I was a bit of a square." Other thespians include Damian Lewis and Christopher Cazenove, while Bamber Gascoigne and Humphry Lyttelton, jazz musician and host of I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, are among the broadcasting alumni, as is, of course, Boris Johnson, occasional host of Have I Got News for You. He said of his time at the school: "I just sort of plodded through it I'd love to tell you I burned the place down .. but such was not the case. Orwell, typically, took a caustic view of Eton: "Probably the battle of Waterloo was won on the playing-fields of Eton, but the opening battles of all subsequent wars have been lost there." Actors include Hugh Laurie who once played a fictional Old Etonian, P G Wodehouse's Bertie Wooster. Arts and entertainment Eton has such a conventional image, it is surprising how many authors, critics and artistic figures received their education here, some of whom could never be considered establishment lackeys.

They include George Orwell, Cyril Connolly, Aldous Huxley, Henry Fielding, biographer Michael Holroyd, poet Percy Shelley and playwright Jeremy Sandford. But Eton can lay claim to former MP for Linlithgow Tam Dalyell, left-wing troublemaker and Father of the House until earlier this year. Then there is Jonathan Aitken also liked by Thatcher, but never one of her ministers. Boris Johnson claims the first of four entries on these pages as MP for Henley and former arts minister. There are few radical politicians among Old Etonians, let alone Labour prime ministers. The apotheosis appears to have come during the Macmillan/Home years when, according to Nick Fraser, author of The Importance of Being Eton (published by Short Books next year), the joke was that a sign could be hung on the gates saying "Cabinet Makers to Her Majesty the Queen". Although Mrs Thatcher apparently disliked many members of the Old Etonian club - sacking several from her cabinet in 1983 - others found favour, including Douglas Hurd, the former home and foreign secretary, Douglas Hogg, who served in a number of ministerial posts and Alan Clark, the rou?nd diarist, who served time as a defence minister and described Eton as " an early introduction to human cruelty, treachery and extreme physical hardship." But perhaps the key Old Etonian of the post-war years was Hogg's late father, Lord Hailsham, formerly Quintin Hogg, who served in the Macmillan and Heath governments and was lord chancellor under Thatcher (see Law).

A bank employee will today appear before magistrates in Belfast, facing charges in connection with the biggest cash theft in UK history. Chris Ward, 24, from Poleglass in west Belfast, was charged last night in connection with the £26.5 million Northern Bank robbery. He was arrested last Tuesday and has been in police custody for a week.Mr Ward described in a television interview how he and his family were held hostage by a gang in their home ahead of the robbery 12 months ago.The bank official said he was then forced to go to work with a colleague, whose home was also raided by a gang, and assist the robbers.Mr Ward's lawyers yesterday failed to overturn in the High Court a police request for a 48-hour extension to question him.He will appear at Laganside Magistrates Court.A 35-year-old man arrested yesterday for questioning was released without charge.. Politics The 19 former prime ministers produced by Eton include Robert Walpole, William Pitt the Elder, Gladstone, Sir Anthony Eden, Harold Macmillan and Sir Alex Douglas-Home, not to mention countless ministers, top civil servants and diplomats. Methadone, LSD, amphetamines and anabolic steroid offences also dipped slightly.. But the Home Office figures showed a decline in the number of people found guilty or cautioned for other drugs offences. Overall drug offences fell by 21 per cent to 105,570, mainly because of the reclassification of cannabis from class B to class C in January 2004.Heroin offences fell from 10,520 in 2003 to 10,040 last year, and the number of ecstasy drug offences dropped by 300 to 5,230. Record arrests for the use of cocaine and crack were made last year, provoking accusations that the Government's anti-drugs strategy is failing.

The growing prevalence of cocaine was confirmed by police, who recorded 8,070 cocaine offences in England and Wales, a rise of 16 per cent on the previous 12 months. Publication of the figures follows the recent disclosure that use of the class-A drug in Britain is higher than in any other European Union country. In 1994, 1,570 people were punished for cocaine offences, a figure that rose to 2,880 in 1997, when Labour came to power.The number of crack cocaine offences rose last year by 8 per cent to 2,440. The idea that he's obsessed with his sexuality to the point that he's prepare to sue over it, means he's a bit out of touch with reality. If he finds being thought a liar or promiscuous offensive, that's a different matter.". First class stamp prices are set to rise by 2p to 32p next April under plans unveiled by the postal regulator today. Second class stamps will increase by 1p to 22p as part of long-awaited proposals to work out the future financing of Royal Mail as it deals with increased competition. Postcomm said it wanted prices to be capped at 36p for first class and 25p for second class stamps by 2010 if its proposals are accepted.The Royal Mail, which has been pressing to raise the price of a first class stamp to 39p and second class to 27p, described the proposals as "tough".