0:00:02 > 0:00:03This is the story of a dream.
0:00:03 > 0:00:08The dream of giving the very best education to Britain's brightest children,
0:00:08 > 0:00:10however humble their background.
0:00:10 > 0:00:14The grammar schools were set up to deliver this dream,
0:00:14 > 0:00:19and in the 20th century they made it come true for many children and their parents.
0:00:19 > 0:00:27It was enormously liberating from the really rather narrow horizons that had inhibited my parents' lives.
0:00:27 > 0:00:30They wanted me to move out of that orbit and I certainly did,
0:00:30 > 0:00:34and I went zooming into a much wider world where things became possible.
0:00:34 > 0:00:41But the success of the best pupils was in stark contrast to the fate of the majority of children.
0:00:42 > 0:00:44How to create a fair schools system
0:00:44 > 0:00:49that would give all children their best chance in life became a burning issue.
0:00:50 > 0:00:54It is still at the heart of the debate about education today.
0:00:55 > 0:00:58I was called to the headmaster's office.
0:00:58 > 0:01:00He said I had more or less disgraced the school
0:01:00 > 0:01:05because the examiner had looked at my paper - just looked at it,
0:01:05 > 0:01:09didn't read it - and said "This boy will not pass!"
0:01:09 > 0:01:11For the grammar schools,
0:01:11 > 0:01:15the key to success lay in the pursuit of excellence.
0:01:15 > 0:01:19To achieve this, a high premium was put on strict discipline
0:01:19 > 0:01:21and a competitive spirit.
0:01:21 > 0:01:24But not everyone embraced this demanding regime.
0:01:24 > 0:01:30I was just an average lad who doesn't take to discipline all that easily,
0:01:30 > 0:01:34and I had rotten reports until I was 16.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39The grammar schools provided five consecutive prime ministers,
0:01:39 > 0:01:44as well as many high fliers in industry, science and the arts.
0:01:44 > 0:01:46Yet, at the height of their power,
0:01:46 > 0:01:51the grammar schools were phased out by the very people who had benefited from them most.
0:01:51 > 0:01:58This two-part series uses revealing testimony to tell the untold story of the grammar school.
0:02:10 > 0:02:16Britain's oldest grammar schools date back to the 14th century.
0:02:16 > 0:02:18Founded by wealthy benefactors,
0:02:18 > 0:02:23one of their aims was to provide free places for poor children.
0:02:23 > 0:02:29In the early 20th century, funding from the state helped them provide a quarter of their places for free.
0:02:29 > 0:02:36This was the only secondary education available for working-class children.
0:02:36 > 0:02:40In the 1920s, winning a grammar school place
0:02:40 > 0:02:44depended on passing a scholarship exam when children were 11.
0:02:44 > 0:02:51Some elementary schools in working-class areas tried to inspire their pupils to aim high,
0:02:51 > 0:02:56like the one Charles Chilton went to in London near King's Cross.
0:02:56 > 0:03:01Our headmaster, he rather thought that our Church of England elementary school
0:03:01 > 0:03:05was really another Eton, or Harrow or something,
0:03:05 > 0:03:08because he wanted us to behave in that way.
0:03:08 > 0:03:09We had a motto,
0:03:09 > 0:03:13and our motto was "play the game".
0:03:13 > 0:03:17Course, playing the game to us meant something quite different.
0:03:17 > 0:03:19Playing the game in the west, you know,
0:03:19 > 0:03:23is quite different from playing the game that he had.
0:03:23 > 0:03:26But anyway we had this song, I can still remember, it was:
0:03:26 > 0:03:31# Play the game, play the game, all true Britons do the same
0:03:31 > 0:03:37# Win your goal by honest work, never sham and never shirk
0:03:37 > 0:03:41# Play the game, play the game, play the game!
0:03:42 > 0:03:46But for the children of the generation who fought in the First World War,
0:03:46 > 0:03:51the heavy loss of life cast a long shadow over their educational prospects.
0:03:53 > 0:03:55Charles's father was killed
0:03:55 > 0:03:59and his mother died in abject poverty shortly afterwards.
0:03:59 > 0:04:02The orphaned Charles would be brought up by his grandmother.
0:04:02 > 0:04:07Nevertheless, at school from a young age, his gift for writing shone through.
0:04:07 > 0:04:13We all had to write essays and the subject of this essay was hygiene in the home.
0:04:15 > 0:04:19We lived in a slummy place, about eight of us in three rooms,
0:04:19 > 0:04:26you know, and really I wouldn't know much about hygiene in the home.
0:04:26 > 0:04:30But nonetheless I won this essay competition for hygiene in the home!
0:04:30 > 0:04:33In the aftermath of the war,
0:04:33 > 0:04:37the trauma of loss touched almost every family in the country,
0:04:37 > 0:04:42and for some, the grammar schools appeared as an escape from their problems.
0:04:42 > 0:04:46Mabel McCoy's shell-shocked father could only cope with the post-war world
0:04:46 > 0:04:51by losing himself in the Beethoven piano sonatas he loved,
0:04:51 > 0:04:56but he tried to inspire Mabel with visions of a different world.
0:04:56 > 0:04:58When he came back from the war,
0:04:58 > 0:05:04he used to get on the piano and sit for hours.
0:05:06 > 0:05:10My father was depressed a lot of the time because of the war.
0:05:11 > 0:05:19We used to go on walks together, and he was always very helpful to me
0:05:19 > 0:05:25in pointing out flowers and natural things and birds, particularly.
0:05:25 > 0:05:29I can remember him taking me to an area near Rochdale
0:05:29 > 0:05:34and we were lying on the hillside, watching the skylarks.
0:05:36 > 0:05:44Helped by her father, Mabel was top of the class almost every year in the run-up to her scholarship exam.
0:05:44 > 0:05:48I'm very pleased about it because I loved school,
0:05:48 > 0:05:52and I wanted to get on particularly.
0:05:52 > 0:05:57It says here that I had, er, reading 48 out of 50,
0:05:57 > 0:06:01dictation 100 out of 100,
0:06:01 > 0:06:05composition 98 out of 100,
0:06:05 > 0:06:10er, and arithmetic 100 out of 100!
0:06:10 > 0:06:14During the Depression years of the 1920s and 30s,
0:06:14 > 0:06:19poverty and unemployment added to the disadvantages endured by many working-class families.
0:06:21 > 0:06:25Jim Humphries' father escaped the war as he worked as a miner,
0:06:25 > 0:06:29but he was later injured and invalided in a pit accident.
0:06:29 > 0:06:34Unable to walk, he taught Jim skills to help the family survive,
0:06:34 > 0:06:38skills that would also prove valuable at school.
0:06:38 > 0:06:41My father had taught me a lot about mental arithmetic.
0:06:41 > 0:06:46From as long as I could remember, I was doing shopping for the family.
0:06:46 > 0:06:49My father couldn't walk, my mother was at work.
0:06:49 > 0:06:55The main shopping was on a Friday at the Co-op, which I did.
0:06:56 > 0:06:59And the assistant, as he was getting them out,
0:06:59 > 0:07:03I'd be adding it up with him because my mental arithmetic came in really good
0:07:03 > 0:07:06because I knew the price of everything.
0:07:06 > 0:07:08With the encouragement of his father,
0:07:08 > 0:07:12Jim did well at his local elementary school in Burslem in Staffordshire.
0:07:12 > 0:07:14I was the top boy in my class.
0:07:14 > 0:07:21On one occasion, the teacher asked if anybody could say the alphabet backwards.
0:07:21 > 0:07:24I couldn't but I told this to my father when I got home,
0:07:24 > 0:07:29and he said, "I'll teach you to say the alphabet backwards."
0:07:29 > 0:07:33It was a little song that he knew, I can't remember the song
0:07:33 > 0:07:38but it started off ZYXWV UTS RQP
0:07:38 > 0:07:42ONLMK JIHGF EDCBA.
0:07:42 > 0:07:46Unfortunately they never asked that question again!
0:07:46 > 0:07:49To help avoid a life of hardship,
0:07:49 > 0:07:52many self-taught parents were desperate for their children
0:07:52 > 0:07:55to enjoy a better education than they had had.
0:07:57 > 0:08:01Ella Wright's dad missed out on a grammar school education,
0:08:01 > 0:08:04but after leaving the Army at the end of the First World War,
0:08:04 > 0:08:08he educated himself whilst working as a shoemaker in Northumberland.
0:08:09 > 0:08:12My father had been deprived of a good career
0:08:12 > 0:08:15but he was a very learned man.
