Did you enjoy sport at school?

OPINIONS

HARRY HILL, comedian: No. It was easy to spot my parents on sports day because they were the ones crying. We were all so inactive at my school, there was ivy on the climbing frame.

JAMES ELLROY, writer: No. However I did enjoy the persistent rumour that the boys' shower room adjoined the girls' shower room, and if you were lucky you could find a crack in the wall and look through and see naked young women. I was never an athlete but this kept me showering while I was in junior high and high school.

NINA MYSKOW, journalist: I absolutely loathed sport at school. All I remember was enormous six foot, meat-eating South African girls charging towards me brandishing hockey sticks.

IAIN SPROAT, Minister for Sport: I played rugby, soccer, cricket, tennis, table tennis, golf, racquets and squash with varying degrees of skill but always with great enjoyment. I learnt things that I could not have learnt so well, if at all, from academic lessons.

GEORGE MELLY, jazz musician: With the exception of tennis and snooker, I hate sport, always have.

MONICA MORRISH, civil servant: I hated all sports, especially running. I liked watching it but not doing it. All those firm thighs on the football field, very interesting.

MICHAEL PARKINSON, sports presenter: Like the PM the only thing I enjoyed at school was sport. The two things I learnt at Barnsley Grammar school were how to play cricket and how to smoke.

ALICE GRAY, PA: You always got injured playing team sports. I think hockey should be banned as a cruel sport.

MIKE YARWOOD, impersonator: I was quite obsessive about sport when I was at school. I always enjoyed team games, especially cricket. I always wanted to be a spin bowler and I modelled myself on Jim Laker.

JOANNA PITT, upholsterer: I adored sport at school. I played lacrosse, tennis, netball and squash. I think it's good to be aggressive.

BARRY McGUIGAN, boxer: Sport was probably more important than school itself.

BEN PRIEST, copywriter: Yes, except for cross-country running, because we had to wear horrible woollen shorts that rubbed in all sorts of places.