At Cowbridge Grammar School 1949

The author of this book is to be commended for his bravery. Peter Cobb, former geography master at the famous Cowbridge Grammar School (now closed to make way for a comprehensive), has written fully, frankly, and not always kindly, about the colleagues and pupils he encountered. Amongst these was the teenage Anthony Hopkins, "a boy not even conspicuous in the modest environment of a country grammar school". Hopkins himself has spoken of his own unhappy memories of the school, and one must assume the feeling was mutual.
The importance of this book, as perceived by its publishers, the Cowbridge Record Society, is as a historical document, a record of times gone by and never to return. Cobb's style is lively, his recollections often entertaining. However, for the present, his memoirs are of interest mainly to those who were at the school during the last thirty years of its existence and were acquainted with the characters and customs which he describes. In years to come, the most receptive audience for this work may be local historians wishing to reconstruct the period of which the author paints such a vivid picture.