September 13, 1978

My first day at school was terriffic. I woke at 4.30 a.m. First thing and King Henry VIII I met Katie Minion who sits by me. She is nice. Mr Vent did the ‘formalities’ and then he played us a record, read us Chapter 1 of Great Expectations, and gave us a quiz on things beginning with S. After ‘din-dins’ there was R.E. which consisted of handing out English books, French, which was French, similar English words and a bit of Latin. Then there was Assembely.

Mr Vent, my form teacher, was given to this type of pun – the kind of thing that pleases a bright eleven-year-old but annoys teenagers and adults.