Neil Foster looks over his shoulder once again!

Taking us for Art was Mr Walters, a gentle, softly-spoken Welshman, who had the looks and the build of the boxer Freddie Mills. One of Mr. Walters' most talented pupils (then painting in a conventional style and not, as later, in the abstract) was destined to become known as The Fifth Beatle. He was John Lennon's best friend until his untimely death from a brain haemhorrage in 1962.

He was Stuart Sutcliffe, a small, slight and very pale-faced boy with a rather monotonous voice. Sutcliffe's paintings were regularly hung on the wals of the Art room and, while his artistic talent was obvious to the point of being outstanding, he had never shown any interest in or aptitude for Music. I was most surprised, therefore, when I met him in a Liverpool club in 1960 and he told me that he was a member of a beat group which had just returned from Hamburg.

When the name of the group was revealed, I nearly fell laughing to the floor, but since he took himself so seriously I did not wish to hurt hisfeelings. The group possessed the ridiculous name of the Beatles.

Anybody know what happened to them ?

Another musical prodigy in our class was Michael Cox who later appeared in Boy Meets Girl and had a minor hit in 1 959 with a cover record, Angela Jones. I hear that Michael now lives in New Zealand.

(A wise move Mike, get as far away as possible from the scene of the crime ! )