Dear fellow alumnus/alumna (I did O level latin with Speedy Vigor!),

I read with avid interest the success of alumni over the years and congratulate those that have reached the heights that warrant reporting in our own printed media.

It is indeed fascinating and wonderful to see and hear about the range of intellect, artistry and skill that has passed through our school over the years, decades and even centuries.

I scour the list of names and dates to look for someone from my own class or year who I might know and bathe in their reflected glory.

And yet I know that for each person who appears on that exalted list there must be a hundred or maybe more names which do not appear. These are people that have passed through this school's system and made a success of their lives in their own terms (and there will be a very few who did not). People for whom the experience of attending King's added significant value and whose own values enriched the lives of people around them.

So what I am arriving at, albeit in a round about way, is that for every story of "high achievement" a second story should be about someone who has achieved a conventional and normal life. (And hopefully the story is posted long before they appear in the obituary column!) I realise in journalistic terms that the normal does not sell but our magazine is not about sales figures!

I look forward to your considered opinions on this subject.

Dr Peter N. Baxter MB. ChB. FRCGP. DRCOG. DOccM. (1968 leaver)