I grew up in Urmston, a foggy suburb of Manchester close to the heavy industry of Trafford Park. One of my earliest jobs was to wash the smuts off the flowers we brought in from the garden and to help my mother turn all the clothes inside out before pegging up the washing.

My mother explained how proud housewives battled with the dirt by hanging white net curtains at their front window-and washing them every week. Paving slabs outside the front door were scrubbed with donkey stone even though each passerby would leave footsteps on them.

My grandmother explained the meaning of 'Wheer there's muck, there's brass.' All of my grandparents had left Scotland to seek for work in Manchester and work their way up from the slums of Salford and Irlam.

I went to the local Council School, but I made a very bad start. I couldn't understand what the teacher said and was labelled backward. It was not until I was seven and almost run over by a car I obviously hadn't heard coming, that my parents realised I was deaf, probably with intermittent glue ear. My only brother was born almost two years after me but he was frail and not expected to live and needed constant care from my mother.

The cureall operation at that time was to have your tonsils and adenoids out. It worked for me. I loved all the attention I had in my brief hospital stay and was amazed on returning to school to find I could understand and 'reading' lost its mystery. Soon I was in trouble for 'wearing my eyes out reading.'

One of the first things I remember was the Wall Street crash. I imagined this as a long street with a high wall along one side. Banks there crashed into each other and collapsed in ruins, causing people to throw themslves off the top of the long wall. Grown-ups were not willing to discuss this but my brother and I knew that the Depression had hit our town hard. My father was earning 25 shillings a week as he completed his Articles as a Chartered Accountant. Nothing must be wasted, especially food. Everything on the plate must be eaten and chewed twenty six times before swallowing. (To this day, my brother and I are the slowest eaters around)

I could escape from home discipline by disappearing to the Rec (the Recreation Ground) Life in the children's playground was tough. The swinging plank had had its brakes removed and the trick was to work it up so high that it slammed against the top bar and all the children fell off. On the swings the aim was to swing higher than the top bar so the swing went backwards over the bar and fell heavily down the other side. The aim was not to fall off. There were similar horrific feats to be learnt on the slides and roundabouts.

I envied my friends there because they didn't have to keep clean and go back home for dinner and tea. They were given 3d each day to buy fish and chips. Their evening meal was a slice of bread hacked off the big loaf left out in the grimy kitchen with a big pot of jam. Sometimes their clothes were adult castoffs, roughly cut down to their size with scissors. (My mother was scornful of this practice and said, 'They aren't so poor that they can't afford a needle and thread.' My grandmother was sympathetic and said,'In my day they had no boots. Now they've got clogs.' Indeed they had, much to my envy.

I came back from these visits infested with fleas and nits, but surprisingly, my mother never objected. She had a horror of snobbery and believed in letting me choose my own friends.

Soon, aged seven,I moved to the big school, the 'Old Grammar' where both my parents had been pupils (and there was even a teacher who remembered them both) There were 57 children in my class, 4T1, the top stream. (My school record had dramatically improved since my tonsils went.)

Bullying was a problem in the big school and scary rumours abounded. One day, a friend and I were trapped by a gang of big boys. One of them swung his fist at my friend and broke his nose. Seeing all the blood, they ran. I helped him home, thinking hard.

A small group of us decided we would have to form our own gang for protection. But our gang would be different.

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