June Brown: We had the most sensible sex education when I was at school
Long-time Eastenders actress June Brown has opened up about sex education when she was at school, saying she was given “the most sensible” education.
The 88-year-old, who joined Eastenders in 1985, said her class was taught about the reproductive system of rabbits when she was at school.
In ‘The Thought Chamber’ on BBC Radio 4, Brown said: “I was very interested in biology. Incidentally we had the most sensible sex education that I can imagine because when I was at my high school and we were learning biology we learned the reproductive system of rabbits, and at the end Miss George said ‘it’s the same with humans’ – which is all we wanted to know.”
Brown, who has received an MBE, also said she kept on working for so long because the value of her pensions had gone down.
She said: “You might laugh at that and think ‘she’ll never be poor when she’s old’ but I’ve not squirreled away lots of money.
“I’ve had two pensions each that have gone down by 50 per cent.”
She also opened up about losing her eyesight, saying: “I see things in my eyes now. My eyes are not very good. In the left occasionally I do get this small circle with what looks like cross-wires.
“I do pray about my sight – maybe it will return.”
Sex and Relationships Education (SRE) is taught across the UK, but is not statutory. Various political figures and activists have campaigned to have it taught in all schools.
Brown in 2013 said it felt like a challenge playing Dot Cotton in Eastenders during the late 1980s, when Dot had difficulty in accepting homosexuality.
