Been going through some of my old school reports.
Most of the entries are annoyingly anonymous, if tending towards hectoring and noting my ‘mischievous’ tendencies - aside from a gem, class 3B, Michaelmas term 1973, Brentwood School, English (position, 28 out of 28): “An untidy worker, a deplorable writer. He really must be more thorough and imaginative.”

On the phone to brother Mick earlier today. We were discussing our dad’s tendency to not give books directly to us, but leave them in places we might stumble across them - like the Christian Guide to Sex Education, a short pamphlet published some time in the Seventies. Q: Masturbation - is it sinful? A: No - as long as you think pure thoughts.