, but much better when his mother was not around.

One weekend Patrick’s mother went to England to take their other son out from school and the admiral, Patrick and I were alone. Patrick was a new person; much more focused, relaxed and happy – I think that he learned more that weekend than any other. A tutor’s job is to seize any moment in the family’s comings and goings to help his pupil make a leap forward. But the tutor must live with the family, to learn the ins and outs of the family’s idiosyncrasies to be able to really understand and help his pupil. Sometimes it is the pupil that is the problem; sometimes the family.

Midsummer Day is an important day in Scandinavia – or I should say, midsummer night. Everybody stays up all night – it is, of course, light all night – and mostly they take to the sea or the fjords; in our case we took to the fjord in the admiral’s barge and had wonderful time; the whole fjord was full boats with people partying; Patrick loved staying up all night.

Tennis was taken very seriously, as was croquet and there were many afternoons of tennis and croquet competitions; it was my job to help Patrick improve both games. And then, of course, the British Ambassador’s Summer Ball, which Patrick was not invited to as he was too young, but which I went to nevertheless.

A great event was the official visit of some of the British fleet with non-stop parties, ships’ visits and the Admiral’s Ball. Patrick was included in as many of the functions as it was appropriate, but I was invited to them all.

I took my Vespa scooter with me when I went to Norway and when the admiral and his wife took Patrick with them on an official visit to Bodø for four days I took the opportunity to drive to Bergen and back over the beautiful mountains and along the glorious fjords – it was a memorable trip.

Needless to say, Patrick passed his entrance exam into Eton and went on to prosper in life. JW