0:08:15 > 0:08:17He knew an enormous number of words,
0:08:17 > 0:08:19an enormous amount of facts,
0:08:19 > 0:08:22but when I asked him something he always said,
0:08:22 > 0:08:25"See if you can find it out for yourself from those books we have here."
0:08:25 > 0:08:29Ella's mother won a scholarship to a grammar school
0:08:29 > 0:08:32before the First World War and became a supply teacher.
0:08:32 > 0:08:35She had high ambitions for Ella.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38My mother was the disciplinarian behind it,
0:08:38 > 0:08:41making it quite clear that if I passed the 11 plus
0:08:41 > 0:08:45and went to the grammar school, then the world was my oyster.
0:08:45 > 0:08:50But if I didn't pass the grammar school and I didn't go to the grammar school,
0:08:50 > 0:08:53then my future could be pretty dodgy.
0:08:54 > 0:08:58Ella still remains haunted by the questions she got wrong.
0:08:58 > 0:09:02But to her great relief, she managed to pass in 1936.
0:09:03 > 0:09:09I have no recollection of which questions I got right,
0:09:09 > 0:09:14but I have forever memories of the ones I got wrong,
0:09:14 > 0:09:17and in all innocence, "All old men have...?"
0:09:17 > 0:09:19And Mum said, "What did you put?"
0:09:19 > 0:09:23And I said bald heads because all the old men I knew had.
0:09:23 > 0:09:26She said, "Oh!" And I was really beyond the pale.
0:09:26 > 0:09:28And the answer was ribs.
0:09:30 > 0:09:32Growing up in the suburbs of Manchester,
0:09:32 > 0:09:35Geoffrey Stone's parents were well aware of the presence
0:09:35 > 0:09:40of one of the most famous and high achieving schools in the country, Manchester Grammar School.
0:09:40 > 0:09:44I felt all the time that I was given total support
0:09:44 > 0:09:47but I was never bribed.
0:09:47 > 0:09:51I never felt there was excessive expectations of me.
0:09:51 > 0:09:52The situation was do your best
0:09:52 > 0:09:54and we're proud of whatever you do.
0:09:55 > 0:10:01In 1929, Geoffrey passed the fiercely competitive scholarship exam
0:10:01 > 0:10:04and began at Manchester Grammar.
0:10:04 > 0:10:08My father took me. The whole thing was a bit intimidating.
0:10:08 > 0:10:12It's a big jump from primary to secondary but it made it all the more so
0:10:12 > 0:10:19with going into the middle of town and going to somewhere which obviously knew it had some prestige
0:10:19 > 0:10:23and was proud of itself, and, er, was rather grand.
0:10:24 > 0:10:29MGS was an example of a new 20th-century development.
0:10:29 > 0:10:33It was one of around 200 centuries-old grammar schools
0:10:33 > 0:10:37that from the 1900 onwards received a direct grant from the government,
0:10:37 > 0:10:41which guaranteed that a quarter of their 1,200 places
0:10:41 > 0:10:45were given free to talented scholarship children.
0:10:47 > 0:10:51The school had been founded in 1515 by Hugh Oldham,
0:10:51 > 0:10:55the Bishop of Exeter, and there was a song that began "Hugh of the owl".
0:10:55 > 0:10:59"Hugh of the owl was a scholar bold, born with the gift to rise.
0:10:59 > 0:11:04"His mitre sat well on his crown when old, for his motto was 'Dare to be wise.'"
0:11:04 > 0:11:07There's the motto - Sapere Aude.
0:11:07 > 0:11:10And that is worth bearing in mind
0:11:10 > 0:11:13because it's one of the great things that MGS taught me.
0:11:13 > 0:11:20Think for yourself, be independent, don't follow the crowd,
0:11:20 > 0:11:22dare to have your own opinion.
0:11:22 > 0:11:29However, academic brilliance didn't always guarantee a place at the best grammar school.
0:11:29 > 0:11:33Mabel McCoy did exceptionally well in her scholarship exam
0:11:33 > 0:11:38and was invited for an interview at the prestigious Manchester High School for girls,
0:11:38 > 0:11:42but there was one hurdle even she couldn't overcome.
0:11:42 > 0:11:46When we went to see the headmistress, she was charming,
0:11:46 > 0:11:51she was very, very good, but then of course you have to face the reality.
0:11:51 > 0:11:58The reality being that I had no way of paying for transport to get to the school.
0:11:58 > 0:12:04It would have meant either a tram or a bus, and then a second bus.
0:12:07 > 0:12:11And the cost, because my father was out of work,
0:12:11 > 0:12:17the cost was impossible to pay for any extra money for transport.
0:12:17 > 0:12:24But on top of that, because it was, you know, an upmarket school,
0:12:24 > 0:12:29they had other extras that also had to be paid for.
0:12:31 > 0:12:35But for Charles Chilton, a talented writer of essays,
0:12:35 > 0:12:39the marking of the crucial scholarship exam proved to be his downfall.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43One of the things we had to do was write an essay,
0:12:43 > 0:12:46and I was carried away with it.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49Writing was something I really liked doing.
0:12:49 > 0:12:55And I handed all my papers in and they were checked and so forth,
0:12:55 > 0:12:59and a few days later I was called down to the headmaster's study,
0:12:59 > 0:13:03and he said I had more or less disgraced the school
0:13:03 > 0:13:08because the examiner had looked at my paper - just looked at it,
0:13:08 > 0:13:12didn't read it - and said, "This boy will not pass."
0:13:12 > 0:13:16I said, "Why not?" He said, "Look at all the horrible writing, can't read it."
0:13:16 > 0:13:20And that was it. That was my scholarship gone down the drain!
0:13:20 > 0:13:27The boy from the Potteries, Jim Humphries, passed the scholarship exam in 1932
0:13:27 > 0:13:31and entered the new world of Hanley High School.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34Hanley High was one of a new breed of grammar schools
0:13:34 > 0:13:37introduced by local education authorities in the 1900s
0:13:37 > 0:13:42which gave around half their places for free.
0:13:42 > 0:13:46Despite winning a free place, Jim was held back by the many disadvantages
0:13:46 > 0:13:49of a working-class background.
0:13:49 > 0:13:54I didn't do very well at the grammar school, not as well as I ought to have done
0:13:54 > 0:13:59and could have done, but a lot of that was due to the fact that, er,
0:13:59 > 0:14:03my home environment wasn't very brilliant.
0:14:03 > 0:14:07It was almost impossible to do homework,
0:14:07 > 0:14:11and that let me down a little bit, not doing my homework properly.
0:14:11 > 0:14:14At the same time, I wasn't unduly worried
0:14:14 > 0:14:18because I knew I was only going to be at the school for two years
0:14:18 > 0:14:25because my family financial circumstances were such that I knew I'd have to leave and start work
0:14:25 > 0:14:28to help my mother out, who was doing a man's job
0:14:28 > 0:14:33and working too hard for her health's sake.
0:14:35 > 0:14:39In fact, sometimes I didn't see her for several days
0:14:39 > 0:14:43because she'd have gone to work in the morning before I got up
0:14:43 > 0:14:45and I'd have gone to bed at night before she got home.
0:14:45 > 0:14:48Grammar schools were sex segregated
0:14:48 > 0:14:54and girls' schools had particularly strict rules on proper dress and behaviour.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57Though she couldn't go to the top girls' school in Manchester,
0:14:57 > 0:15:02Mabel McCoy started at Levenshulme High School for Girls in 1934.
0:15:02 > 0:15:09We had a very strict headmistress, absolutely dedicated to the school.
0:15:09 > 0:15:12At the beginning of each year, you had to kneel down,
0:15:12 > 0:15:16and your gymslip was measured, how many inches it was from the floor.
0:15:16 > 0:15:20Mabel thrived at grammar school,
0:15:20 > 0:15:22doing particularly well in science subjects,
0:15:22 > 0:15:26but she soon discovered that even the merest hint of defiance
0:15:26 > 0:15:28would not be tolerated.
0:15:28 > 0:15:32The teacher was called Miss Williams. She said...
0:15:32 > 0:15:33SHE LAUGHS
0:15:33 > 0:15:36"I suppose you're resting on your laurels,"
0:15:36 > 0:15:39because I'd done very well in my previous physics exam,
0:15:39 > 0:15:42and I very cheekily said, "Yes, miss."
0:15:42 > 0:15:46And I was out of the door.
0:15:46 > 0:15:51She actually stamped her foot at me! She sent me out.
0:15:51 > 0:15:58It sounds a simple thing, really, to get rid of you like that.
