In my life

Ken Murphy, Director general, the Law Society

Where did you go to school?

Terenure College, Dublin.

What was your best subject? English.

Who was your favourite teacher and why?

My English teachers at different times were Fr McCouaig and Mr O'Brien. I went on to study English, together with philosophy, for my degree in UCD before I became a solicitor. I retain a love of literature. It is a great joy that thousands of lines of poetry and plays still swim around in my head. I think it is sad that today's schoolkids are no longer encouraged to learn poems by heart as I was.

Who was your childhood idol?

Probably my main childhood idol was Bobby Moore, the charismatic captain of England's World Cup-winning football team. To this day I still follow the fortunes of his old club, West Ham United. It was due to him as a role model that I decided to become a professional footballer.

Who was your best friend and why?

Different people at different times in school, but in reality someone who did not go to the same school, a neighbour named Richard Murray.

What is he doing now?

He emigrated in the early 1980s and now lives in New York.

What TV show/film most reminds you of your schooldays?

Since everyone's schooldays cover some 13 years there is inevitably a wide range to choose from. In TV terms, my memories range from The Virginian and Batman to, in later years, Kojak, Ironside and, of course, Top of the Pops. My memories of movies range from The Greatest Story Every Told to the first over-18s movie I ever, illegally, saw, namely The Godfather. It was the inspiration of Francis Ford Copolla that made me decide to become a film director.

What song most reminds you of your schooldays?

Any song by The Beatles or Simon and Garfunkel. My friend Richard's older siblings had all the albums, and endless replaying (I can still remember where the records were scratched on certain songs) them meant that I knew every word and every note. It was primarily because of Paul McCartney that I decided to become a pop star.

What food most reminds you of your schooldays?

My mother's brown stew or, if fending for myself, Bovril with Marmite sandwiches.

Who did you take to your debs?

No one. Only posh schools had debs in those days and whatever else we were in Terenure College we weren't posh.

Would you send your children to the same school you went to?

The heavy reliance on fear and corporal punishment for both motivation and discipline, very much a feature of every boys' school in my day, is now happily consigned to the distant past and Terenure College is modern and progressive in every respect. So I would be happy to send our son there if we lived close enough. Definitely not our daughters, however.

What was the best thing about your education?

I was encouraged to believe I could become anything I wanted.

What was the worst thing about your education?

I was encouraged to believe I could become anything I wanted.