My old schoolmate, the legendary football commentator John Motson, would be shaking his head in disbelief at the news that Culford School not only now play football but have linked up with Tottenham Hotspur.

Culford, a public school in Suffolk set in 400 acres of parkland, is a well-known rugby school. I was an ever present in the first XV from the age of 15 through four seasons to 18 as a wing or centre.

Motty, who died two years ago aged 77, was so frustrated that football was not played in our time that his father, the Reverend William Motson, regularly wrote to the headmaster, Dr Christopher Storey, requesting that football should be played. But it was in vain.

Then, the school consisted of 400 boys. Now it is co-educational with nearly 900 boys and girls.

Alan Lee, a forward who started out with Aston Villa before playing for Ipswich Town and 10 times for the Republic of Ireland, began working at Culford’s new football programme as director of football in 2018.

Public schools are starting to provide more football stars of the future, such as Arsenal’s Ethan Nwaneri.

I am often asked how I became interested in sport and how I broke into TV and spent 50 years presenting.

My maternal grandfather,........

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