0:15:58 > 0:16:02I regretted it, because I would miss the rest of the lesson,
0:16:02 > 0:16:06but you'd regret it worse if you got in the hands of the headmistress
0:16:06 > 0:16:09or one of the seniors that was passing.
0:16:09 > 0:16:13There was a healthy body, healthy mind philosophy, and this,
0:16:13 > 0:16:18combined with strict discipline, was prized as highly as academic achievement.
0:16:18 > 0:16:22This was a perfect fit for the many children of the time
0:16:22 > 0:16:24who were taught absolute respect for their parents,
0:16:24 > 0:16:26like Tony Pickering,
0:16:26 > 0:16:29who went to Market Harborough Grammar School in 1932.
0:16:29 > 0:16:32I was always taught at home with my father,
0:16:32 > 0:16:36an ex-Royal Navy warrant officer,
0:16:36 > 0:16:38to respect elders and how to behave.
0:16:38 > 0:16:43For instance, I will say to you that when we sat down for our lunch
0:16:43 > 0:16:47at the table, and we were a large family, we sat at the table,
0:16:47 > 0:16:54no-one picked up their knives and forks until such time as my father picked his.
0:16:54 > 0:16:58He was the leading man of the family. Even before my mother,
0:16:58 > 0:17:02he picked his knife and fork up and we could all then start on our meal.
0:17:04 > 0:17:08In an era of economic depression and widespread malnutrition,
0:17:08 > 0:17:13physical fitness was regarded as vital to children's development.
0:17:13 > 0:17:17So, too, were competitive team games based on the house system -
0:17:17 > 0:17:21cricket, rugby, swimming, hockey and football
0:17:21 > 0:17:24were an important part of school life for boys.
0:17:24 > 0:17:27And to play for the school team, in whatever sport,
0:17:27 > 0:17:30was a badge of honour.
0:17:30 > 0:17:32Tony Pickering's passion was for football.
0:17:32 > 0:17:36I started off in the third team, but I quickly went through the second,
0:17:36 > 0:17:41into the first team, at still only about 14 years of age.
0:17:41 > 0:17:46I was promoted quickly through the ranks, as one would say,
0:17:46 > 0:17:49into the first team, because I was a tough little boy.
0:17:49 > 0:17:51Hard. I could take my knocks.
0:17:51 > 0:17:56Home or away, the team was an ambassador for the school's values.
0:17:56 > 0:18:00Playing well and good conduct were more important than winning.
0:18:00 > 0:18:03Then you had to show that you were a credit to the grammar school.
0:18:03 > 0:18:05That was most important.
0:18:05 > 0:18:09We were taught that we must never let our school down
0:18:09 > 0:18:11in front of another school.
0:18:11 > 0:18:15We must show them that we were an old grammar school
0:18:15 > 0:18:18which had been preserved for 300 years
0:18:18 > 0:18:21and we had to maintain that standard.
0:18:21 > 0:18:28The competitive spirit was carried over into the classroom. Every piece of work was graded,
0:18:28 > 0:18:31and children were given class positions in every subject.
0:18:31 > 0:18:35It not only motivated some pupils, like Ella Wright,
0:18:35 > 0:18:36but the parents, too.
0:18:36 > 0:18:39Ella's mother was ambitious for her daughter,
0:18:39 > 0:18:45and not being top of the class was definitely not part of her game plan.
0:18:45 > 0:18:49I got 47% for arithmetic.
0:18:49 > 0:18:55I was 17th in the class, and 17th out of 32 struck my mother as pretty bad.
0:18:55 > 0:18:58I never got down there again. I remember my elevation.
0:18:58 > 0:19:01The next time I was from 17 to 11th,
0:19:01 > 0:19:06and I got up to 7th and then I got up to 4th.
0:19:06 > 0:19:11I was always good at history, and frequently at the grammar school presentations,
0:19:11 > 0:19:13I got the history prize.
0:19:13 > 0:19:15And I got the geography prize.
0:19:15 > 0:19:20There were three of us ranging... I never got top. Never got top.
0:19:20 > 0:19:23But I was 2nd and 3rd, 4th. 2nd, 3rd, 4th.
0:19:23 > 0:19:26The imperfect subjunctive of fero -
0:19:26 > 0:19:30- ferem, feres, feret, feramus, feratis, ferent.- Yes, that's right.
0:19:30 > 0:19:34Streaming on the basis of ability went to the heart of the grammar school ethos.
0:19:34 > 0:19:37There was a bias in favour of Latin over science,
0:19:37 > 0:19:43so children who showed promise at languages could be rapidly promoted to the top streams.
0:19:43 > 0:19:46The brightest scholarship children were also fast-tracked,
0:19:46 > 0:19:50like Manchester schoolboy Geoffrey Stone.
0:19:50 > 0:19:54This is condemned by people as hot-housing, but it didn't seem it at the time.
0:19:54 > 0:19:58I didn't feel under pressure at any time. Just the way things were.
0:19:58 > 0:20:02You did what you were asked to do, to the best of your ability,
0:20:02 > 0:20:04and it seemed to be good enough.
0:20:04 > 0:20:09So I did School Certificate, as it then was, matriculation at 14,
0:20:09 > 0:20:13after four years in the school,
0:20:13 > 0:20:17so that took me into the sixth form, then, at the ridiculous age of 14.
0:20:19 > 0:20:23Despite their emphasis on academic achievement, the grammar schools
0:20:23 > 0:20:27also provided a huge range of outdoor extra-curricular activities.
0:20:27 > 0:20:30There were five Scout troops in the school.
0:20:30 > 0:20:36We had a summer camp, a fortnight's camp, every Whitsuntide.
0:20:36 > 0:20:38Obviously, from the point of view of the school,
0:20:38 > 0:20:41academic standards were high and exams were important,
0:20:41 > 0:20:44but they didn't seem so. They never seemed so to me.
0:20:44 > 0:20:49And I was much more preoccupied with my out-of-school activities than my academic activities.
0:20:51 > 0:20:55Grammar schools went to great length to treat all children the same.
0:20:55 > 0:20:58There was no distinction between rich and poor,
0:20:58 > 0:21:02or between fee-paying and scholarship children.
0:21:02 > 0:21:08This notion of equality appealed to David Attenborough's highly educated parents,
0:21:08 > 0:21:12and David and his two brothers were sent to Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys,
0:21:12 > 0:21:14in Leicester, in 1936.
0:21:14 > 0:21:18It didn't occur to me that the school was selective,
0:21:18 > 0:21:21or had been selected,
0:21:21 > 0:21:26because there was a huge range of boys in my school.
0:21:28 > 0:21:31Clever ones and less clever ones,
0:21:31 > 0:21:36and some that clearly came from poorer families than others.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41But the grammar school educational bias which emphasised
0:21:41 > 0:21:45the importance of Latin and classics,
0:21:45 > 0:21:49was not quite as even-handed as their attitude towards social background,
0:21:49 > 0:21:52and there was little choice when it came to the subjects studied.
0:21:52 > 0:21:56The school took that view that if you were really intelligent,
0:21:56 > 0:21:59you did classics - Greek and Latin -
0:21:59 > 0:22:05and if you were really not very intelligent at all,
0:22:05 > 0:22:08then you did practical things like woodwork and French,
0:22:08 > 0:22:10believe it or not!
0:22:10 > 0:22:14And in between, if you weren't one thing or the other, you did science.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17And I was in between. I did science.
0:22:17 > 0:22:22I would like to think that I would have chosen science anyway, had I been given the choice.
0:22:22 > 0:22:25For many working-class children, the scholarship offered merely
0:22:25 > 0:22:29a glimpse of a world they couldn't enter.
0:22:29 > 0:22:32In the 1930s, over half left grammar school as soon as they reached
0:22:32 > 0:22:36the official school-leaving age of 14.
0:22:36 > 0:22:41Their extra income was needed to support families suffering in the Depression years.
0:22:41 > 0:22:45Jim Humphries had always known where his ultimate duty lay.
0:22:45 > 0:22:48It was no disappointment for me to have to leave school,
0:22:48 > 0:22:52because I knew it was inevitable.
0:22:52 > 0:22:58I went before a committee in Burslem and explained why I wanted to leave school,
0:22:58 > 0:23:02and they agreed, and I was allowed to.
0:23:02 > 0:23:06Jim had already been for an interview at the factory
0:23:06 > 0:23:08where his mother worked.
0:23:08 > 0:23:13It was agreed that he should begin at the earliest opportunity.
0:23:13 > 0:23:15I can remember the last day of school.
