Having somehow fluked a scholarship to the prestigious Tonbridge School (I think I used to be smart... but also lazy; some things haven't changed, at least), I attended Yardley Court Prep School for three years and the picture above is our class photo from 1979, when I was a mere twelve-and-a-half years old.
I still recognise about 50 per cent of my classmates; that's me on the front row, at the right end.
My best friends were Nicholas Drewett, to my left - whose dad was an ambassador (or some such) and so often during the holidays Nicholas would stay with us as his parents were out of the country - and Tom Edwards, at the left-hand end of the middle row. His parents owned a massive farm house just outside of Tonbridge that I loved visiting.
Tom and I used to play Dungeons & Dragons in the school dormitory (even though neither of us were boarders, and probably shouldn't have been in there). I particularly recall a series of adventures inspired by Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy (Tom had introduced me to the radio show, for which I owe him eternal thanks).
Our form teacher was the Rev Gary Dobbie, who was one of the first (after one of my primary school teachers) to encourage me in the field of creative writing.
As with much of my past, the combination of time and brain damage means that much of my school days are a blur or simply gone forever, but looking at this array of innocent young faces I can't help but wonder what my peers have all got up in their lives since then.
Sadly, when I left Yardley - not to go to Tonbridge School (as, even with a scholarship, there was no way my parents could afford the fees, and - to be honest - I wasn't that bothered anyway) - I lost contact with them all, to a man.
Either through my parents, or my job on the local paper, I made fleeting contact with a couple of them in later years, but nothing of enduring importance.
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