This memoir of the first 53 years of my life is dedicated to those for whom it was written - my immediate and extended families, my grandchildren, my close and intimate friends, my acquaintances and colleagues
Chapter 3
AS A SCHOOLBOY, growing up in the then flourishing East End, had its advantages. Everyone was more or less in the same boat and class distinctions were indiscernible. Though the elementary and central school populations were mixed, there was no barrier between the Christian and the Jewish children and no feelings or expressions of racial discrimination. Not in the classroom, not from the teachers, nor in the playground or the street. We were all of a kind - identifying with English history, its folk tales and songs, keenly interested in the annual Boat Race (somehow always cheering Cambridge rather than Oxford), mad about cricket and soccer, playing together all the seasonal games that were played all over the country. The hymns at morning assembly were clearly universal and never overtly Christian, thus making it possible for all to sing together in comfortable unison.