Britain is no longer a country for and says "Goodbye" to its scarce 'old' Champion of Lifelong Learning, David Watson

David, a man of abundant talent who chose to spend his life in Higher Education as an academic, manager, strategic thinker and policymaker and in the process enriched the lives of thousands of students and colleagues, has died at the age of sixty-five.

What you possibly didn't know about David, that he :

* was born, a Second World War baby boomer in 1949 in the small town of Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, passed
the 11+ exam and in 1960 went to Cheshunt Grammar School and at the age of thirteen, transferred to the prestigious boys' public school, Eton College, with his fees paid by 'Fleming Scholarship' through Hertfordshire County Council, which he later recalled as : "a short-lived pre-Sutton Trust-style initiative, immortalised in a novel called 'The Guinea Pig' by David Benedictus, very badly filmed with Richard Attenborough in the title role." http://ow.ly/IWbcy

 

* left school in 1968 to study undergraduate History at Clare College, the second oldest of University of Cambridge's thirty-one colleges, where his academic brilliance was recognised in the granting of a 'Foundation Scholarship' and his musical prowess recognised in the award of a 'Choral Exhibition' which carried financial remuneration after he was tested for : 'A good ear, ability to sing in tune, a ‘true’ voice with the potential for blend, good sight-reading and genuine motivation' and involved him thrice weekly choral evensong and choral compline http://ow.ly/IW8VX and extra services, such as Advent Carol services, All Souls and Ash Wednesday vigils, weddings, funerals, memorial services.

* graduated in 1971 with a First Class pass in both parts of the History Tripos, followed by an M.A. at the age of twenty-four in 1973 and then a PhD in 'Intellectual History' at the University of Pennsylvania in 1975 as a 'Thouron Scholar',  a generous exchange fellowship which paid for his two year's tuition, a stipend for his board, entertainment and travel and where his mentor, Bruce Kuklick, was author of  : 'ground breaking books on the history of American philosophy and religion, has also published a wonderful social history of a baseball stadium. I have used his example as an excuse for professional engagement with a wide range of historical and quasi-historical problems.'

 

* said in 1999 : 'In almost every context where I am asked to state my profession I like to say "historian." This is what I was trained to be, very intensively, as is the British style through undergraduate studies and the American practice in graduate school (incidentally, a combination I am happy to recommend). It is also a profession that I have continued to practice, even while much of my time has been seized by an alternative descriptor - more persuasive on the passport and for the bank manager - that of 'university administrator'.'

* having made the decision to teach in order to develop 'scholarly conversation' in his field, the history of ideas, eschewed the pursuit of a career in an elite university and at the age of twenty-six, took up his first teaching post to develop new courses at the newly merged Crewe and Alsager College of Higher Education in 1975 and left in 1981 as Senior Lecturer, Principal Lecturer in Humanities.

 * in 1988 published 'Margaret Fuller : An American Romantic' based on his research on the 1810 Massachusetts-born philosopher who had published in 1845 America's first widely read feminist tract entitled 'Women in the Nineteenth Century' in 1845 and recognised that she : 'confused, unsettled and quite simply scared many of the men she met. Edgar Allan Poe divided humanity into three classes: men, women, and Margaret Fuller.'

* having moved to Oxford Polytechnic, at the age of thirty-two in 1981, progressed from the position of Dean of the Modular Course, to Deputy Director and finally Professor and focussed, in his first book on Higher Education practice, on its innovative curriculum in his 'Managing the Modular Course' in 1989 and expressed his continued interest in intellectual history in 'Arendt', published in 1992, based on the German-born political scientist, Hannah Arendt, in which he believed, in her philosophy she : 'identified with the existential pole of the Kantian legacy - and in part the achievement of Heidegger.'

* was appointed Director of Brighton Polytechnic in 1990 and from 1992-2005, Vice Chancellor of its successor the 'University of Brighton', where he was acknowledged not only as an outstanding university leader, but was also sought as an adviser and published as an author of influential works on higher education policy and curriculum: 'Developing Professional Education' in 1992, 'Managing the University Curriculum' with Jean Bocock in 1994 and 'Lifelong Learning and the University' in 1998, the year he received a knighthood for 'Services to Higher Education'.

 

* sat on the National Committee of Inquiry, chaired by Ron Dearing, whose Report was published in 1997, 'Higher Education in the Learning Society' and described its most controversial recommendation : to make students pay for their university education as : "one of the most eagerly awaited and arguably most distinctive acts of the New Labour Government" but was subsequently critical of the decision of the Blair Government to modify the proposals beyond the basic £1000 tuition fee and believed their actions to be "too greedy."

* in 1999 in the University of Brighton 'Millennium Lecture' entitled on 'The Necessity of the Historical Imagination' said : 'The principle of selection is, of course, always personal. In my case I feel very similar to the comedian Eddie Izzard when he was asked in interview "why on earth he had decided to put on his one man show in Paris, in French - a language he hardly knew ?"  He explained that he "likes to confront things that frighten him." '

* lent his services to the town of Brighton as Chair of the 'Brighton Festival' between 2002-2005 and, unusually for a Vice Chancellor, continued publish his research into Higher Education, which made it easy for him to return, in 2005, to a full-time academic role as leader of the 'MBA Higher Education Management' at the London Institute of Education, a programme for “people at the beginning of the middle of their careers.”

 * in 2007, told the House of Commons 'Select Committee on Education and Skills' : "In the 1960s, when I was an undergraduate, there was a view that if you did not get in when your time came, you had missed it forever, and I think that culture has now changed. I think there is a view that higher education is there as a service that can be accessed in many different ways and at many different times during the life course. I think I am trying to play back to you, Chairman, the notion that none of these decisions are ever, once and for all, irrevocable decisions either to go or not to go; and for the students who decide not to go it is very important, I think, that the opportunity does remain there throughout the rest of their careers and their lives."

