John Knifton is an author and local historian who lives in Nottingham, England. John spent his childhood in South Derbyshire and went on to study Modern and Medieval Languages at Emmanuel College at the University of Cambridge. John then returned to the East Midlands to train as a Modern Foreign Languages teacher. He has taught mainly French, and occasional Russian Studies, some Religious Studies, Film, Politics and, most of all, football, at Nottingham High School since 1975. He is happily married to Gaynor (née Southall), whom he met while she was working at the school as an art teacher.
John Knifton’s most recent publication is Nottingham High School: The Anecdotal History of a British Public School. Hardback copies of this latest book are now available from Lulu.com.
John Knifton 
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Is it possible to purchase Lauda Finem: The history of Nottingham High School in paperback?
Hi there
Sorry to be so slow to reply. At the moment, no, because the current book is quite simply too long. I am hoping to produce a shortened version in time for Christmas. Christmas this year, of course.
It is my pleasure to meet you.
And it is my pleasure to hear from you, too. Keep up your excellent work to make sure that history is never forgotten. Otherwise, we are doomed to repeat it…
Sometimes I really wonder if anyone ever learns the lessons.
I’m delighted that you stop by my blog now and then. Wishing you all the best!
Thanks so much, and to you too 🙂
found your blog today from Suzie81’s blog party. What an interesting topic, To record the history of a school when you think of the number of people who have passed through its doors and who have one way or another been influenced by the experience is really a subject that fascinates me. I love the post about the initials carved into stone. I will look forward to reading more.
Thanks very much for your kind words. My blog posts are quite often about the school where I spent 38 years teaching. Given the centenary of the Great War, a number have been about the impact of that terrible war. One of this type was “The End of the British Empire, December 26th 1913”. Similar ideas and themes appeared in “Ancient initials carved a century ago”. A little lighter was the post “School Gardener wins F.A.Cup Medal !!!” Keep watching this space, as they say.
Thanks for replying. Your blog has a different angle than what I usually follow but I am all for broadening my horizons.
Thank you for stopping by my blog and for following! I am not a historian per se, but I do try to dig out the history behind some of the places we see. Some of your posts have already caught my eye and I have enjoyed them very much! You might want to look at the infamous Van Buren tree escapade (http://wp.me/p3CFsE-bD) that happened here in our little town!
Thanks very much for your kind words. I will indeed look at the Van Buren tree in the near future.
Hello , I have just nominated you for a award! You can find info in my blog and do likewise, if you want to accept it.
Some of you have a no award policy, however this is my way of telling you I truly enjoy your blog !!!
https://art2peace.wordpress.com/2015/06/19/blog-awards-3/
Hi there John,
Thanks for taking the time to stop by my little corner of the blogosphere and for the follow. Your support is greatly appreciated. Perhaps you might like to join in the fun on my weekly ‘Capturing History Challenge’ https://edmooneyphoto.wordpress.com/2015/09/30/capturing-history-challenge-week-6/or the Spooktacular 2015 https://edmooneyphoto.wordpress.com/2015/10/01/spooktacular-2015/ for Halloween. Looking forward to seeing more from you and your blog,
Have a great day,
Eddie
I enjoy meeting new people, especially from other places. I’m looking forward to reading your posts. Best wishes to you, Koko:)
Thanks very much for your interest Koko. I hope you enjoy what I write!
Hello, I have been studying the history of Victorian football and recently read your article about Harry Cursham. This is a great job. I would like to ask about the photos in second half of your article, and I would be very grateful if you could answer them. Can you talk a little bit about how and where you found photo of Notts County-1877 and England team-1883? It would be very interesting.
Thanks to advance.
Hi Anton. I found the Notts County picture in a book about Notts County I have, the ‘Official History of Notts County’ by Tony Brown. If you google Notts County and the correct date, or England 1883, they both appear in the images section. I hope that helps.
What a fascinating site you have; I know Nottingham a little.
Not necessarily…….
Here’s an extract from “what we did on the Somme today, July 1st 1916.” or “The War Diary of the Battalion”. It comes from an unknown young officer of the 1st Battalion, Dorsetshire Regiment….
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“(We saw) the 14th Infantry Brigade leaving Authuille Wood. They had not been able to attain their objectives ; this fact was not known until later although it was apparent that matters were not progressing quite as favourably as had been anticipated.”
You could say that. The British had 9,240 killed and 57,470 overall. Still, tomorrow is another day.