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Most memorable/fondest memory of Univ? Bump supper after rowing in the successful Univ. rugby eight. My only experience of ‘on the river’.
Awkward moments at Univ? Too many to choose just one. Several involved conversations with Lady Maud!
The most important thing I learnt? The humility and open-mindedness of truly great academics. Has this been lost in the age of the celebrity pundit?
Most important thing you wish you had learnt at Oxford? More about the real world outside academia, although I am not sure this is the function of a place like Oxford.
Percent satisfaction with Oxford? 100%. I am afraid I was too easily swept up in the ‘dreaming spires/Brideshead’ romance of it all.
Proudest achievement of my career? Individual instances of success with various pupils one has tried to help.
Lowest point in my life? Having to leave Kenya in a hurry after a major row with my African bosses.
Adjective that best describes career? Enjoyable – perhaps a bit too comfortable.
% of potential achieved? Tricky! Either way, one is going to look conceited. I’d say 80%.
Most significant unfulfilled ambition? That book.
Level of optimism about medium-term future of the world? Extremely low. Insurmountable problems in all directions – and yet Mankind has this extraordinary ability to survive most things thrown at it.
Personal/Professional Life: After a Dip.Ed (now extinct!), went straight into teaching biology at Felsted School, Essex. Quickly rose to the dizzy heights of Housemaster. Was granted a two year sabbatical with my wife Rosemary in the Seychelles. Paradise for a zoologist and I published a few bits and pieces. My youngest daughter was born out there. Then Headmaster of Bembridge School on the Isle of Wight, my first experience of working in a ‘developing country’. Super little school, which strangely (too complicated to explain here) had a unique collection of John Ruskin’s archive and art. We used to take students up to Brantwood, Ruskin’s old house in the Lake District. Sadly, the collection is now at Lancaster University and Bembridge is merged with Ryde School.
Next, to be Head of Hillcrest School in Nairobi, more English than an English public school and fed by a network of wonderful little up-country Prep Schools. Perfectly located , as I could be in the National Park watching lions half an hour after the end of school. While in Kenya, I served two years as ‘ Master’ (rather grand) of the Oxford and Cambridge Society of Kenya. Apart from organising various dinners and May Balls at the Muthaiga Club, we administered a decent sized scholarship fund to help young Kenyans who had gained Oxbridge places.
Retired and returned to UK. Took a two year contract to run an international school in Riyadh, SA. A very interesting experience but not particularly enjoyable, especially for Rosemary (not one to go round covered up). Retired again and then took another short contract to be Director of a school in Amman. Lovely country, the exact opposite of fundamentalist Saudi. We even sang the Messiah at our little Christian church. The Iraq war was coming to its conclusion and King Abdullah offered sanctuary to Saddam Hussein’s two daughters. As we had the royal children at my school, the King asked us to take Saddam’s grandchildren. Frightful little brats, with no idea of how to behave. I had their confiscated mobile phones in the drawer of my desk and I always hoped that Saddam might phone one day, so that I could claim the reward. No such luck. In the end, I had to take them out of class and tell them when the grandfather was captured. Quite sad.
Finally retired, except for a bit of this and that at the local Sixth-form College. Our holiday cottage on the North Norfolk coast allows me to keep up the birdwatching.
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