Class C4

Class C4 at Coal Hill School was taught by Barbara Chesterton in 1963; she taught history. It was the smallest of the history venues, and close enough to Ian Chesterton's lab next door to smell the stench.

In one session, Barbara taught about the Corn Laws. (PROSE: Nothing at the End of the Lane) One of Barbara's students, Susan Foreman, did poorly as she frequently disagreed with the textbook. (PROSE: The Rag & Bone Man's Story) Barbara told her mother Joan that Susan had very strange gaps in her knowledge of history; Joan thought that she was being deliberately difficult, but Barbara always disagreed. (PROSE: A Long Night) She was top in one history test about Renaissance Italy, though. (PROSE: Time and Relative) One day when she brought with her the Blessing Star, she came top in an unexpected history test. (PROSE: The Rag & Bone Man's Story)

In November, Susan handed in a paper regarding decimal currency. She later asked to borrow The French Revolution, a book on the French Revolution. Barbara found this curious, and shared this information with her colleague Ian, the science teacher of Class C3. (TV: "An Unearthly Child", PROSE: Nothing at the End of the Lane)

They didn't teach about World War II at Coal Hill, (PROSE: Tell Me You Love Me) nor did they teach about the fall of the Aztecs, on which Barbara had done her dissertation. (PROSE: Nothing at the End of the Lane) Barbara also did not teach about the Indian Mutiny, but the First Doctor speculated that if she had, she would have found that Susan knew a great deal more about it than her fellow students. (PROSE: The Duke's Folly)