Your obituary of Dame Beryl Grey (11 December) brought back childhood memories of being on my way to a ballet class in 1965 which was taking place in the first-floor ballroom, overlooking Green Park, of the Arts Educational Trust on Piccadilly in London. I was in form 4B (special ballet) and would often encounter Alicia Markova, Yehudi Menuhin, Margaret Lockwood, Beryl Grey et al hobnobbing with other equally famous theatrical giants outside the principal’s office.
Form 4B itself comprised of Nigel Havers, albeit then in footless tights, and Jane Seymour – already a fabulous beauty at 14. In October 1965, the Cone-Ripman sisters announced that Beryl Grey would be the trust’s new director general and form 4B were assembled to appear in the press photograph.
