Forty Years On (song)

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"Forty Years On" is a song written by Edward Ernest Bowen and John Farmer in 1872.

It was originally written for Harrow School,^[1] but has also been adopted by many other schools including Westville Boys' High School, Simon Langton Boys School Canterbury Kent,Starehe Boys' Centre and School, Beverley Grammar School (reputedly the oldest state school in England), Dover Grammar School for Boys, Wellington College, Wellington, Otahuhu College, Auckland, Melbourne High School, Netherthorpe School, Tormead School, Spalding Grammar School, Pretoria Boys High School, Nelson College, Napier Boys' High School, Woodford County High School for Girls, Colyton Grammar School, Camberwell Grammar School, Bolton School, Bolton School Boys Division, Bolton School Girls Division, Frensham (Mittagong, NSW) Mayfield Comprehensive School, Putney, now defunct Middlesbrough Junior Technical School, London in the early 1960s and Wroxall Abbey School.

It is specifically about life at school, and is meant to give pupils now an idea of what it will be like in forty years when they return to their old school, and to remind old boys about their school life.

It is the main school song of Harrow School, and is sung there at the end of any "Songs" – occasions when old boys of the school return to hear the schools songs being sung by current boys, or an occasion within houses for singing the same songs at the end of each term – followed by "Auld Lang Syne" and the British national anthem ("God Save the King"). The "Churchill" verse, written to celebrate the life of one most famous Old Harrovian, Sir Winston Churchill is only sung once a year at a special Churchill Songs. Traditionally, verse three is sung by Old Harrovians in attendance at School Songs. The Churchill verse The penultimate Follow Up! in each chorus is sung unaccompanied by the School XII, which is made up of the best singers in the top year.

"With the tramp of the twenty-two men" refers to the twenty-two players on the field during a game of Harrow football, a game that is ancestral to association football and played exclusively at Harrow School - this part may be likewise altered at other schools for other sports like rugby or football that may be more significant to the school.

It inspired the title of (and is sung in) Forty Years On, a play by Alan Bennett. The song was also used in the films Young Winston (1972) and Never Let Me Go (2010).