Jackie Bird, TV presenter
Which school did you go to and when?
Udston Primary and Earnock High School, both in Hamilton. I left in 1979.
Top teacher?
A close call between my wonderfully eccentric French teacher, Mr Gilligan, and my laidback, pipe-smoking English mentor, Mr Goodwin. My music teacher, Mr Cunningham, had the patience of a saint, as I practically lived in the music department.
What was your worst year, or your best year?
Fourth year was my best because I got straight As in my O grades and thought I was invincible. Then along came the Highers and an academic wake-up call.
Were you hard-working or hard work?
So hard-working and diligent that I was probably hard work.
First team for everything or last to be picked?
Unspeakably unsporty. Slow, with all the grace of a baby elephant. Captains were more likely to pick the vaulting horse than me.
Belted, birched or bawled out?
Belted only once, by the primary school harridan, for talking. Not that I bear a grudge.
Sad to say bye or longing to leg it?
Howled like a baby when I had to go.
What do you wish they taught now?
Confidence. In the big bad world you can overcome so many other failings by self-belief.
Girls on tour - what was the best school trip you ever had?
Definitely the school cruise in primary 7 on the ubiquitous SS Uganda to Spain, Portugal and France.
It took my parents an age to save for it and it was the first time I'd been abroad. It's not an understatement to say that for me it was life changing.
For the first time, the girl from the Lanarkshire council estate realised there was a world out there and she wanted to be part of it.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
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