Patricia Routledge

Watching ITV... and other things we once saw as common

• My maternal grandmother worked as a secretary in a building next to Church House in Westminster. On one childhood visit she whisked me off to Peter Jones department store in Sloane Square to ogle the china in its don’t-touch display cases. Desperate for a pee, I asked a passing assistant where the toilets were. Afterwards, my vivacious, funny granny pulled me aside and said: “You can say loo, bog, water-closet, or even s--t-house, but you must never, ever say ‘toilet’.”