FACTS OF LIFE

teenage boys wore jacket and tie in restaurants, in many of which the menus were presented only in French.

This meant that nine out of 10 customers hadn’t a clue what they were ordering.

The other 10 per cent were probably eating out fairly regularly ­ not just on birthdays. Some men even put on a jacket and tie especially to go into a bank.

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It was also a fact of life that, at the age of nine, I had been taught to raise my school cap on meeting a woman, and at 11 I would offer my seat on a bus to any woman or elderly man. The following members of society had to be treated with special respect: teachers, policemen, vicars, friends of my father and fathers of my friends ­ normally addressed as “sir”.

We had fights at school but had to rely on our hands and, in extreme cas ­ es, our fists ­ but not our feet, let alone weapons. Things began to change in the 60s. Skinheads and bovver boots, followed by punk ‘music’ signalled the emergence of a less gentle society. The facts of life were clarified for the wider public when the Rolling Stones released ‘Let’s spend the night together’. The culture of free love was born.

In the 50s many working people felt uncomfortable in banks and restaurants, much the preserve of the more affluent or more educated. Men and