Brian or Ducky or The Geek, Keith or Cameron

Film John Hughes has died. He was 59 and his heart gave out whilst jogging, which is a horrible way to go. Over the next few days there'll be countless obituaries far better than anything I could write at speed here. For some people of my generation he's a titan, introducing us to the American high school and like the best writers demonstrating that the emotions we were feeling were universal, that there was nothing happening in Shermer, Illinois that wasn't also happening in the hallways of our schools.

I might have watched Grange Hill, but in my heart of hearts it's The Breakfast Club or Pretty In Pink or Sixteen Candles or Some Kind of Wonderful or even Ferris Bueller's Day Off that reflected how I felt about school (or in the case of Weird Science wished I did). I was Brian or Ducky or The Geek, Keith or Cameron and probably still am, but Hughes showed there was nothing wrong with that, it was ok just to be friends with Claire, Andie, Samantha, Amanda or Sloane. They'll come around eventually (still waiting).