0:23:16 > 0:23:22The school finished at 12.35, and I rushed to the bicycle shed,
0:23:22 > 0:23:25got on me bike, rode home to Cobridge.
0:23:25 > 0:23:29Father got the dinner on the table, ate that, got on me bike again
0:23:29 > 0:23:33and got to Stoke, and the factory, just in time for two o'clock.
0:23:33 > 0:23:35So I started work then.
0:23:35 > 0:23:38Jim became the junior office boy.
0:23:38 > 0:23:41It was a weekly wage. It wasn't a salary.
0:23:41 > 0:23:46A weekly wage. Eight shillings was just the right amount to pay the rent,
0:23:46 > 0:23:51and I felt really good that I was contributing to the family.
0:23:51 > 0:23:58Inspired by his brief taste of grammar school, Jim educated himself at night school,
0:23:58 > 0:24:01and later in life became a company secretary.
0:24:02 > 0:24:09But in the 1930s, over three-quarters of Britain's children educated at elementary schools
0:24:09 > 0:24:10left school at 14.
0:24:12 > 0:24:15Many of these young people entered dead-end jobs
0:24:15 > 0:24:19and only a few were able to climb the ladder to professional success.
0:24:19 > 0:24:23One of them was Charles Chilton who, in 1932,
0:24:23 > 0:24:26was looking around London for work.
0:24:26 > 0:24:31I suddenly realised that I was quite close to that new BBC building,
0:24:31 > 0:24:36Broadcasting House, which had just been opened by King George V,
0:24:36 > 0:24:42and I thought, "Well, they must need boys in the BBC to do something.
0:24:42 > 0:24:46"Why don't I go in and ask for a job there?"
0:24:46 > 0:24:48So I went into the Broadcasting House,
0:24:48 > 0:24:51through those great bronze doors, went up to the reception.
0:24:51 > 0:24:56Charles was soon given his marching orders, but as he left,
0:24:56 > 0:25:00a commissionaire gave him some advice that would change his life.
0:25:00 > 0:25:04As I was walking out, there was a commissionaire.
0:25:04 > 0:25:09He said, "Listen, son, if I were you, I'd go home and write a letter."
0:25:09 > 0:25:14I thought, "All right," so I did. I went home and I immediately wrote a letter to the BBC,
0:25:14 > 0:25:20asking if there was a vacancy in their firm for a bright young boy who's just left school,
0:25:20 > 0:25:24and I got a reply, for an interview. I had the interview.
0:25:24 > 0:25:27A week or so later,
0:25:27 > 0:25:30I got the offer of a job as a messenger boy in the BBC.
0:25:30 > 0:25:36Charles was one of the lucky few who was able to truly educate himself.
0:25:36 > 0:25:41When I got to the BBC, I was most impressed by the people I was working with.
0:25:41 > 0:25:45They were educated, friendly, kindly, generous people.
0:25:45 > 0:25:48There was one man there, particularly,
0:25:48 > 0:25:52who used to compile the serious music of gramophone records,
0:25:52 > 0:25:55and I used to go and talk to him in his office.
0:25:55 > 0:26:00He used to give me lessons in music and tell me what books to read,
0:26:00 > 0:26:02and things like that.
0:26:02 > 0:26:07So, slowly, I began to accumulate some knowledge
0:26:07 > 0:26:11and appreciation of higher things, which eventually paid off.
0:26:11 > 0:26:15In spite of missing out on a grammar school education,
0:26:15 > 0:26:18Charles Chilton worked his way up to be a radio producer
0:26:18 > 0:26:23and presenter, as well as the co-writer of Oh What A Lovely War.
0:26:24 > 0:26:30But in 1930s Britain, opportunities were minimal, and children from a modest background
0:26:30 > 0:26:34needed the spur of a grammar school education to progress.
0:26:34 > 0:26:38It not only encouraged academic achievement
0:26:38 > 0:26:42but also leadership skills, through the prefect system.
0:26:42 > 0:26:45Geoffrey Stone was made a prefect at the age of just 15,
0:26:45 > 0:26:48in the sixth form at Manchester Grammar.
0:26:48 > 0:26:51One of the first things you had to do was buy a mortar board
0:26:51 > 0:26:55to wear when you were on duty, and I still have mine with me.
0:26:55 > 0:26:58I have it here and...
0:26:58 > 0:27:00Lo, it still fits!
0:27:00 > 0:27:05And every time you went on duty, you had to wear it
0:27:05 > 0:27:08and keep it on all the time you were on duty,
0:27:08 > 0:27:11which of course was an incentive to the rest of the school
0:27:11 > 0:27:14to make sure that they took it off you if they could.
0:27:14 > 0:27:18But even for Geoffrey, there was a harsh social reality he couldn't escape.
0:27:18 > 0:27:22- I wish you success and I hope to keep your job.- Thanks.- Cheerio.
0:27:24 > 0:27:28My father had been works manager, and the firm went bankrupt.
0:27:28 > 0:27:31He suddenly found himself unemployed.
0:27:31 > 0:27:36Now, there was still expense in being at school,
0:27:36 > 0:27:40and things that I was accustomed to do, like going to camp
0:27:40 > 0:27:44and so on, suddenly became expensive beyond their means.
0:27:44 > 0:27:47The school was very good indeed with the purchase of books
0:27:47 > 0:27:51and going to camp, in providing for that, without anyone knowing,
0:27:51 > 0:27:55and looking after me until he was employed again.
0:27:56 > 0:28:00Geoffrey's achievements continued to be a source of pride for his parents,
0:28:00 > 0:28:06but he knew that part of his Manchester Grammar School dream had slipped away.
0:28:07 > 0:28:11The normal route was to go to Oxbridge,
0:28:11 > 0:28:15and that was what I'd been hoping to do,
0:28:15 > 0:28:18and you really needed something like three different awards -
0:28:18 > 0:28:22a university scholarship, state scholarship, as they were called,
0:28:22 > 0:28:26a local authority award, something like this, that would meet your costs.
0:28:26 > 0:28:31And the notion of staying on for another year at school
0:28:31 > 0:28:35with the expenditure involved in books and everything else,
0:28:35 > 0:28:43it was decided that I should instead have a go at scholarships at Manchester.
0:28:43 > 0:28:46So I took the modern language scholarship there
0:28:46 > 0:28:51and went up to Manchester, where I read French and German.
0:28:53 > 0:28:56But for many of the younger generation of 1930s,
0:28:56 > 0:29:02getting a job, earning money and enjoying the new life that was opening up,
0:29:02 > 0:29:08was more important than education. One of them was Mabel McCoy's elder brother.
0:29:08 > 0:29:12When Mabel was studying for her School Certificate in 1938,
0:29:12 > 0:29:15this led to a clash of interests.
0:29:15 > 0:29:22The radio would be going all the time he was in the house, with dance band music.
0:29:22 > 0:29:25It was impossible for me to do homework in the living room,
0:29:25 > 0:29:31so the only place I could go to do my homework was upstairs in the bathroom,
0:29:31 > 0:29:38because it was the only other room that was heated by the hot-water system.
0:29:38 > 0:29:45And so, I did spend a lot of time in the bathroom, studying.
0:29:46 > 0:29:49Mabel was one of a new generation of young women breaking the mould.
0:29:49 > 0:29:54She passed her School Certificate with excellent results in chemistry
0:29:54 > 0:29:59and then went on to study chemistry at Manchester College of Technology
0:29:59 > 0:30:02before becoming a research scientist.
0:30:02 > 0:30:08I didn't get to the best girls' grammar school in Manchester.
0:30:08 > 0:30:11And I have no regrets at all.
0:30:13 > 0:30:16I don't know what would have happened
0:30:16 > 0:30:22if I had gone to the Manchester High School for Girls.
0:30:22 > 0:30:25I don't think it would have been much different from
0:30:25 > 0:30:27when I went to Levenshulme High School.
0:30:28 > 0:30:32On the eve of the Second World War in 1938,
0:30:32 > 0:30:33a flood of young men,
0:30:33 > 0:30:36many of them former grammar school boys,
0:30:36 > 0:30:38volunteered to join the RAF.
0:30:39 > 0:30:43NEWSREADER: The RAF's enormous expansion is being carried out according to plan
0:30:43 > 0:30:47and there will certainly never be a shortage of manpower in that service.
0:30:47 > 0:30:49Fit, keen and efficient, that's the RAF.
0:30:51 > 0:30:55Tony Pickering had left grammar school with a School Certificate
0:30:55 > 0:30:59and was desperate not to be rejected by the RAF.
0:30:59 > 0:31:01The first question they asked me was,
0:31:01 > 0:31:03what school did I go to?
