'Bristol De Mai needs to win the King George to silence the doubters'

On the wall of Nigel Twiston-Davies's office standing proudly in its frame is a fading but fascinating historical document.

We are not dealing here with trifles such as a copy of Magna Carta or the Dead Sea Scrolls but something of even greater weight – the end-of-term results of Form 1b at Sandroyd preparatory school from 1970 when the Romans had only just left the country and headed back to Italy.

Seven subjects are covered: geography, science, French, Latin, mathematics, history and English. And at the top of each list in number-one position, like Arkle lording it over the weights in some 1960s handicap chase, is the name N Twiston-Davies. God knows what the other poor boys ended up doing in life.