First of all, I am a naturally sarcastic person, so if any of you is likely to respond negatively to the following comments, then please STOP READING NOW. Warning over.

I went to a decent state comprehensive school - fairly representative of the British education system, which is superior to those of several other equally developed countries, though I am sorry, Henry, if your own experience of this was negative - where getting good grades usually equated to fairly high intelligence, and in most cases a strong temperament and mind. I am now studying for a BA at Cambridge. As I said, my intention is not to antagonise people. You are all entitled to your opinions. That said, if the special effects budget for Jurassic Park had instead been invested in the British education system, I am sure more than one person would have been grateful.

BTW Nina*, what exactly do you mean when you say the 1900th Century? I have looked on Amazon but I cannot find any books from this far into the future.

I acknowledge that Spielberg's intentions in making E.T. were completely honourable, but the final film seems TO ME not to correspond to this. Maybe he tried too hard. My own views are similar to those of auteur, though E.T. is a film which does not appeal to me. Close Encounters represents to me probably Spielberg's best work.