ALTHOUGH I'm generally fed up with fly-on-the-wall shows at the moment, I have been watching Agony and Ecstasy: A Year with English National Ballet on BBC Four.

I reasoned at least the people had chosen to put themselves in the spotlight, unlike those programmes made in developing countries that I mentioned last week, where sobbing celebrities gawp at people living under plastic sheets.

Fisher Junior belonged to a ballet class for many years, passing various exams as she worked her way through the grades.

I remember, even at the very earliest stages, the examiners had an amazingly strict dress code for the young dancers.

The hair had to be in a bun which was scraped, gripped and lacquered to a crust, while the ballet shoes had to be tied just so, with no rogue ribbons sticking out.

I wasn't very good at all that, and I certainly couldn't make costumes as I had always been sent out of needlework classes at school. Luckily I had a friend who could.

Every Saturday we made our way to the hall in St Peter's Way, Harlington, for the classes.

There were end of term shows and at Christmas, the girls (I don't remember any boys) took part in the village pantomime.

The teacher, Jean Higgins, unlike the choreographer in Agony and Ecstasy, was an expert teacher and a graceful dancer, but also very gentle and kind, proving you don't have to be a bully to get good results.

I was never of ballet build, though I have got a picture of myself in a tutu when I was a child, which is kept well hidden from Mr F.

However, at my all-girls' school I tried ballroom dancing because it was the only time we were allowed to mix with boys.

Of course it was nothing like Strictly Come Dancing - more Strictly Sad Prancing. We held each other at arms' length; the girls giggled and the boys wished they'd gone to football.

So we turned our attention to the teachers, one male and one female PE teacher from the respective schools.

We hoped they'd make a lovely couple but it turned out the PE mistress was in a settled lesbian relationship and the master ended up marrying one of our sixth-form netball players!