Liz, I vividly remember that great divide, where non-academic programmes for females were regarded by teachers and school councillors as barely one step up from prostitution as well. As I had initially started out on that track, most of my friends were in that stream and I stuck with them, as I found that a lot were a hell of a lot more fun, kinder and brighter than many of their academic conterparts.

The prevailing thought at that time amongst many females was, if you went academic and chose something like nursing, you might snag yourself an engineer or a doctor, which seemed to me, as a primary reason upon which to base a career choice, far closer to prostitution than choosing a non-academic undertaking.