Bm@il: Oranges were not the fruit at all for us Bournville girls

YOU know Im a sucker for a tasty bit of research, and Ive recently learned that an orange a day may protect us from heart disease and stroke.

To be honest, Im not too bothered about fruit unless its floating in mulled wine in the winter, or in a Pimms with a little umbrella in the summer, but this research got me thinking.

Doctors at a Japanese university have analysed the food habits of 11,000 men and women who had no history of cardiovascular disease.

At the end of three years, men who had a daily dose of citrus fruit had a 43 per cent lower risk of the illness compared with those who only had an occasional fruit habit. For women, the risk reduction was 49 per cent.

Quite dramatic isnt it? And it reminded me of when I started secondary school and a new rule was introduced which caused an uproar. The headteacher banned us gels from taking oranges on to the school premises, as she said they were too smelly and could make people feel sick.

When the Birmingham Mail got wind of this presumably from irate parents who knew that their daughters heart health was at stake (ha) we pupils were summoned to the hall for a very serious and rather bizarre announcement.

There were some local greengrocers outside, said the headteacher, with photographers from the national press who were hoping to get a photograph of us eating oranges!

Well, naturally we thought this sounded like fun, particularly as there was the potential to backcomb our hair high over the top of our berets before striking a pose with the offending fruit.

But then came the blow from a very stern Mrs Cotton. I will not tell you what to do, she said, but I know you will make the right decision.

There was probably a bit more about the good name of the school and rules being there for a reason, but I dont remember.

The picture which appeared in The Daily Mail next day was of the poor fruit-deprived Bournville Grammar girls walking stoically past boxes and boxes of free oranges.

We knew it was more than our young lives were worth to be featured in a photograph with a banned substance!