At my northern grammar school in the early 1950s, advice about post-school life in work or further education for a bright working-class lad was completely lacking and seemed to be left entirely to parents. However, on one occasion, a passing teacher said to me: “You ought to read a serious newspaper.” Accepting the advice, purely by chance I chose the Manchester Guardian. I was surprised and delighted to find that it was often not at all serious but quite funny.
I’ve been a regular reader now for nearly 70 years. I am still hooked and completely understand the sense of kinship engendered on meeting or just noticing another Guardian reader (Letters, 4 August). I am also quite sure the advice I was given that day was the most useful thing I got out of seven years at that grammar school.
John Newton
Buxton, Derbyshire
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