ABSTRACT
Savas’s mother had been raised as a white Protestant in a middle-class rural area, while his father was a Muslim of Middle Eastern origin, who had emigrated to England two years before the marriage. The cultural backgrounds of the two parents were diverse. Father was learning English, which was spoken in the home. The first child of the family had been a girl, who had shown a flair for languages, and had achieved excellent school reports. Savas’s arrival had been the fulfilment of his father’s desire for ‘a son’. Savas did not exhibit the flair for language shown by his sister, nor did his scholastic achievements match hers. Both parents were aware of the boy in terms of his ‘failure’ to equal his sister.
