““With hindsight, going to Nottingham High School transformed my whole life. I think that six boys and six girls from Highbury Primary School had got through the 11-plus and they should all have gone to High Pavement Grammar School or Manning Grammar School for Girls. But not all of them were allowed to take up their places because their parents either did not wish them to belong to such grand establishments, or possibly – and perhaps more likely – they could not afford the compulsory uniform. And two of the girls were not allowed to go to Manning because their parents could not see the point of girls having a secondary education at all.””
