Orville Wright, one of the first two men to fly, was expelled from school because of bad behavior. Ludwig van Beethoven was rude and ill-mannered

and was subject to wild fits of rage. Pope John XXIII was sent home with a note saying he continually came to class unprepared; he did not deliver the note. Louis Armstrong, the great jazz singer and saxaphone player, spent time in an institution for delinquent boys. Paul Cezanne, the painter, had a bad temper and would stamp his feet in hysterical rage whenever he felt thwarted. William Wordsworth, the poet, was described before his eighth birthday as a “stubborn, wayward and intractable boy”. Sarah Bernhardt was expelled from school three times. Will Rogers was incorrigible at school and ran away from home. Arturo Toscanini was an obstinate and disobedient boy; once he made up his mind not to do something, nothing could make him change his mind.

THOMAS ARMSTRONG, The Myth of the A.D.D.S. Child, Published by Penguin, New York.