Favourite teacher

Share your memories and stories from your days at school, and find out the truth behind the rumours....Remember the teachers and pupils, tell us who you remember and why...

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michael scuffil
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Re: Favourite teacher

Post by michael scuffil »

Were you a classicist, Pat? If so, I daresay quite different criteria apply. I only had Macnutt in my UF year, where I'm afraid it was just learning rules and reading Res Gestae (and bits of the Aeneid).

I had considerable respect for Seaman, though he couldn't really come to terms with the 60s.
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Re: Favourite teacher

Post by menace2 »

Yes classics and one of his fortunate scholars
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Re: David Jesson-Dibley

Post by Martin Hayman »

michael scuffil wrote: Mon Nov 05, 2007 5:11 pmAnd who were my favourite teachers:
the late David Jesson Dibley
Yes, an inspiration, and the defining experience of my education at CH
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Re: Favourite teacher

Post by postwarblue »

Boom McNutt took me through Herodotus in UF and it was plod plod plod as I remember although I liked Herodotus in translation later in life. He sat at his desk I suppose composing his Ximines crosswords for the Observer while I, unnoticed, wrote out all the Greek propositions on the cover of my Greek Grammar because I could never remember them otherwise. I knew nothing of his sadistic proclivities until I read about them in Norman Longmate's 'A Shaping Season'.

David J-D I warmed to and enjoyed his classes, just as I did those of Gad Malins, in sharp contrast to the dull unimaginative pedantry of Kit Aitken and CO Healey.
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Re: Best teacher

Post by Pe.A »

Bob wrote: Fri Dec 29, 2006 12:55 pm My all time favourite has got to be Dr Ross Stuart, He was housemaster of Maine A in my senior years and had taught me English as a junior. I have nothing but fond memories, respect and thanks for the man who helped me grow. He was always fair, (and I'm sure still is), and treated us with respect and consideration. Clive Kemp was another great guy, to juniors he was very firm but always fair and as a senior you saw a whole new side to him, no longer a stuffy Latin teacher but a mountaineer, adventurer and an incredible skier.
had a Dude Lebowski feel to him
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Post by Pe.A »

Ajarn Philip wrote: Sat Jul 14, 2007 9:50 pm First time on this website, and the nostalgia is killing me! This particular string will run and run.
John Hall Matthews: junior house master Maine A and asst chaplain - I remember watching the first moon landing in his front room, and I will never forget his efforts to stamp out the more invidious bullying of squits by their "nursemaids."
Bob Hailey: a soccer man, but a gentleman. (Hell, nobody's perfect.)
BSGregory: who inevitably had the m-m-mickey taken something rotten, but was a good housemaster.
Peter Brotherton: as with most of the teachers I remember well, he never taught me (coincidence?) - great guy.
Christopher "S#d" Stace - I remember once raising my hand while holding a handkerchief and being asked if I was answering the question or offering my surrender. He liked sarcasm, but he got me through Latin O level, and I quite liked his style.
Gerald Davies: I played wing forward against him in a Colts v. Masters game. Ouch.
Noel Thingy-Wotsit: the first drama teacher at CH. Thank you, even if I can't remember your surname.
Richard Palmer: another all round good man.
Killer Fry: he always reminded me of Gregory Peck. (Apologies to very young Old Blues.)
And a guy who briefly taught me medieval history who had a very beautiful daughter.
Drama teacher was Duncan Noel-Paton
sejintenej
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Re: Favourite teacher

Post by sejintenej »

If I didn't post here years ago I have to mention:

Mr Crosland who many others have praised and who taught A level physics in a manner very different to other teachers but was highly effective; one looked forward to his lessons.

Mr Kirby; what has not been said about him? Very different though I don't know if I actually learned anything in his lessons except that the end of a log is not a comfortable seat.

Mr Herbert. Housemaster of Col A but never seen. I'm not sure what he was supposed to teach but for me he went far beyond the norm, arranging Spanish lessons for me partially because I didn't fancy German (which I found impossible even in my fifties!). Those Spanish lessons stood me in good stead with my first girlfriend and then throughout my professional career working in Gib and later with South American countries. The most useful of all the lessons I had at CH and I am still getting weekly lessons.


I do have to disagree about Nell Todd. A sheet of paper and some fings were dumped in front of me and I was told to paint. With my background "what is painting?". "What is she talking about?" No explanation, no exhibition of any painting, nothing whatsoever. What an absolute bore and she didn't teach a single thing. A waste of time and money. Now, in my seventies, I see paintings and photographs which I can appreciate so why the h*** was she so incapable of showing us what could be done so that I could try to do it?
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michael scuffil
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Re: Favourite teacher

Post by michael scuffil »

sejintenej wrote: Thu Apr 04, 2019 8:59 pm If I didn't post here years ago I have to mention:

Mr Crosland who many others have praised and who taught A level physics in a manner very different to other teachers but was highly effective; one looked forward to his lessons.

Mr Kirby; what has not been said about him? Very different though I don't know if I actually learned anything in his lessons except that the end of a log is not a comfortable seat.

Mr Herbert. Housemaster of Col A but never seen. I'm not sure what he was supposed to teach but for me he went far beyond the norm, arranging Spanish lessons for me partially because I didn't fancy German (which I found impossible even in my fifties!). Those Spanish lessons stood me in good stead with my first girlfriend and then throughout my professional career working in Gib and later with South American countries. The most useful of all the lessons I had at CH and I am still getting weekly lessons.