0:31:03 > 0:31:07I told them, Market Harborough Grammar School,
0:31:07 > 0:31:11they'd asked me what my father did in the First World War,
0:31:11 > 0:31:15and I was able to tell him warrant officer of the Royal Navy,
0:31:15 > 0:31:16a regular.
0:31:16 > 0:31:20And what sport I played.
0:31:20 > 0:31:23Now, I must be quite honest with you,
0:31:23 > 0:31:25I didn't tell them I played soccer,
0:31:25 > 0:31:30because I didn't think the RAF would welcome a soccer player,
0:31:30 > 0:31:34so I had actually picked up a rugby ball once,
0:31:34 > 0:31:36so I said, "Played rugby, sir."
0:31:36 > 0:31:38And I got full marks for that,
0:31:38 > 0:31:41but it wasn't strictly speaking correct.
0:31:45 > 0:31:47"Methinks I see in my mind...
0:31:48 > 0:31:51"..a mighty and puissant nation
0:31:51 > 0:31:55"rousing herself like a strong man after sleep...
0:31:56 > 0:31:59"..and shaking her invincible locks."
0:32:00 > 0:32:04For Tony Pickering, the grammar school virtues
0:32:04 > 0:32:09of loyalty, pride and courage served the RAF and the country well.
0:32:09 > 0:32:12Sergeant pilots like Tony played a vital role
0:32:12 > 0:32:15in the RAF's success in the Battle of Britain and throughout the war.
0:32:17 > 0:32:22We were sent in to attack the bombers coming in towards London,
0:32:22 > 0:32:25and we went in on a head-on attack
0:32:25 > 0:32:29and it was essential that you reacted very quickly,
0:32:29 > 0:32:33because there were streams of fire coming from these bombers to you,
0:32:33 > 0:32:38so you had to position yourself quickly, you had no time to think.
0:32:40 > 0:32:44And this was something which I had been taught when playing soccer,
0:32:44 > 0:32:47and cricket at the grammar school,
0:32:47 > 0:32:49you must act quickly.
0:32:49 > 0:32:53And I moved quickly up to a position where I could get in to attack,
0:32:53 > 0:32:57and that was the speed of reaction, the speed of thought.
0:32:58 > 0:33:01Tony Pickering worked his way up through the ranks
0:33:01 > 0:33:04from sergeant pilot to flight lieutenant
0:33:04 > 0:33:07before becoming squadron leader.
0:33:12 > 0:33:15The war dramatically changed the prospects
0:33:15 > 0:33:17of all school children in Britain.
0:33:17 > 0:33:22It started with the evacuation of three million children from the cities to the countryside,
0:33:22 > 0:33:25to escape the danger of imminent German bombing.
0:33:27 > 0:33:30These were the first steps of a journey that would lead to
0:33:30 > 0:33:34a revolutionary change in educational policy during the war years.
0:33:38 > 0:33:41Terence Frisby was evacuated with his elder brother
0:33:41 > 0:33:45from London to Cornwall in September, 1939.
0:33:45 > 0:33:50My mother had the most brilliant idea when we were being evacuated.
0:33:50 > 0:33:52She turned it into an adventure for us.
0:33:52 > 0:33:55She showed us a postcard and said, "We'll have our own code,
0:33:55 > 0:33:58"our own secret code like the Secret Service."
0:33:58 > 0:34:00And she showed us this postcard and it said,
0:34:00 > 0:34:01"Dear Mum and Dad,
0:34:01 > 0:34:03"arrived safe and well, everything fine.
0:34:03 > 0:34:05"Love Jack and Terry."
0:34:05 > 0:34:09And on it was my mother and father's address, and a stamp, and a space.
0:34:09 > 0:34:11And she said, "In that space there
0:34:11 > 0:34:14"you write the name and address of the people where you are going."
0:34:14 > 0:34:17And we said, "Is that the code? Is that it?"
0:34:17 > 0:34:20She said, "No, no, this is the code.
0:34:20 > 0:34:23"If it's horrible you put one kiss, and I'll bring you straight home.
0:34:23 > 0:34:26"If it's all right you put two, if it's nice you put three."
0:34:30 > 0:34:32In fact, Terence and his brother
0:34:32 > 0:34:35were safe, secure and well looked after.
0:34:35 > 0:34:39And they thrived on the freedom and adventure the countryside offered.
0:34:41 > 0:34:47The education provided by village schools was basic and undemanding.
0:34:47 > 0:34:51SONG: "Land of Hope and Glory"
0:34:51 > 0:34:55For would-be grammar school boys like 10-year-old Terence,
0:34:55 > 0:34:56the pressures of homework
0:34:56 > 0:34:59and the impending scholarship exam were quickly forgotten.
0:34:59 > 0:35:01There was, however,
0:35:01 > 0:35:03one slight problem.
0:35:03 > 0:35:06Evacuee children and the local village children
0:35:06 > 0:35:09were themselves at war.
0:35:09 > 0:35:12I'm afraid the vackies wiped the floor with the village kids
0:35:12 > 0:35:15on practically everything except possibly country knowledge.
0:35:15 > 0:35:18I mean, we played sport against them and just walloped them,
0:35:18 > 0:35:19cricket, football.
0:35:19 > 0:35:22And we were much better at lessons.
0:35:25 > 0:35:29We had various songs that we used to taunt each other with,
0:35:29 > 0:35:35and I've got one here that we used against the village kids.
0:35:35 > 0:35:36# The turnips are thick
0:35:36 > 0:35:37# The turnips are dumb
0:35:37 > 0:35:39# They use stinging nettles
0:35:39 > 0:35:41# For wiping their bum
0:35:41 > 0:35:43# They eat mangelwurzels
0:35:43 > 0:35:44# And live in a shed
0:35:44 > 0:35:46# They're dotty and spotty
0:35:46 > 0:35:47# And soft in the head. #
0:35:48 > 0:35:53Schoolchildren who remained in the towns and cities at a low risk of bombing
0:35:53 > 0:35:57were engaged in a different kind of warfare.
0:35:57 > 0:36:00The ever-present undercurrent of rebellion
0:36:00 > 0:36:05against the regimentation of grammar school life was made worse by the war.
0:36:05 > 0:36:06Morning, boys.
0:36:07 > 0:36:10At Wyggeston Grammar School in Leicester
0:36:10 > 0:36:12David Attenborough and his classmates
0:36:12 > 0:36:16used a junk room next to their class to cause trouble.
0:36:16 > 0:36:18We climbed in
0:36:18 > 0:36:23and rearranged the whole piping into a pile,
0:36:23 > 0:36:27so that if you pulled the bottom part the whole thing would collapse,
0:36:27 > 0:36:31and then took a wire from there and put it through my desk.
0:36:31 > 0:36:35And so in the middle of the class when we were trying...
0:36:35 > 0:36:37I yanked it
0:36:37 > 0:36:40and there's an explosion next door.
0:36:40 > 0:36:41Hurray!
0:36:41 > 0:36:43It was a great do.
0:36:43 > 0:36:48But we were silly and of course tried to repeat it and then we got caught.
0:36:48 > 0:36:52Wartime shortages put most schools under severe pressure.
0:36:52 > 0:36:56One of the problems was increased class sizes.
0:36:56 > 0:36:59NEWSREADER: The pupils of a dozen different schools
0:36:59 > 0:37:02are often brought together in one school building.
0:37:02 > 0:37:06Here, teachers successfully battle with wartime obstacles to give their pupils
0:37:06 > 0:37:09the essentials of secondary education.
0:37:09 > 0:37:15But the biggest problem of all for the wartime grammar schools was the absence of young male teachers,
0:37:15 > 0:37:19many of whom had been called up for military service.
0:37:19 > 0:37:22Women and retired teachers were drafted in to take their place.
0:37:22 > 0:37:26Some of the teachers were in their late 60s,
0:37:26 > 0:37:28and we were a handful, you know.
0:37:28 > 0:37:31If it was a boring lesson
0:37:31 > 0:37:36they had a job on their hands to keep us in order,
0:37:36 > 0:37:39and they didn't always succeed, either.
0:37:39 > 0:37:42The lack of young and charismatic teachers to inspire the children
0:37:42 > 0:37:46exposed the weaknesses of grammar school teaching methods,
0:37:46 > 0:37:49and its narrow curriculum.
0:37:49 > 0:37:51I was just an average lad
0:37:51 > 0:37:54who doesn't take to discipline all that easily.
0:37:54 > 0:38:00And who found a lot of the lessons profoundly boring.
