Golden memories of grammar school days, COLIN DUNNE loved every aspect

• Published in: Express (Online)
• Main Author: Dunne, Colin
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: London (UK) Express Newspapers PLC 23.01.2017
• Subjects: Children & youth; Hymns; Learning; Schools; Teachers; Singapore

[...]as for sex, a school cap, with the coat-of-arms and Latin motto emblazoned proudly on the front is not what today’s hot chick is looking for. [...]those caps are notoriously unstable and you wouldn’t want yours to fall off at a tense moment, would you? The day I walked up that long hill to Ermysted’s Grammar School, in the sheep-scented market town of Skipton in the Yorkshire Dales, my life changed. GETTY Grammar schools represented a golden age of learning For music, we had The Laughing Policeman, which was a record of yes, you’ve got it…a policeman laughing. T elevision provided a tiny comedian with horn-rimmed glasses who rushed around impersonating a bee, and also a wooden mule puppet which danced on top of a piano. GETTY 'There was no pretence at equality', says Dunne We all anxiously waited for the moment - I think it was around 11.10am - when Mr Edwards, the pint-sized geography teacher, would look at his watch and proclaim: “The Fishguard express is now entering the Severn tunnel.” Mr Rogers, English teacher and frustrated pipe-smoker, would scout the classroom floor looking for a knothole into which he could drop his used matches. With a slight smile that indicated a zinger was on its way, he once told me: “Dunne, you are so low that you could walk under a closed door with a top-hat on." GETTY 'We had exactly the same haircut as today’s boys who pay £20 for an undercut', says Dunne Mind you,...