ALTHOUGH he will always be associated with Hull where he served as MP for 40 overs, John Prescott, who has died aged 86, was educated in Ellesmere Port - an experience that would have a fundamental effect on the Labour grandee's political outlook. 

Born in Prestatyn, Wales, in 1938,  Prescott left Wales in 1942 at the age of four and was brought up initially in Brinsworth, Rotherham in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. He attended Brinsworth Manor School, where in 1949 he sat but failed the 11-Plus examination to attend Rotherham Grammar School. Shortly afterwards, his family moved to Upton-by-Chester, and he attended Grange Secondary Modern School in nearby Ellesmere Port.

In 2016, Prescott wrote about how failing the 11-Plus led to a feeling of being labelled 'second best' which 'still burns inside'.

He said: "My dad Bert promised me and my brother Ray a bicycle if we got to a grammar school. Ray got the bike. I got a 20-mile bus trip to my secondary modern. 

"You might say so what? It didn’t stop me going on to become an MP and Deputy Prime Minister.

"But I did both in spite of failing the 11-plus, not because of it."

"Our children deserve encouragement as they grow, not told they’re a failure at 11. Some of us are late bloomers. I ended up studying at sea, and getting an economics degree from Hull University.

"I wanted to prove that those who judged me at 11 were wrong.

"The anger I felt when I was told I was second best at such a young age still burns inside. I don’t want other kids to go through that.

"There is no evidence it reduces inequality. In fact it increases it. The grammar school system is social and educational apartheid."

Prescott became a steward and waiter in the Merchant Navy, working for Cunard, and was a popular left-wing union activist. He married Pauline "Tilly" Tilston at Upton Church in Chester on 11 November 1961. He then went to Ruskin College, which specialises in courses for union officials, where he gained a diploma in economics and politics in 1965. In 1968, he obtained a BSc degree in economics and economic history from the University of Hull.

Prescott later  served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and as First Secretary of State from 2001 to 2007.