JAMES LOVEGROVE

I will endure until the stars wink out & the very last trace of heat ebbs from the cosmos & there is nothing but eternal icy nothingness

Being at boarding school in the pre-internet era, especially a boarding school tucked away in the Oxfordshire countryside, was like being in a cocoon. You had your own life; world events happened elsewhere.

My appearance on 'Public School' garnered a smattering of fan mail from girls, which was good, and letters from mothers saying I was the sort of boy they'd like their daughters to go out with - which was not quite as good.

For my first week as a new boy at Radley College, back in the summer of 1979, I was followed around by a film crew.

The future is a strange monster. The less there is of it, the more it frightens.

We girls aren't supposed to fall for the good boys.We are supposed to like a bit of grit in our oyster.That's how you get a pearl, after all.

The process of being filmed was, I found, peculiar but not discomfiting. At 13, you are malleable, adaptable, better able to take the unusual in your stride.

My appearance on 'Public School' garnered a smattering of fan mail from girls, which was good, and letters from mothers saying I was the sort of boy they'd like their daughters to go out with - which was not quite as good.

The process of being filmed was, I found, peculiar but not discomfiting. At 13, you are malleable, adaptable, better able to take the unusual in your stride.

Being at boarding school in the pre-internet era, especially a boarding school tucked away in the Oxfordshire countryside, was like being in a cocoon. You had your own life; world events happened elsewhere.

For my first week as a new boy at Radley College, back in the summer of 1979, I was followed around by a film crew.

We girls aren't supposed to fall for the good boys.We are supposed to like a bit of grit in our oyster.That's how you get a pearl, after all.

I will endure until the stars wink out & the very last trace of heat ebbs from the cosmos & there is nothing but eternal icy nothingness

The future is a strange monster. The less there is of it, the more it frightens.