I do have to disagree about Nell Todd. A sheet of paper and some fings were dumped in front of me and I was told to paint. With my background "what is painting?". "What is she talking about?" No explanation, no exhibition of any painting, nothing whatsoever. What an absolute bore and she didn't teach a single thing. A waste of time and money. Now, in my seventies, I see paintings and photographs which I can appreciate so why the h*** was she so incapable of showing us what could be done so that I could try to do it?
I didn't know Crozzie except in a lower form, and then again in the Astronomical Society. Liked him well enough.
Agree about Kirby's lessons, mostly. But you could learn a hell of a lot by exploring his classroom and the things in it. It was there that I first discovered the work of Eadweard Muybridge.
I agree entirely about Nell Todd. She taught me absolutely zilch. And frankly, didn't even try. She also fell lock, stock and barrel for the Italic handwriting craze of the 1950s, which in retrospect I can see was seriously misunderstood and thoroughly misguided.
David Herbert was a civilized man. How he put up with some of his colleagues amazes me. He taught me theatrical make-up which got me into the atmosphere of the DramSoc without having to act. (Incidentally another make-upper in those days was Ian Prodger (ThA) whose death was recently reported. A handsome guy, he was reputed to have had a remarkable affair with the Sergeant's daughter.)
Th.B. 27 1955-63
sejintenej
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Re: Favourite teacher

Post by sejintenej »

michael scuffil wrote: Fri Apr 05, 2019 11:22 am
I agree entirely about Nell Todd. She taught me absolutely zilch. And frankly, didn't even try. She also fell lock, stock and barrel for the Italic handwriting craze of the 1950s, which in retrospect I can see was seriously misunderstood and thoroughly misguided.

David Herbert was a civilized man. How he put up with some of his colleagues amazes me. He taught me theatrical make-up which got me into the atmosphere of the DramSoc without having to act. (Incidentally another make-upper in those days was Ian Prodger (ThA) whose death was recently reported. A handsome guy, he was reputed to have had a remarkable affair with the Sergeant's daughter.)
Nell Todd: She also fell lock, stock and barrel for the Italic handwriting craze of the . IMHO it was infinitely better that the "doctors handwriting" with which we are assailed nowadays. I had to learn it at school; well done it is easily legible and even attractive.

David Herbert; the epitome of a gentlemen. He had been a professor in Andalucia before coming to CH - I think Seville so at least he was on a par or better than many of his peers.
What happens if a politician drowns in a river? That is pollution.
What happens if all of them drown? That is solution!!!
michael scuffil
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Re: Favourite teacher

Post by michael scuffil »

Re Kirby's lab, which, as I said above, was a real treasure trove for anyone who stayed after school or popped in outside school hours.

But it did contain a large hand-drawn poster illustrating what went on in a pasture: cow eats grass, produces milk/meat, cowpat fertilizes ground. (And probably a bit more beside.). However, the cowpat was labelled 'broken-down cow', which sounds good, but perpetuates a myth which, I discover, most people believe. Namely that what comes out of a cow's backside is (or was) a component of the cow. It isn't. No material passes from any animal into its gut; the movement is entirely the other way round (goes for humans and jellyfish too). The cowpat should have been labelled 'broken-down grass'. (Of course broken-down cow does reach the meadow in the form of urine; also possibly in the form of sweat, and maybe also in the form of breathed-out gases.)

This point is not altogether academic. Miss Annabel Anorexic may take laxatives in the belief that she is excreting broken-down Annabel and thus losing weight. She isn't. (Though she may be speeding up the passage of matter through her gut and thus preventing it being metabolized in the first place, but that is something different.)
Th.B. 27 1955-63
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J.R.
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Re: Favourite teacher

Post by J.R. »

A lovely post, Michael !

You really jogged my memory over that poster.
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ZeroDeConduite
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Re: Favourite teacher

Post by ZeroDeConduite »

Ditto: re: the cowpat poster.
My overriding memory of Uncle is the Sunday morning session in his lab - ostensibly to practice morse code - where he had us calculate the full wave aerial length for a particular ham radio frequency, then measure out copper wire to be about 3x wavelength and string it up in the lime trees outside his lab windows - nearly 200m of wire.
We then connected the end to his personal 22 set, with Class D wavemeter attached, and fine tuned the 22 set transmitter into the ham channel.
Then we sat down at the morse key and began CQ CQ CQ... (an invitation for any operators listening on that frequency to respond.)
After a couple of goes/waits we got a response - from a ham enthusiast who when asked for his location responded with Singapore!!!
Even Uncle was particularly pleased with his demonstration that day of the properties of the Heaviside Layer.
An excellent heuristic experience :-)
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Re: Favourite teacher

Post by LongGone »

“No material passes from any animal into its gut; the movement is entirely the other way round”
Professor Pedant wakes!
In fact a significant amount of mucous is secreted into the intestine and intestinal epithelial cells are constantly sloughed off.
Professor Pedant goes back to sleep.
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If an egg falls on a stone: alas for the egg
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Re: Favourite teacher

Post by dbrinton8@gmail.com »

my favourite teacher was a bloke called andrrew he taught me statistics and how to walk really fast. i used to know his surname for decades but i started drinking. he went to bristol and warn me against oxbridge. really nice bloke. x
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Re: Favourite teacher

Post by rockfreak »

What have you done with your fast walking skills since leaving school? Apart from walking fast.
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