From 1968 to 1975, I attended Dr Challoner’s High School for girls, a state school, in Buckinghamshire, which is still flourishing. It’s the same school that Mrs Clooney [lawyer Amal Clooney, who is married to actor George] went to, many years after I left.

Mrs Helen Dawes was my favourite teacher at the school. She had absolutely bright red hair and this great Scottish accent. She was very flamboyant; she would flick her hair and shrug her shoulders. On every finger she had beautiful big rings and she would always wear something rather loose and arty, because she was an art teacher.

She taught me pottery, from the first year until the fifth form. It wasn’t something that I was particularly good at, but her absolute encouragement really urged me on and gave me confidence that I could do something. I know it sounds crazy, but the fun of working with clay and learning the history of pot work and earthenware was very interesting. I still have some pottery pieces I made [at school], including a vase, a beautiful milk jug, a fruit bowl and a collection of herb jars with corks, which my daughter uses. She loves those.

One of my sons is doing fine art at Oxford. Pottery is his thing and he is excelling at it. He came home the other day and looked at my big, heavy milk jug, looking exactly at it would have done in the 1960s and said: “Mmm you did this, didn’t you, mum?” He ran his eyes over it. He didn’t give me a critique, but I could see him thinking: “You’re a jug, alright.”

‘Arts and pottery was more fun’

I was pretty good at biology, chemistry, English and history, but it was more fun to be in the arts and pottery room, than anywhere else. Around the time I was doing my O levels, Mrs Dawes called me and said: “You’ve got to work harder.” I felt that she cared about me and so I did try to take her advice on board.

Mrs Dawes liked me, but I had a physics teacher who loathed me, even though I worked as hard as I could, and a cookery teacher who held me up for ridicule in every class.

Looking back, Mrs Dawes must have been in her forties when she taught me. She had great qualities. Her best qualities? As a woman, it was her laughter and her glamour. As a teacher, it was never putting anybody down in class - ever! It was encourage, encourage, encourage, with Mrs Dawes.

At school I thought I was going to be a make-up artist, but my careers mistress said: “I suppose because your father is an actor [Tony Britton], you want to be an actress and I said: “No.” She then said: “Well, you can be a stage manager.” I said: “I don’t know what a stage manager is.” She gave me a leaflet for a course in stage management at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. I applied along with 50 or 60 other people. I then got an interview and was one of 12 people accepted for the course.

My English teacher would be completely amazed that I have managed to write seven books, including my autobiography. Every book has been a bestseller and I am thrilled to bits.

Back in the 1990s, Mrs Dawes and I bumped into each other while we were shopping in our local village in Buckinghamshire. She had just had a knee replaced and it was giving her a bit of trouble, so we talked about that. Then we gave each other a hug and kiss and said good bye. Sadly, she is no longer with us.

Fern Britton was speaking to Adeline Iziren. Fern’s latest novel, The Postcard, is available now and published by HarperCollins