Emily travels back to the 50s

From the archive, first published Tuesday 21st Feb 2006.

A teenager found out the hard way what it was like to be a 1950s' schoolgirl when she took part in a TV series, That'll Teach 'Em.

Emily Williams, of Kingfisher Way, Langford Village, Bicester, swapped mobile phones and deodorant for letter-writing and carbolic soap in the Channel 4 show, in which 30 GCSE students spend a month in a 1950s-style boarding school before sitting O-Level exams.

The five-part series, due to be screened at 9pm every Thursday from April 24, was filmed in Ipswich last August, when Emily was 16 and studying at The Cooper School, in Bicester.

The pupils wore period clothing, ate 1950s' food and were banned from any contact with the outside world, other than through letters.

Emily, now 17, met her boyfriend, Sebastian Jessord, from Aylesbury, on the programme, but the pair were not allowed to go within six inches of each other, in keeping with attitudes of the time. She said: "Some aspects were fun, but others were stressful. I didn't get to speak to my parents at all and I was banned from being within six inches of Sebastian. It was all fairly bizarre.

"When I got out, I found I was feeling really sick when I started eating rich food, as we'd been fed such plain things."

The pupils were filmed opening their GCSE results, which were compared with the results of their O-Levels. Most had been successful in their GCSEs but failed the O-Levels. Emily said: "In my opinion, the O-Levels weren't harder. The content wasn't that different, but the way they worded the questions was completely different. If the questions were worded like GCSEs, they would have been a lot easier."

Her father Steven, 45, will also appear on the show, in a quiz where parents are pitted against their children.

The teams are asked questions relating to what the children were taught in preparation for their mock O-Levels and what their parents would have learned at school.

Mr Williams said: "I'm immensely looking forward to it. The gauntlet has been laid down and it will be interesting to see what the result is."

Emily is now studying for A-Levels in human biology, drama, English and performing arts at Gosford Hill School, Kidlington.

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