Willie Carson: he terrified every jockey but he took a shine to me

I wasn't a kid when I went down to Bernard's stable in Newmarket as understudy to Doug Smith in the mid-1960s. I was in my 20s but I wasn't cocky in any way; I had no confidence. There was a hell of a lot in life I hadn't seen and Bernard showed me how to behave – and I was still there when he died in 1975.

He was a jockey-hater really, very tough – every jockey was terrified of him - but we got this great relationship going. He was even hard on his sons but he never used to give me a bollocking if I made a mistake; he'd phone me in the evening and tell me to cool down, not to worry, said we'd learn from it.

For some reason he took a shine to me. Once a week I had to dress up in a dinner jacket and have dinner with him and his guests – I was this working-class kid mixing with the aristocracy and I was too scared to talk. I didn't know anything about cutlery or manners, so it was quite daunting, but enlightening as well.