When someone is in a class above you or below you at school, they might as well not exist. The age gap appears much greater during your childhood.
Rose Dugdale (born in 1941), the notorious IRA terrorist, was two classes above me at Miss Ironside's day school – my two spinster great-aunts’ dame school in Kensington. Even though she was three years older than me, she made a great impression not only on me but on every girl in the school.
She was a bit gawky and masculinelooking – a big girl with a deep voice – and not conventionally pretty, but she exuded such energy, positivity, intelligence, generosity and, yes, even kindness that she was instantly attractive.
The last thing I would
