Just when you thought Madonna, the pop diva famous for her raunchy videos and eye- popping on- stage appearances, revealing costumes and infamous tellings-off by the Pope for burning crosses, couldn't possibly get any more shocking, she confounds us all and does the absolutely unimaginable - she puts her two-year-old daughter's name down for a pukka British public school, Cheltenham Ladies College to be precise.

"Cheltenham", as those in the know call it, has been described as a bastion of tradition and conjures up images of strawberries and cream, dainty triangles of cucumber sandwiches nibbled with the little finger curled and people who say things like: "I say, Angela, you are a brick!" in a Jemima Goldsmith accent.

The school itself, like many other famous educational institutions, was established more than a century ago and has a famous alumni who have gone on to achieve world domination and reach the highest echelons of power. Past pupils include former Tory Minister Virginia Bottomley, high-flying City whiz- with-kids Nicola Horlick and er, that's it, I think. But anyway, it is a posh school and caters for the very rich.

That's all very well but it is still hard to imagine Madonna on the first day of term, rolling up to the entrance gates in a car big enough to accommodate an entire science block, with daughter Lourdes at one side, flanked by an army of bodyguards all bearing an abundance of matching Gucci luggage. With a mother who starred in films like Desperately Seeking Susan in which she played a gum-chewing, fishnet-wearing, midriff-baring goodtime gal and other less notable parts where she er, gulp, bared a lot more of her parts. Her daughter is hardly likely to be able to settle down quietly and inconspicuously at school.

Of course, the £4,500 term fees are not going to present any kind of problem for Madonna. She probably spends that much on one pair of designer shades or on a splurge at Bloomingdale's or on special creams, lotions and potions to keep her looking young and beautiful. Because believe it or not, the star has reached the age of 40.

She's been such a wild child for so long, ever since her first appearance on Top of the Pops in fact, where she pranced around in a long, fluorescent pink wig miming to Like a Virgi. As if that wasn't bad enough, she went on to do many more toe-curlingly embarrassing things including a film called In Bed with Madonna and an X-rated book featuring lots of rude pictures of herself. Each time she re-invented her image she seemed to get worse and worse. But then she had a baby.

Motherhood is always a life-changing experience, and a fab one, especially if you can afford a nanny to do the boring bits like changing nappies, making bottles of feed etc. It can also be inspiring. Madonna went on to win critical acclaim and an Oscar nomination for her role in Evita. At the recent MTV awards she swept the board. And probably went home and swept the Farley's Rusks crumbs off the carpet.

Her transformation into Earth Mother will perhaps not last that long but at least she now has Lourdes to keep her in check and say: " What on Earth are you wearing mother? You can't go out like that!" No wonder Lourdes is off to boarding school, eh?

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.