It was different in my day...

If, like me, you feel yourself being pulled by inexorable tides of middle-aged curmudgeonry, in which so many things - especially schools - "were so much better in my day", then take heart: sometimes you are right.

On the other hand, reading these examination questions for eleven year-olds seeking entry to a nineteenth-century english prep school, it is clear that "my day" was not so hot after all? Until you remember that, in 1898, an eleven year-old me would have been sent down the pit without the benefit of any kind of education at all. In my day - 1978 - we'd all been to school first, then went down the pit, or worked in the 'Yard.


Ooh: quite forgot to tip Harry the Cavalryman.