John Hume: When the history of St Columb's College in this century is written, it will be clear that one of its major transformations, if not its major transformation, took place as a result of the 11-plus examination . . . . We were the first from working-class backgrounds to attend St Columb's and, in practice, this meant that the population of the school was transformed in numbers . . .

Following our arrival, Nissen huts sprang up rapidly to provide classrooms for the huge increase in pupils, particularly from the city of Derry and from districts in the city from which boys had never previously attended St Columb's . . . . None of us would be where we are today without that education.