0:38:00 > 0:38:04French irregular verbs still don't actually turn me on.
0:38:04 > 0:38:06Neither does Latin.
0:38:07 > 0:38:11The established career path for grammar school girls
0:38:11 > 0:38:13was to become teachers themselves.
0:38:13 > 0:38:18Ella Wright completed her teacher training during the war,
0:38:18 > 0:38:20realising her mother's dreams.
0:38:20 > 0:38:22Ella's first job as a young teacher
0:38:22 > 0:38:25was in a tough mining village in Derbyshire.
0:38:25 > 0:38:27The first few weeks I got home,
0:38:27 > 0:38:29mother just used to say,
0:38:29 > 0:38:30"How have you got on today, pet?"
0:38:30 > 0:38:32And I'd burst into tears.
0:38:32 > 0:38:34And wept for about half an hour.
0:38:34 > 0:38:39Then she says, "It will get easier", and it did.
0:38:39 > 0:38:41She says, "You will get tougher."
0:38:41 > 0:38:42And I did.
0:38:42 > 0:38:46Taking strength from the inspirational example
0:38:46 > 0:38:49of her history teacher, Ella gained in confidence.
0:38:49 > 0:38:55My favourite teacher at the grammar school, history.
0:38:55 > 0:38:58She made history alive for me.
0:38:58 > 0:39:02Everything she said, I hung on her words and was inspired,
0:39:02 > 0:39:07and she interested me, and I think I did a lot to try and be like her.
0:39:07 > 0:39:12And by the end of the first year I was relaxed and happy.
0:39:13 > 0:39:16Ella soon imposed the strict discipline
0:39:16 > 0:39:20of her former grammar school and took control of her class.
0:39:21 > 0:39:23I talked to them,
0:39:23 > 0:39:26and I pointed out they were punishing themselves
0:39:26 > 0:39:29by behaving so badly.
0:39:29 > 0:39:30They would never get a good job,
0:39:30 > 0:39:34they wouldn't get a good report or recommendation,
0:39:34 > 0:39:37so they were doing themselves no end of harm.
0:39:37 > 0:39:40And then I said if you ever do that again,
0:39:40 > 0:39:43you are going to stay with me for half an hour after school
0:39:43 > 0:39:46and you are going to write down an essay
0:39:46 > 0:39:47of all the things you are going to do.
0:39:47 > 0:39:49I'd learnt.
0:39:49 > 0:39:53I've become a really qualified teacher.
0:39:55 > 0:39:58The battle of the Atlantic between Britain and Germany
0:39:58 > 0:40:00reached its height in 1941.
0:40:00 > 0:40:02This life-and-death struggle
0:40:02 > 0:40:07motivated patriotic grammar school children to join the war effort.
0:40:08 > 0:40:13It gave boys like David Attenborough a taste of the real world.
0:40:13 > 0:40:15Someone came to school and said that
0:40:15 > 0:40:16British lands were dying
0:40:16 > 0:40:20because there weren't submarines and British submarines
0:40:20 > 0:40:22because they lacked a particular kind of part
0:40:22 > 0:40:26in which plastic was bonded to metal
0:40:26 > 0:40:28and only this factory could do it
0:40:28 > 0:40:30and without it we couldn't build submarines.
0:40:30 > 0:40:32Who would volunteer to go and make it?
0:40:32 > 0:40:36I put my hand up and I went into this appalling factory.
0:40:36 > 0:40:38I remember it vividly.
0:40:40 > 0:40:43The noise, the barrage of noise,
0:40:43 > 0:40:46hurt you physically, of huge presses.
0:40:48 > 0:40:51They said, shrieking, "That's where you're going to work."
0:40:51 > 0:40:53There's a great press coming up.
0:40:53 > 0:40:57And you have to do this, and then out comes a thing.
0:40:57 > 0:41:01What came out were buttons, and I said, "There's a mistake.
0:41:01 > 0:41:04"I'm here making vital parts for submarines,
0:41:04 > 0:41:06"I'm not making fly buttons."
0:41:06 > 0:41:08They said, "Well, the chap who was making fly buttons
0:41:08 > 0:41:11"is now doing that and you're making fly buttons."
0:41:11 > 0:41:13But I remember that very well.
0:41:14 > 0:41:18The spirit of patriotism which infused the wartime grammar schools
0:41:18 > 0:41:22encouraged children to appreciate how fortunate they were
0:41:22 > 0:41:24to be enjoying an extended education.
0:41:24 > 0:41:27CHILDREN SING
0:41:27 > 0:41:30This was a lesson not lost on Joan Bakewell
0:41:30 > 0:41:35who attended the prestigious Stockport High School for Girls.
0:41:35 > 0:41:38The headmistress was very, very exercised
0:41:38 > 0:41:41about us being part of a privileged group of girls
0:41:41 > 0:41:44who were getting a huge opportunity.
0:41:44 > 0:41:47I've always loved learning things
0:41:47 > 0:41:49and I have been brought up to enjoy learning.
0:41:49 > 0:41:54So the prospect of learning lots more stuff was really great.
0:41:54 > 0:41:57I wasn't afraid of it, I was absolutely thrilled by it.
0:41:59 > 0:42:02The constant threat and disruption
0:42:02 > 0:42:04in wartime added urgency to the message.
0:42:05 > 0:42:09The Blitz on the major British cities cost almost 60,000 lives,
0:42:09 > 0:42:13and the bombed-out buildings provided a constant reminder
0:42:13 > 0:42:15that life could be cut brutally short.
0:42:15 > 0:42:17I've always been haunted by time.
0:42:17 > 0:42:21I had a sense that there was no time to be wasted,
0:42:21 > 0:42:23the world was full of interest,
0:42:23 > 0:42:26and how was I going to ever get round at all?
0:42:26 > 0:42:29How was I ever going to read all the books and visit all the countries?
0:42:29 > 0:42:33So I did have an idea that time mustn't be wasted,
0:42:33 > 0:42:36and it was passing, it was fleeting.
0:42:36 > 0:42:38It might be something to do with the war
0:42:38 > 0:42:40and the fear of being killed,
0:42:40 > 0:42:42because children dramatised the war.
0:42:42 > 0:42:45I was only in a town that had a few bombs,
0:42:45 > 0:42:47and we weren't hit at all.
0:42:47 > 0:42:51But the talk about the war was that you could be killed.
0:42:55 > 0:42:58The harsh realities of war seemed far removed
0:42:58 > 0:43:00from the lives of evacuated children,
0:43:00 > 0:43:02growing up in the countryside.
0:43:02 > 0:43:05But in 1943 everything was about to change
0:43:05 > 0:43:08for Terence Frisby when he turned 11.
0:43:08 > 0:43:12Everybody said, "You must take the scholarship to grammar school,
0:43:12 > 0:43:14"you'll sail through it."
0:43:14 > 0:43:19And there was a teacher there and my parents paid her some money,
0:43:19 > 0:43:23not much I'm sure, to give me extra lessons to make sure I took the exam.
0:43:23 > 0:43:27And then the day came when I had to take the scholarship for grammar school.
0:43:27 > 0:43:30There was an intelligence test.
0:43:30 > 0:43:32I'd never seen one of those before.
0:43:32 > 0:43:34I remember having to think about that.
0:43:34 > 0:43:37But the writing and arithmetic and all the other things
0:43:37 > 0:43:40and sums that we had to do,
0:43:40 > 0:43:42I was quite good at that.
0:43:42 > 0:43:49For Terence, passing the 11-plus meant leaving behind an idyllic country childhood.
0:43:49 > 0:43:54In autumn 1943 he went to Dartford Grammar School near London.
0:43:55 > 0:43:58Having been the cleverest boy in the village school
0:43:58 > 0:44:00I was put in the B stage at the grammar school,
0:44:00 > 0:44:03and discovered that there were 90 other boys in my year
0:44:03 > 0:44:05who were equally as clever as me,
0:44:05 > 0:44:08if not a great deal more so,
0:44:08 > 0:44:11and that was the end of my great scholastic achievement,
0:44:11 > 0:44:13having been the star of the village school
0:44:13 > 0:44:16and I went very quickly from the first year to the second year,
0:44:16 > 0:44:18from the B stage to the C stage,
0:44:18 > 0:44:22and there I stayed throughout my grammar school years.
0:44:24 > 0:44:29As part of the new spirit of national unity, some grammar schools
0:44:29 > 0:44:34began to encourage their sixth formers to cross the class divide
0:44:34 > 0:44:36and teach younger children in the poorest areas.
0:44:37 > 0:44:41Wyggeston Grammar School operated such a scheme in Leicester.
