I apologise to Nigel de Gruchy for misrepresenting him as a self-styled leader of the Key Stage 3 English test boycott in 1993. Of course, at that time he ensured that workload became the key issue and rescued large numbers of unworldly English teachers from our nave beliefs. We had initiated the protest primarily because of our concern about the impact that such a testing regime would have on the quality of teaching in English classrooms across the country.

How foolish of me to think that Mr De Gruchy would wish to covet the leadership of such an outlandish enterprise.

John Hickman
Executive Committee of London Association for the Teaching of English