Which schools did you go to?
I went to Strathclyde Primary and John Street Secondary School in Bridgeton. After we moved house in second year I went to Claremont High School in East Kilbride.
Top teacher?
In primary school my favourite teacher was Miss Speirs. She must have been one of the first people to ''do'' Greece, and came back with Zorba the Greek LPs and taught us how to dance. She made lessons fun for us.
In secondary school it
was Miss McPhedran at Claremont High. She was a really old-fashioned teacher who sorted out our spelling and gave me a life-long love
of Shakespeare.
Were you ...
Hard-working or hard work?
I was lucky enough to be just bright enough to get away with doing very, very little work. I coasted through secondary school but got a bit of a shock when it came to sit my Highers. Then I had to do some serious studying.
First team for everything or last to be picked?
I didn't like sport that much, although I played a mean game of hockey at John Street. Sadly, we all had to wear gigantic navy-blue knickers and white shirts to play sport and the nearest hockey pitch was a five-minute walk to Glasgow Green. We all felt horribly self-conscious in such a
daft get up, walking to and from the pitch. I was also Goal Defence in the first-year
and second-year netball teams, but I really prefer being a spectator.
Belted, birched or bawled out?
I was always getting the belt for talking and for not doing my homework. When we had to form twos in the playground and walk into class without making a sound, I was always chattering and getting pulled out of the line. I preferred the belt to getting lines as it was over and done with quickly. I think the waiting outside the headmaster's study was worse than the actual punishment, although if they got a really good thwack and the belt went up your wrists it was agony. Your arm and hands would throb for hours. The big thing was not to cry and be seen as a ''sissy''.
Sad to say bye or longing to leg it?
After a period of being terrified at how big Claremont was after my school in Bridgeton, and stunned at the way none of the pupils would put their hands up and join in the lessons - while in John Street we were encouraged to speak up for ourselves - I ended up loving that school. The teachers were terrific and I made pals who I still have today.
I was really sad to leave, especially as I was house captain and we had our own little common room with a record player and we could guzzle chocolate and drink cans of Irn Bru in there.
Scripture, sewing or Socrates - what do you wish they still taught now?
I wish they taught pupils how to cook, how to go shopping and the basics about eating good grub. I also think honest, frank and commonsense sex education is a must.
Girls on tour - the best school trip you ever had?
My best school trip was to Russia (then the Soviet Union) on the SS Uganda. I had an enormous crush on our physics teacher, Mr Hamish Sommerville, and used to blush as red as the flag of the USSR every time I saw
him. I had to make a
speech of thanks in Russian
to the delegation who met
us in Leningrad (now St Petersburg).
We went to the Hermitage Museum and saw all the sights. Despite the cold and the poverty, it was the most beautiful city I had ever seen.
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