There were four subjects in your first year and you dropped one for Finals: I did English, French, Drama and had an abortive year of Philosophy It was fantastic, a wonderful three years. There were good people in all my departments: Glynne Wickham, who had set up the Drama course, and in the French faculty Donald Watson, the official translator of Ionesco.I did lots of drama I was in The Conscious Lover. In my last year, Mr Pratt, the headmaster, called me into his study and asked, "What do you want to do?" I said, "I think I'm drifting towards being an actor." He said, "Go to Bristol University and do drama."Drama at Bristol was an academic course: you were judged on your A-levels and there were no auditions I did a BA General degree. Your response to literature is to do with maturity; if you don't respond to a book or a poem when you are 12, you might when you are 13.When I was 16, we moved to Stratford-upon-Avon, where my father was editor of the local paper. At King Edward the Sixth Grammar School, I did English, French and history A-levels, and got a B, a B and an E.
Wyggeston streamed the cleverest to do O-levels in four years instead of five This scheme didn't serve me well. Many years ago there was a wonderful series of cinema ads with the theme of "No one forgets a good teacher." This featured, among many others, David Attenborough, who paid tribute to HM Lacey - the man who taught me biology too.I'm quite sharp but not particularly academic I think I got seven O-levels in the end. Instead of sitting at the front like most directors during rehearsals, he would sit at the back and shout if he couldn't hear you.Both the Attenboroughs had attended Wyggeston. In my first term I auditioned for the part of Grusha in The Caucasian Chalk Circle - yes, a girl's part but this was a boys' school - and was miffed to get the role of the mother-in-law. It was fun to be in plays directed by Ed Rayner, my history teacher He was quite demanding. I did a lot of singing and was in the Leicester Cathedral Choir. Wyggeston Grammar (now Wyggeston and Queen Elizabeth I College) is a Victorian institution with a sense of presence and a drive 150 yards long.
I did everything: I was in the orchestra, the choir, and the cricket, rugby and swimming teams. It was an excellent school and the proof was that I went from there to the best grammar school in Leicester. I didn't like my first primary school in Leicester very much. As I was going home on my tricycle one day, I said, "There's no reading, no writing and no arithmetic - it's really boring!" So I was sent to St John the Baptist Church of England Primary.
Films include The Remains of the Day and V for Vendetta, which is released in March. Stage appearances include Hecuba at the Donmar Warehouse, Mourning Becomes Electra at the National Theatre and The Iceman Cometh with Kevin Spacey. The Royal Shakespeare Company production of Women Beware Women opens tonight at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon. Tim Pigott-Smith, 59, appeared in the ITV series The Jewel in the Crown and The Chief and the two BBC productions of North and South. Once the overhaul is finished, Omega will look to generate its revenues from a wider range of sources.Although it trades on an expensive multiple of almost eight times next year's predicted earnings, there is a solid long-term growth story behind Omega, which makes its shares worth buying.. So small was its exposure that even the costly Hurricane Katrina failed to make any significant impact on its balance sheet.But the past year has seen the beginnings of a transformation. Just a few weeks after flotation, the company was in merger talks with Hardy Underwriting, and after these came to nothing, it announced it was to launch a Bermuda-based business, raising £90m through a rights issue to fund the expansion.Yesterday, the group said the Bermuda division was up and running, and, while the prospects for its business depend on a good credit rating, this is beginning to look like a formality.Back in London, Omegahas upped its participation in Syndicate 958 - taking more than 15 per cent in 2006, compared with just 0.5 per cent a year ago.
As well as its role as managing agent, Omega subscribed to a small amount of the underwriting risk - taking on 0.5 per cent of the syndicate's capacity in 2005. Buy.Omega Underwriting buoyed by promise of long-term growthIn April Omega Underwriting became the first Lloyd's of London insurance company to list on the Alternative Investment Market, raising more than £18m in the process.At the time, its main source of income was the fees and commissions it received for its role as managing agent of Lloyd's Syndicate 958 - famous for being the only syndicate to have turned a profit in every year since 1980. It is worth more than that, and if a big name manufacturer signs up for ARC's video subsystems the impact could be dramatic Not for the faint hearted, but worth a punt. The company is excited about the possibilities, particularly in light of the increasing demand for visual content among telecoms operators.With 23p of net cash per share and a declining burn rate, at 26p the market values the ongoing operations of this business at little more than £4m. ARC's video subsystem technology will be launched on Monday, allowing digital video downloading to a range of equipment, regardless of how that information is formatted. Its chief executive Carl Schlachte took over the company about two years ago, and most observers think he has done a good job in turning the company around, selling subsidiaries and trimming 7 per cent of its staff.Still, there is much to do, and yesterday's results show the company is some way from making a profit.