AD
1968
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1973
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1977
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Me
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18
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We were the first sixth form at Wisewood School. (Indeed, we were the first
full fifth form, the compulsory school leaving age being raised to 16 in
1973.) I was delighted to again be a pioneer,
or, as my parents saw it, a guinea pig. I also enjoyed the more relaxed
relationships in class, which gave me more opportunities to make smart
alec remarks. Mr Crompton had been talking about a chemical reaction and
come up with a chemical formula that he wrote on the board. Then he said,
"Now you should be thinking what you'd like to call this". Immediately
I replied "I'd like to call it Bill". This was the kind of thing I was
so proud of. I'm sure it quickly became very tedious.
In the upper sixth (or seventh form as we pedantically called it), I
failed the most important examination of my life - my driving
test. I remember none of the details, except that I accepted the outcome
with equanimity. This was good practice for the academic exams coming up
over the following years - though I didn't fail any, the results were much
poorer than before.
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