Brian Friel

Brian Friel: I have never tried to formally recall St Columb's, to recollect it, and since it is almost 60 years since I was a student there, I suspect that most of my memories are beyond summons, too fragile to collect. But I do remember some teachers and those memories are vivid and robust. Maybe not affectionate memories because at that time the relationship between teacher and pupil was deliberately formal.

But I remember them with great respect, a respect they earned by their hard work and their fair-mindedness and their dedication to their job - the acknowledged virtues of that era. So, that when I think of St Columb's, I think of those teachers, and my fading memory of school-life there finds clarity and definition in their worthy lives.