widely blamed for lowering a stick of rhubarb on a string, though a ventilator in the assembly hall roof, so that it dangled above the mortar board of the headmaster The Essex Chronicle Thursday, December 27, 2007 at 6:52 PM David Irving comments: THIS article bristles with more than usual inaccuracies.    First, my years at Brentwood School were 1947-56 not 1952-59. I have never heard of any rhubarb-lowering incident, but my memory may be faulty here. Third, in the school's May 1955 Mock Election I stood as the Labour Party candidate, not "neo fascist". Fourth, I have often been invited to address my old school's sixth-formers on history, despite protests from some parents whose details need no spelling out here.    As for "Holocaust denier" -- a particularly defamatory label: I have warned a number of newspapers not to risk stating that I am an active or current holocaust denier; even the briefest perusal of my website and recent books will demonstrate how untrue this smear is. The Jewish Chronicle has now paused in its perennial smear campaign against me, and with good reason.    The one true sentence was this: "He built, with some ingenuity, a working model of the French master, seated at a desk, tapping a pencil, just as the real life Monsieur Jacottet did."    Here on my website readers will find a photograph taken on that day, July 23, 1955 -- see the model on the shelf behind Monsieur Jacottet; I forget how he comes to be holding a top hat, but they do seem to be my initials carved on the panelling behind him.    The Jacottet model was confiscated, and graced the Senior Common Room for several years afterwards. Irving is snubbed by his old school HOLOCAUST denier and author David Irving, celebrated as a prankster during his time as a pupil at Brentwood School, was in the news again - this time for addressing the Oxford Union. The famous debating society was brave to invite him, because inevitably the flak started to fly. Mr Irving served a prison sentence in Austria for his views, and his books about Germany's Second World War role have always courted controversy. Inevitably the union was accused of promoting anti-Semitism, but has defended its stance by saying that the Holocaust revisionist and right-wing historian was not being granted a platform to expound his views, but to discuss the limits of free speech. Quite. Mr Irving, pictured, who was born and bred in Hutton, had a reputation for being the most mischievous boy in the school, and even then (1952-59), was a tad eccentric. He was widely blamed for lowering a stick of rhubarb on a string, though a ventilator in the assembly hall roof, so that it dangled above the mortar board of the headmaster, who ignored the assault on his dignity with an untroubled air. Then he built, with some ingenuity, a working model of the French master (see below), seated at a desk, tapping a pencil, just as the real life Monsieur Jacottet did. During one General Election pupils were allowed to stage their own hustings, with David Irving as the Neo-Fascist candidate (who else?). Brentwood likes its alumni like Jack Straw and Griff Rhys-Jones to make visits, but Mr Irving has never been invited, and, I am told, is unlikely to be. I don't know whether the students have been consulted about that -- after all they might enjoy a bit of a row -- and one would hope that they subscribe to the view of Voltaire, who famously remarked: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." July 23, 1955: Monsieur Jacottet's last lesson to the Upper Sixth Arts at Brentwood School before retiring. Click on the model on the shelf for an enlargement. David Irving's Photos hi-res (1.5 MB) images of the Jacottet event and an enlargement of the model   An excerpt from the Irving memoirs: Monsieur Jacottet's last lesson

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