“I won a Bradford City Council scholarship to BGS. BGS offered an environment where most people were at least as bright as me. This competition spurred me on and gave me the first taste of the Hoc Age spirit.

Teachers like TJ Harrington, BB Parker, L Butler, R Thompson and others encouraged me, a working-class boy, to sharpen my critical thinking, express my fledgling ideas and gain confidence in sharing my opinions. I left BGS shortly after my 17^th birthday, as the first person in my family to win a place at university.

The importance of a broad education, neither polarised towards exam hothousing nor unfocussed experientialism, made it easy to justify sending my son to a private school (it succeeded in its task; Dan graduated in Medicine from Oxford and as I write is working in A&E in London).

I’ve been reasonably fortunate in my career, and attribute this in no small part again to Hoc Age and the attitude – built on the rugby pitch and in the classroom – of ‘put your head down and get it done’. I have mixed with industrialists, academics, politicians, and others who have excelled in their fields, and continue to express my (by now hopefully somewhat better formed) ideas and opinions with sincerity and enthusiasm.

I’ve been lucky to work and live outside the UK, in Germany and Switzerland. The idea of leaving my homeland, while somewhat scary, allowed me to draw once again on Hoc Age and make it happen. While this makes it more complicated to attend OBA events, I’m still proud that some of my strongest, most enduring friendships were made at BGS. Most of us strive to belong to something, be it a political party, a religion, a sports team or a community. I still believe that I belong to the BGS community and have a bond with thousands of people I will never meet – people who attended the same school and learned the same values. Long may that bond continue, socially and professionally.”