More about me
Early days
I was born in Barnet on 28 November 1942, right in the middle of the Second World War, though not much else seems to have happened on the home front that day. But Rommel's army was on the run in North Africa, Free French forces occupied the island of Réunion, and the French fleet had just been scuttled in Toulon to prevent it falling into the hands of the Nazis, so my appearance was not the only cause for celebration.
Although at the time there was a lull in the bombing of London, my family moved to stay with relatives in Leicester for a while. A close encounter with an incendiary bomb there resulted in me being dropped on my head, which may account for a lot.
I'm told we attended the victory celebrations outside Buckingham Palace on 8 May 1945, with me on Dad's shoulders, though at 2½ years old I very much regret not remembering anything about it.
My first attempt at getting educated took place aged 5 at St.Mary's Infants School in East Barnet. I ran away twice, getting away with it on the first occasion and being dragged back on the second.
Two years later I moved to Cromer Road Primary School - to be precise at an annexe next to New Barnet Fire Station, where the teacher would hit our hands with a ruler when we got something wrong. The girl who sat next to me used to stand up and sing while deliberately exposing her bottom - we were only 7 years old!
Moving on to East Barnet Grammar School (now East Barnet School), I excelled at nothing much, and was generally a rather lazy pupil, I fear, but somehow managed to pass seven GCE O-levels and two A-levels. I played football for my house and stunned my classmates by turning down the chance to play for the school on Saturdays, because I had piano lessons then.
Our PE teacher, Tosh Viney, reckoned I should be good at throwing events, but had his doubts when the discus ended up in trees behind the throwing circle, and the back end of the javelin stuck in the ground behind me as I prepared to throw it.
Continues in "Out to work"
