No, what I think happened in my case was that I hadn't flown in 14 years, but that doesn't mean I didn't have a license. Mine expired year 2000 so I didn't have to redo any exams (if there now is a 10 year limit). I think the old license holders who bridged the crossing over to JAA also got grandfathered in somehow - once you've had a valid license in the old system, you were welcome over to the new one and that could have been an overriding rule in my case as well. I'm not sure.
By the way, there was no oral exam before my recent proficiency check/checkride/revalidation/whatever-they-wanna-call-it. There were some questions in the air, but nothing close to an oral grilling of any kind.
The point is, conscientious as I am, I naturally buy the latest UK Aviation Law & Meteorology book that's part of the syllabus for PPL's doing the exam today, and much of this info is not in there. At least I can't find it. The 500ft rule is however, after having had a re-read.
So, SoCal, perhaps you think this is basic stuff that I should know, but by the many answers of differing opinion in this thread suggests that maybe I'm not the only one who's a bit fuzzy on these.