The very early Comprehensive I mentioned earlier had an excellent reputation for getting pupils qualifications in more practical subjects such as shorthand and typing, metalwork, woodwork, cookery and so on.

In Middlesex in those days there was a very traditional middle-class grammar school for girls. They taught Greek and Latin, and the school was under the aegis of the Church of England. Luckily my father chose the more modern grammar school for me. I'd have stuck out like a sore thumb in the very posh girls' school. And imagine me at Benenden! (Princess Anne went there.) I spoke with quite a Cockney accent in those days. And you had to board too.