The lesson I learned from saucy pin-ups

MRS May ditching plans to reintroduce grammar schools is a real shame. Many of us have reason to feel grateful for the grammar school education we received.

I was lucky enough to attend a well- respected school in South Wales,

Some years ago, I attended my first old boys’ reunion, with about 70 pupils and four masters present.

I asked one master if he remembered any of the pupils. ‘Very positive memories of you, lad!’ he boomed (I was pushing 70 at the time).

I didn’t have the courage to ask what those memories might be, but as I drove home, I managed to come up with three possibilities.

One involved a 400m race in which I was beaten by the French master’s twin sons — with their father holding the finishing tape.

The second was when I bought stink bombs that accidentally went off, ruining my blazer and resulting in a detention.

And then there was the incident of the magazine. On a school train trip to Italy, I’d bought a pin-up colour magazine, daring for those days.

Back in class, a master sneaked in and confiscated it. I understand it was passed round the staff room for years until it fell to pieces.

I can visualise the masters in their break, raising their coffee cups in ritual tribute to the unwilling donor in form 5A.

Colin Drury, Dinas Powys, Glamorgan.