ROBSON Green went to school just up the road from me. He was at Seaton Burn High just after I left my Sixth Form to embark on a career in journalism.

I met up again with Robson recently and asked him if he had ever gone back to his old school.

“No. I think there’s always something wrong about that. It’s just weird,” he replied.

“When I was there, you’d get guys and girls who had left and they’d hang around the gates, for some unknown reason.

“I couldn’t think of a worse thing to do, other than being invited and talk to the kids. But not to hang around. Definitely not.”