Did anyone have any 'normal' teachers?
I had the usual catalogue of weirdos. Usually the weirdos were the best teachers though.

There was Mr Haslam who only walked in straight lines, looking right ahead and only turning at 90 degree angles. He once fell down an open inspection hatch in a corridor because of his looking straight ahead walking thing. He was Australian and resembled a giant koala bear. Genuinely nice guy.

There was Mr Sparks who seemed weird to us at the time because he had a great sense of humour and talked to us like we were adults. On retrospect he was a top bloke, at the time though we thought that his lack of patronising manner was downright odd.

Our headmaster Mr Howe was certifiably insane and was not allowed to be left alone in a room with students or to administer corporal punishment (back when that sort of thing was allowed). We suspected that this was because he liked it too much but apparently it was because he once threw a typewriter at a kid. We all used to joke that he was mad and that his occasional absences for 'back-pain' were actually extended visits to the local mental hospital. Then we found out it was true! Joy!

As for corporal punishment and evil teachers, at a previous school we had a teacher called Mr Davis who used a riding crop to discipline us. Looking back on it as an adult, whipping little kids on the backside for any possible reason, like talking, getting maths questions wrong, having a pretty arse etc, seems to be a bit on the wrong side to me now. He sure seemed to get a lot of fun out of it though. Wanker. He beat, I mean taught, at a boys school in Hereford. Sue me bitch, I very dare you..
(Wascally Weasel now with 100% fewer jokes., Wed 9 Nov 2005, 19:35, Reply)