The report "Mathematics Counts" or, in what became common parlance, the "Cockcroft" report was an unusual government report on a significant aspect of the school curriculum. Unusual because the author, William Cockcroft produced a set of ideas to which teachers of mathematics could relate and respond. It was said by one educational pundit that "Cockcroft was the first report in which you were able to find the words teaching, and learning in the same sentence". Paragraph 243, or as it became known '35, became the most powerful driver of curriculum development in mathematics for generations. In short the "Cockcroft Report" made sense to teachers who sought to improve the mathematics classroom experience for learners. Some might ask, "where did it all go wrong?" Thirty years on, what is the "Cockcroft" legacy?--does "Mathematics is a difficult subject both to teach and to learn" still ring true? (Contains 3 figures and 5 boxes.)