A banner above the desk displayed the lecturer’s name: ‘Pensive Abbott, now known as KA’.

‘Nobody ever used “Pensive” when I was little’ KA explained. ‘”Penny” was so much nicer.’

We couldn’t understand why KA had a ‘former name’ at all. She offered a dubious explanation. In the 1960s children were not permitted to live with their parents unless they were married. So, for the first two years of her life, KA was cared for by Mr and Mrs Abbott.

We knew this couldn’t be true because KA’s parents were husband and wife well before she was born.