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The veteran TV and radio presenter remembers two teachers at a grammar school she had to fight to attend, and how they taught her skills for life
My sister, Lena, dreamed of becoming a schoolteacher. When she received a blackboard and easel for a birthday present, she pretended to be a teacher by practising on me.
Every Saturday, without fail, she'd hold classes for me, even setting homework. The positive side to this is that I could read and write before attending primary school.
After achieving my 11-plus, I spent four years at a grammar school called Portadown College. My parents were against me going because they thought it was too posh and they couldn't afford the clothes and books.
I had to fight for the right to attend - and because I'd been making money singing since the age of 7, I told them that I was going to grammar school and, if necessary, would buy everything myself. Eventually I wore them down. That's where I met Mr Spaulding.
He was a very imposing figure and...