“I didn't like my first primary school in Leicester very much. As I was...” — Tim Pigott-Smith Quote

“I didn't like my first primary school in Leicester very much. As I was going home on my tricycle one day, I said, 'There's no reading, no writing and no arithmetic - it's really boring!' So I was sent to St John the Baptist Church of England Primary.”

“You normally either get bitten by a character and decide that is the way to play it, and then that begins to inform everything you do, or you decide, 'I don't need to use much character in this - I have basically got to be me'.”

“What would life be without arithmetic, but a scene of horrors?”

“Erudition - that is, reading, writing, and arithmetic - is taught in the schools; but where is the more important quality, character, taught? Nowhere in particular. There is no authorized training for children in character.”

“In school, I couldn't see any sense to reading, writing, and arithmetic. Sure, they kicked me out, but for trifles, like continual daydreaming and smoking, that wouldn't be grounds for expulsion nowadays.”