"I remember he came up and gave a talk at Old Boy's once and I got the blame for being the king-leader of the cherry raiding group, who used to ride their bikes out to the orchard field and pinch a few cherries. I think it was more about the dare than the cherries," Bruce said.

"I got the blame for being the ring leader, but I wasn't." Bruce laughed. "I got the blame for a lot of things that I wasn't." 

Bruce said Ian came to TAS in 1952, aged about 10 or 11 and was a kind, thoughtful run-of-the-mill student who would do a favour rather than a mishap.

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"He was a city boy and suddently he's out with the bush kids who don't know much about the city, and he doesn't know much about the bush - but I think we straightened him up and sorted him out and made him one of us," he said.

"We were a group of friends and we went through school together."

Their form master, Peter Browning, was fresh out of teachers college and Bruce said they were his first class.

"Years after, he told me, "I don't know if you fellows broke me in or I broke you in, but I think it might have been the first  one!'," Bruce said.

"We had a pretty leinient time at school, we were looked after and moreso, we had a pretty enjoyable time. We made friends then because there were very few day-boys and we were all sort of locked into the system together. 

"You couldn't get out much and you had to make your own fun on the weekends. Unless you were playing sport or something like that it became a long couple of days to fill in."

The Armidale School (TAS) headmaster Murray Guest said Ian Kiernan AO was a larrikin who remained a keen supporter of the school throughout his life.

"A frequent visitor to the School, he held governance responsibilities as a founding Member of The Armidale School company, a position he continued to hold at the time of his death, and we are also grateful for the contribution of his wisdom, insight and humour, that he so freely gave in so many ways,” he said. 

“As Speech Day guest speaker in 2011, Mr Kiernan reflected on the years from 1952-58 he spent at TAS, where he was member of the First XV, a talented swimmer, and built on his sense of adventure during weekend ‘bush leave’ into the nearby gorge country with his mates, many of whom had remained friends for life."

Bruce remembered Ian as being involved in quite a few things. 

"He was a keen rugby player for the school and in those days there was a pretty fair sort of competition between TAS, De La Salle and the high school. We had teams from the under-16s and the First and Second XV right down to the under-12s."

Bruce said Ian was also a keen shooter and quite a colourful character.

"He always had something to say, and being famous we thought, well, we actually brought him up, so we're famous too," he said.