Fred Duffield was a teacher colleague of Ken Barlow's at Weatherfield Comprehensive. When Phil Jennings sponsored the school's sports teams and issued kits bearing the name of his leisure group PJ Leisure, Ken disapproved of the deal and spoke to Fred to gauge his feelings on the subject. Fred admitted that he hadn't seen the strips but said that it was typical of headmistress Sue Jeffers's conduct since she joined the school, telling Ken about a sponsored ping-pong-athon held a few weeks after she joined for which he was asked to give up his weekend. Fred suggested that Ken speak to Mrs Jeffers, promising him that people in the staff room would back him up if it came to a confrontation. Ken did so, but when she accused him of being against Phil because of his friendship with Deirdre, Ken