I'm death to good teachers
Two teachers were particularly important to me. One was my first proper Maths teacher. He was a scary bugger - so scary that I started deliberately throwing up in the mornings to avoid going to school because I was too terrified to face him. And then I got over it, and somewhere he noticed I had a talent for the subject and nurtured it so that by the end of the year, it was my favourite subject that stayed with me for life.

He was an alcoholic and depressive, and the year after I left the school, he committed suicide.

Years later, during A-Levels, I had a physics teacher that was completely insane but brilliantly inspirational. He had the poshest voice in the world and used to come out with bizarre statements and catchphrases, such as 'take a memo to self, Victoria Street is the stationery capital of the world' or 'ladies, you will have experienced this phenomenon the last time you made a creme brulee; gentlemen, you will have seen it when working on your motor car'. Despite his upper-class lunacy (and affected sexism), he was a liberal and strong believer in an all-round education - allowing me time off homework while I was directing a play, and conducting occasional lessons in the pub.

The year after I left *that* school, he was murdered - according to rumour, by some bloke he picked up in a bar.

Good teachers should clearly keep their distance from me.
( flatfrog Staring vacantly into space, Fri 18 Mar 2011, 10:31, Reply)