Toot, toot!

The Proms have been trying in recent years to shake off the fusty image.  Certainly the old dress code – if there ever was one – has gone, almost to the point where dressing down is de rigueur.

But some old habits die hard.  The programme is full of adverts for expensive schools, restaurants and gifts.  I was particularly amused – I think that’s the right word - by one offering model railway engines badged with the name of the recipient’s  school.  (“One For The ‘Old Boy’”.)

On offer were Eton, Harrow, Charterhouse and Marlborough.   But not, as far as I could make out, Plaistow Secondary Mod.    Or any of its ilk. 

Price :  £545 each, if you are interested. 

Public schoolboys and train sets.  The cliché lives on.