0:44:42 > 0:44:46They asked for volunteers to go and teach
0:44:46 > 0:44:49in a very poor quarter of Leicester.
0:44:49 > 0:44:53Which I volunteered for.
0:44:54 > 0:44:59I must say it was a revelation which I've not forgotten
0:44:59 > 0:45:06that these lads, you know, from very poor homes...
0:45:06 > 0:45:09charming people.
0:45:09 > 0:45:12I mean, they were just lovely kids.
0:45:12 > 0:45:14Of course, they were tough and so on
0:45:14 > 0:45:17but you had to work to gain their interest but if you did,
0:45:17 > 0:45:20you really had them in the palm of your hand.
0:45:20 > 0:45:23Actually, I went... And I remember talking about fossils
0:45:23 > 0:45:27because I was interested in fossils and THEY were interested in fossils.
0:45:27 > 0:45:34There was a very nice kid right at the back of the class, I remember.
0:45:34 > 0:45:37I noticed that as I was walking up and down,
0:45:37 > 0:45:40that there was some black liquid underneath his chair.
0:45:43 > 0:45:46I said, "What's that?" And it was blood.
0:45:47 > 0:45:52And he was a ragged kid and his elbows were out
0:45:52 > 0:45:54and he had fallen over in the playground,
0:45:54 > 0:45:56which was an asphalt playground,
0:45:56 > 0:46:01and he was sitting there, dripping blood from his arm onto the floor.
0:46:01 > 0:46:03But he was a stoic kid, you see, sitting there,
0:46:03 > 0:46:07listening to me talking about brachiopods!
0:46:07 > 0:46:11Concerns about the well-being of British children
0:46:11 > 0:46:16became the focus of health and education campaigns during the war.
0:46:16 > 0:46:19There was a vision of a new Jerusalem.
0:46:19 > 0:46:23A reward for five years of enormous effort and shared sacrifice.
0:46:23 > 0:46:26The dream of the better world that a new education system
0:46:26 > 0:46:30could bring about was embodied in a revolutionary piece of legislation
0:46:30 > 0:46:34passed by the war government in 1944.
0:46:34 > 0:46:37What we aim at doing is to give every child at every level
0:46:37 > 0:46:40some form of secondary education.
0:46:40 > 0:46:45That is to say some practical, some general, some what you call academic.
0:46:45 > 0:46:48The effect, as I see it, will be as much social as educational.
0:46:48 > 0:46:52I think it will help the result of welding us all into one nation.
0:46:53 > 0:46:59The vision of Education Minister Rab Butler and the wartime government
0:46:59 > 0:47:04was inspired by the ideal of free secondary education for all the nation's children.
0:47:06 > 0:47:09In the forefront of the educational revolution
0:47:09 > 0:47:11would be the grammar schools.
0:47:11 > 0:47:14They would be the powerhouse of Britain's future,
0:47:14 > 0:47:17with places offered only to the brightest pupils.
0:47:17 > 0:47:20The grammar school children themselves
0:47:20 > 0:47:22knew there were dramatic changes afoot
0:47:22 > 0:47:25but they found the politics of it all rather confusing.
0:47:25 > 0:47:29We'd been schoolgirls throughout the war and there were shelters in the school grounds.
0:47:29 > 0:47:32Stockport was bombed, Manchester more so.
0:47:32 > 0:47:34We knew that war was terrible and we'd won it.
0:47:34 > 0:47:38We were enormously proud that we had won it and Churchill,
0:47:38 > 0:47:42of course, was the idol of the nation, unqualified idol.
0:47:42 > 0:47:46So we had a school election to mirror the election
0:47:46 > 0:47:49and a lot of girls said, "What party are you?
0:47:49 > 0:47:50"What party are you?"
0:47:50 > 0:47:54So I sided with my friends and said, "Oh, yes, I'm Conservative."
0:47:54 > 0:47:58I went home and I said to my parents, "There's a school election.
0:47:58 > 0:48:02"I am Conservative, aren't I?" They went, "No! No, you're not."
0:48:02 > 0:48:07So I went back to school and said, "I made a mistake. I'm Labour."
0:48:07 > 0:48:11And I had no idea what either of them meant at all.
0:48:11 > 0:48:14But loyalty to the tribe you belong to,
0:48:14 > 0:48:16you see, required that I was Labour.
0:48:16 > 0:48:21NEWSREEL: 'Though defeated, Mr Churchill is acclaimed as a great war leader.'
0:48:21 > 0:48:26The sweeping victories throughout the country
0:48:26 > 0:48:31mark an epoch in the political life of this country.
0:48:31 > 0:48:34The Labour government that was swept to power
0:48:34 > 0:48:40in an atmosphere of post-war idealism now had the daunting task
0:48:40 > 0:48:43of delivering their promise of a better world.
0:48:43 > 0:48:47'Every child must be given the chance to develop his talent and abilities to the maximum.
0:48:47 > 0:48:52'We shall need more than laws to make this scheme a reality throughout the land.
0:48:52 > 0:48:54'Don't say we can't afford it.
0:48:54 > 0:48:58'The cost of four days of war would keep the scheme going for a year.
0:48:58 > 0:49:02'We can afford anything when we are buying the future of our children.
0:49:02 > 0:49:07'Let us make this new Education Act a real children's charter.'
0:49:07 > 0:49:10The ideals of the Education Reform Act were carried forward
0:49:10 > 0:49:13on a wave of optimism after the war,
0:49:13 > 0:49:16but would take years to implement.
0:49:16 > 0:49:17One immediate impact, however,
0:49:17 > 0:49:21was the return of teachers who had been fighting in the war.
0:49:21 > 0:49:24The younger men came back from the war and we boys,
0:49:24 > 0:49:27of course, regarded them with a great deal more respect,
0:49:27 > 0:49:30admiration, whatever, than the others.
0:49:30 > 0:49:33One who came back from the war was a man called Holliday,
0:49:33 > 0:49:36who had a big effect on me.
0:49:36 > 0:49:40He taught me economics, economic history, political history
0:49:40 > 0:49:42and politics in the Sixth Form,
0:49:42 > 0:49:46when I did a special course in that because I wanted to be a journalist
0:49:46 > 0:49:49and become a politician and all the rest of it.
0:49:49 > 0:49:52This man really opened my mind to a whole lot of ideas
0:49:52 > 0:49:55that were outside my own rather conventional
0:49:55 > 0:49:58Labour Party views of the world.
0:49:58 > 0:50:02I came into his classes, you see, and I knew everything about politics
0:50:02 > 0:50:05and economics, because my dad was a member of the Labour Party
0:50:05 > 0:50:06and I was a young member.
0:50:06 > 0:50:11My dad was a trade unionist and I had got the world sorted at 16 years old!
0:50:11 > 0:50:14And he challenged everything I said.
0:50:14 > 0:50:17He just challenged it and made me think about it.
0:50:17 > 0:50:20Former Manchester grammar school boy Geoffrey Stone
0:50:20 > 0:50:23served in the Intelligence Corps during the war.
0:50:23 > 0:50:27After the war, he was tempted by a glittering career prospect.
0:50:27 > 0:50:31I did the exam for the senior branch of the Foreign Service.
0:50:31 > 0:50:33And, er...
0:50:34 > 0:50:37..there were just two of us who eventually passed.
0:50:38 > 0:50:42And I was duly offered a place in the Foreign Service.
0:50:44 > 0:50:47But Geoffrey wasn't convinced that this
0:50:47 > 0:50:49was what he really wanted to do.
0:50:49 > 0:50:51Hey! Excuse me!
0:50:51 > 0:50:53Just a minute!
0:50:55 > 0:50:57How would you like a job...
0:50:57 > 0:51:01with a good salary, professional status and a pension?
0:51:01 > 0:51:03Yes, but what is this job?
0:51:03 > 0:51:05School-teaching. You'll get one year's free training
0:51:05 > 0:51:07and a maintenance allowance if needed.
0:51:09 > 0:51:12The urgent need to recruit more teachers after the war
0:51:12 > 0:51:14convinced Geoffrey to change his mind.
0:51:14 > 0:51:15He became a teacher.
0:51:17 > 0:51:20I enjoyed teaching and I'd done a bit before the war, you see.
0:51:20 > 0:51:25I did best part of a term's teaching between the end of my degree course
0:51:25 > 0:51:29and joining the Intelligence Corps and enjoyed it.
0:51:29 > 0:51:31So, to everyone's astonishment,
0:51:31 > 0:51:34I turned the Foreign Service down and went into teaching.
