COMMENTS :

Ivan (Spadger) Sparrow - 1957 to '60

I had “Henry” for Maths in my last year, and as his picture portrays, he was a strict, serious, no-nonsense teacher, who was immediately down to business the moment he walked into the classroom. He was of large build, portly one could say, with an air of authority and command about him. Absolutely pedantic in respect to handwriting, clarity, and presentation of homework. Many a time I and others had our homework torn to shreds and put in the waste paper basket, followed by “Do it again” - not because of incorrect answer(s) (he hadn’t even got that far), but solely because the decimal points were not directly and precisely underneath each other in a calculation, or he considered the handwriting of the problem to be not neat enough or uniform. For those reading this of less mature years – as hard as it may seem to believe – we had NO calculators, personal computers, Ipads, or the like – NO “save a copy” - No “cut & paste” - this was back in the times of the Real World. “Henry” would walk into the classroom and if you were slow at standing-up or made a noise pushing your chair back – you were “noted”. After a reciprocal “Good morning/afternoon” you were told to sit. The routine that followed is still embeddded in my brain. He would reach into his waistcoat pocket and remove a small pen-knife with which he would commence sharpening his stick of chalk to a small wedge end, and whilst doing so would say “pass your homework down to the front”, then when done, would place the sheets on top of his desk. This was then followed with “Who had problems with their homework”? Those who were “game” enough to put their hand up were asked what their problems were, after which he would go through the problems on the board, more than once if necessary, before he would ask “Is that now clear”? When no further hands were raised he would announce what the lesson would be about for that day, and begin writing on the roller-board with his piece of sculptured chalk, in what could only be described as “immaculate” hand/chalk writing. Often he would relate his mantra “If I can write clearly on a black board with a piece of chalk, you can do better than this using a fountain pen on paper” – He was right of course (for students of today, as they may never have heard/seen/used a fountain pen, I must explain, that it was a then modern day invention based on a Quill – now Google “Quill” and find out what that was). About ten minutes before the end of the period he would have finished his lesson and would ask the class “Who does not understand”? Without remark, he would go through whatever and as often as was necessary, for the "Heroes" that had the courage to put their hand up. Then would come those dreaded words “Right, for homework .......”. I used to dread his classes, as many other of my class-mates did, as there was absolutely “no quarter given” by “Henry”. However, now when I look back, I realise what a “brilliant” teacher he was and that his method could not be faulted, yet I have heard it said that he did not actually hold a Degree in teaching Maths. Despite his strictness he could, on very odd occasions, be steered in a different direction from that which he had planned, for instance – I clearly remember one time when he was talking about parabolic curves, some “clever dick” in the class put up his hand and asked the question (Sir, is that the same information you needed to plonk a shell on the enemy, from a tank”? (again, as with “Nosey” parker, we had some belief that he had some connection with the Tank Corp – rightly or wrongly, it didn’t matter). “Henry left off what he was doing and went straight into the calculation of Trajectory Curves – far more interesting for us especially as he was enthusiastic, articulate, demonstrative, and passionate – a totally different “Henry” we knew, however, we were just only being “conned” into believing he was human and likeable until the moment he said, “Right, now for your homework ....”.

“Henry”, you may or may not be with us any more, irrespective, I take my hat off to you. I didn’t realise it at the time but I actually learned an awful lot from you, sufficient that during my career I have emulated your teaching method with great outcomes for the recipients, although I like to think I was not as feared as I was of you at the time. I am still a stickler regarding decimal points, even in rough calculations, and legible hand writing is an absolute must for me. As you also used to say “Untidy work shows an untidy mind and an untidy mind will have untidy thinking”, and “If the person you are communicating with will be unable to read it, then don’t write it”.

Thanks “Henry”.

John Warner - 1961 to '66

He punished using a Tee square which he referred to as his "Persuader". I found that he taught through intimidation although I did learn from his lessons. Whilst on a school holiday to Germany I learnt that he also had a human side.

Mike (Mick) Pusey - 1957 to '60

I only had Henry for maths in the 6th form and I couldn't get on his wavelength or he mine. I remember him as being a bit superior but most of all his big black Daimler car.