0:51:34 > 0:51:36I got a nice little letter from them,
0:51:36 > 0:51:39saying they hoped I would never regret my decision.
0:51:41 > 0:51:44Geoffrey spent all his working life in education.
0:51:44 > 0:51:47He's pictured here on the day he became headmaster
0:51:47 > 0:51:51of Heanor Grammar School in Derbyshire in 1957.
0:51:53 > 0:51:56When Terence Frisby came to the end of his final year
0:51:56 > 0:51:59at Dartford Grammar School in 1949,
0:51:59 > 0:52:03he had no idea what he wanted to do in life...
0:52:03 > 0:52:06other than to carry on learning.
0:52:06 > 0:52:10I can remember now the assembly, which was our last day of school.
0:52:10 > 0:52:13And I stood there and I was one of those boys who were going out.
0:52:13 > 0:52:16I just felt tears running down my cheeks.
0:52:16 > 0:52:19I hadn't realised I'd been so happy there,
0:52:19 > 0:52:22or maybe I was frightened of the outside world, I don't know.
0:52:22 > 0:52:25But I didn't want to go - I wanted that to go on.
0:52:27 > 0:52:29Terence went to drama school
0:52:29 > 0:52:32and in the '60s became a successful playwright.
0:52:32 > 0:52:36His play, There's A Girl In My Soup, was a worldwide hit.
0:52:37 > 0:52:41When his inspirational teacher came across one of his plays,
0:52:41 > 0:52:44he wrote Terence a letter of congratulations.
0:52:44 > 0:52:46Terence wrote back.
0:52:47 > 0:52:49"What you cannot possibly know is that
0:52:49 > 0:52:51"of all of those who taught me before drama school,
0:52:51 > 0:52:54"you had far and away the biggest influence on me.
0:52:54 > 0:52:57"Even though our paths crossed for only one year.
0:52:57 > 0:53:00"Your ideas and personality left a big impression
0:53:00 > 0:53:03"at a time in life when impressions last.
0:53:03 > 0:53:06"One boy who passed through your hands,
0:53:06 > 0:53:10"on whom you left your beneficial mark, and who is grateful.
0:53:10 > 0:53:12I meant that, obviously.
0:53:12 > 0:53:16And he wrote back and said to me, "I don't remember being that good."
0:53:16 > 0:53:18Or something like that.
0:53:19 > 0:53:23The glittering prize of a place at Oxford or Cambridge
0:53:23 > 0:53:27was the ambition of every grammar school for their brightest students.
0:53:27 > 0:53:30For the vast majority who came from a humble background,
0:53:30 > 0:53:33this remained no more than a dream.
0:53:33 > 0:53:36But a few tenacious spirits were determined to change attitudes
0:53:36 > 0:53:38by making it to the top.
0:53:40 > 0:53:46In 1950, Joan Bakewell became Head Girl of Stockport High School For Girls.
0:53:46 > 0:53:49The idea of university came on the horizon.
0:53:49 > 0:53:52No-one in my family had ever been through a university
0:53:52 > 0:53:54and I don't think they knew really what it meant.
0:53:54 > 0:53:57They knew there was one in Manchester and one in Liverpool,
0:53:57 > 0:54:01but I found I knew that there were two really top-class ones
0:54:01 > 0:54:03that were called Oxford and Cambridge.
0:54:03 > 0:54:07So, with my usual competitive spirit, I thought, "Well, go for the top.
0:54:07 > 0:54:10"No point in trying for anything else. Work your way there."
0:54:10 > 0:54:12And I said, "I want to go to Oxford or Cambridge."
0:54:12 > 0:54:14People said, "Well, to do what?"
0:54:14 > 0:54:17I said, "Well, I don't know, but I'm going to find out.
0:54:17 > 0:54:19"Because that's where I want to go."
0:54:19 > 0:54:21I bought a book of Cambridge, which was full
0:54:21 > 0:54:24of absolutely wonderful sepia photographs of the colleges.
0:54:24 > 0:54:27No students in sight. It wasn't student life I was after,
0:54:27 > 0:54:30I was after getting away to somewhere incredibly beautiful,
0:54:30 > 0:54:34very prestigious, where you could go on learning things.
0:54:41 > 0:54:44However, the number of grammar school girls
0:54:44 > 0:54:48who gained Oxbridge places was less than half that of the boys.
0:54:50 > 0:54:52There was still deep prejudice against women
0:54:52 > 0:54:54enjoying an extended education and career,
0:54:54 > 0:54:58even in the top girls' grammar schools,
0:54:58 > 0:55:00as Joan Bakewell would discover
0:55:00 > 0:55:04when she won a scholarship to Newnham College, Cambridge.
0:55:04 > 0:55:07School believed you could achieve things in school.
0:55:07 > 0:55:09And that you would go on to have a job, perhaps.
0:55:09 > 0:55:11But perhaps not a career.
0:55:11 > 0:55:15And I do remember, on the day that I got my scholarship
0:55:15 > 0:55:17that would take me to Cambridge
0:55:17 > 0:55:21and I went up to receive the scroll from the mayor or someone,
0:55:21 > 0:55:24the headmistress made a speech that said the following:
0:55:24 > 0:55:28"We're enormously proud, of course, that Joan is going to Cambridge.
0:55:28 > 0:55:30"But I want to say to the rest of you
0:55:30 > 0:55:33"that the real purpose of a woman's life
0:55:33 > 0:55:34"is to be a wife and mother."
0:55:35 > 0:55:37I was furious.
0:55:37 > 0:55:42I was furious and, of course, I took on that message, too.
0:55:42 > 0:55:46And that is also the message of the generations:
0:55:46 > 0:55:48However much you might achieve,
0:55:48 > 0:55:52your true inner fulfilment will be as a wife and mother.
0:55:54 > 0:55:56The young Labour supporter, Joan Bakewell,
0:55:56 > 0:56:00followed her successful career as a writer and television presenter
0:56:00 > 0:56:02by becoming a Labour peer.
0:56:03 > 0:56:08For a new generation of grammar school boys,
0:56:08 > 0:56:11the prospect of entering the exclusive world of Oxbridge
0:56:11 > 0:56:13after the war seemed much less daunting.
0:56:13 > 0:56:17Their education and experience would stand them in good stead.
0:56:17 > 0:56:20And they found they could mix confidently with anybody.
0:56:20 > 0:56:24David Attenborough won a scholarship to Cambridge
0:56:24 > 0:56:28to read Natural Science in 1945.
0:56:28 > 0:56:31I went to Clare College in Cambridge,
0:56:31 > 0:56:33where you have staircases and your own rooms.
0:56:33 > 0:56:36And I met a very nice chap, erm...
0:56:38 > 0:56:40..who lived on the... who'd got the room below.
0:56:42 > 0:56:47And he was a modest, quiet chap, but I discovered...
0:56:47 > 0:56:51that he had silver cutlery with a monogram on it.
0:56:53 > 0:56:55And I'd no idea what this was.
0:56:55 > 0:56:57It turned out this was his family monogram,
0:56:57 > 0:57:01and he was from a vaguely aristocratic family.
0:57:02 > 0:57:07And he... I think he'd been to either Eton or Winchester
0:57:07 > 0:57:10and it seemed to me that he didn't know what life was about.
0:57:10 > 0:57:12You know? I mean, erm...
0:57:14 > 0:57:19..he described his background in a way which made me think
0:57:19 > 0:57:22that it was extraordinarily restricted,
0:57:22 > 0:57:26and that he had really not sort of met kind of...
0:57:27 > 0:57:29..ordinary people.
0:57:29 > 0:57:33So I thought that he was at a disadvantage. I didn't think...
0:57:33 > 0:57:35- I didn't think - I- was at a disadvantage,
0:57:35 > 0:57:38I thought HE was at a disadvantage!
0:57:38 > 0:57:42David Attenborough, the former grammar school rebel,
0:57:42 > 0:57:45is Britain's most famous naturalist and television broadcaster.
0:57:49 > 0:57:51The grammar school dream of an education
0:57:51 > 0:57:54that could take children from a humble background to the very top
0:57:54 > 0:57:58would only become fully realised in the postwar years.
0:57:58 > 0:58:01The educational changes inspired by the war
0:58:01 > 0:58:05would help transform the social and political life of Britain.
0:58:06 > 0:58:10But at the very height of the grammar schools' success,
0:58:10 > 0:58:14the new and radical ideas of the '60s would sweep them away,
0:58:14 > 0:58:18igniting a fierce debate which continues to the present day.
0:58:39 > 0:58:42Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:42 > 0:58:45Email subtitling@bbc.co.uk