.* served as Chair of the Commission of  'Inquiry into the Future of Lifelong Learning' with its brief : "As a society we should be ambitious about the opportunities and capacity for learning by our members. The Inquiry hopes to establish not only why but also how we can achieve this" and co-authored its Report : 'Learning Through Life' in 2009 and the following year made, what was to be his last move to become Vice-Principal of Green Templeton College, Oxford, where he oversaw the opening of its Advanced Studies Centre in 2014, along with a new library for post grads and a new gym on the main college site.

* additionally supported cultural and social life of College with his wife, Betty Pinto Skolnick, where the erstwhile 'choral exhibitioner' and ever- keen musician, recognised as an 'Honorary Member of the Royal College of Music' in 2007, hosted regular informal music evenings in the Lodgings for amateur College musicians and in 2013 was instrumental in the installation of Susan Collins 'Bighter Later' illumination of the Radcliffe Observatory as part of 'Oxford Light Night Celebrations'. http://ow.ly/J1sau

* between 2005 and 2012 served as President of the 'Society for Research into Higher Education' and was described by the Chair, his Brighton colleague Yvonne Hillier as : “one of the few truly honest men who combined intellectual prowess with genuine concern and friendship for colleagues … His genuine warmth for colleagues in the research community was much appreciated by newer and fully established researchers alike.”
.
*  saw the citation for his 'SRHE  Fellowship' recognise in him someone who : ‘would make it possible for us still to believe in the magic of academe, because we could see everything that we valued embodied in that one person – a brilliant student, a wonderful colleague, an outstanding teacher and researcher, admired and respected inside and outside the institutions he led, prominent in national policymaking, and making a significant contribution in the field of research into higher education.'

 

* in 2014 was critical of the Russell Group universities, the 'magic circle' of 24 leading institutions, which he saw as a "self-promoting marketing group" which had come to be treated as an objective measure of quality and argued that many universities and individual departments outside the Group were as good as those on the inside, but there is no way for them to join this "gentleman's club" and "It is a blatant exercise in exclusivity, with the primary objective of cornering the market in resources and political influence."

* in the Autumn of 2014 delivered the Staff Lecture at the University of Adelaide entitled : 'Does Higher Education Make You Think ?' in which he said :"Lord Eric Ashby, Vice-Chancellor at Cambridge, thought that Higher Education should have its own 'Hippocratic Oath', that there ought to be some set of values signed up to as you joined the institution and I've played with this idea over a number of years and have a response to the 'Ashby Challenge' in the form of a set of ten potential Commandments for Higher Education." : (third of the way through clip) : http://ow.ly/J02TX

• Strive to tell the truth
• Take care in establishing the truth
• Be fair
• Always be ready to explain
• Do no harm
• Keep your promises
• Respect you colleagues, and especially your opponents
• Sustain the community
• Guard your treasure
• Never be satisfied

* was described by Wes Streeting,  President of the National Union of Students between 2008 and 2010, in simple terms as :
 “One of the good guys in higher education : a fountain of knowledge”

What better epitaph might an old champion of Higher Education in Britain have ?

Britain is still a country, but its theatre no longer a stage for an old actor called Michael Gambon

Sadly, Michael, who is seventy-four years old has decided to bring his fifty-three year old theatre career to a close and the reason is : his struggle to learn his lines. “It’s a horrible thing to admit but I can’t do it. It breaks my heart. It’s when the script’s in front of me and it takes forever to learn. It’s frightening.” 
This has been coming on for some time. In 2009, when he was sixty-nine, it forced him to pull out of a National Theatre production of Alan Bennett's 'The Habit of Art'. Initially, he put his forgetfulness down to age and was worried it was a sign of Alzheimer’s disease, but doctors gave him the all-clear.

It was six months ago that he realised his days on stage were numbered when he was asked to read for a new play in the West End. “There was a girl in the wings and I had a plug in my ear so she could read me the lines. And after about an hour I thought, 'this can’t work. You can’t be in theatre, free on stage shouting and screaming and running around, with someone reading you your lines'.”

He has got round things to a degree by taking smaller parts, like his non-speaking role in Samuel Beckett’s 'Eh Joe' in Berlin in May last year, in which : "I just sit still, facing the camera, with all the emotions on my face projected and after half an hour, I have to cry." However, just before that in April he said he envisaged playing : "You know, the sort of part where he comes on and says a few words. A role that's played for laughs, like when the phone goes, he doesn't know where it is."

Michael has said he would continue to work in film and television, where he could be fed lines in small takes or read them from an autocue. At the moment he is appearing in Sky Atlantic's Arctic-set whodunit, 'Fortitude' and in the Spring appears in the BBC’s adaptation of  'The Casual Vacancy', JK Rowling’s first novel for adults in which he plays Howard Mollison, the owner of a village delicatessen in the 'apparently idyllic' village of Pagford, which under scrutiny turns out to be hiding darker goings on as the villagers fight for a place on the village council.

What you possibly didn't know about Michael. that he :

* was born in 1940 in Cabra, Dublin during the Second World War, where his mother was a seamstress and father an engineer, who after the War, sought work in the rebuilding of bomb damaged London and moved the family to Mornington Crescent.

 * as a boy, on the instigation of his father, became a British citizen while continuing to be brought up as a strict Roman Catholic, attended St Aloysius Boys' College (left) and then a school in Kent, before leaving with no qualifications at the age of fifteen in 1955.

* became an apprentice toolmaker with Vickers Armstrong, then at the age of 18, began to study drama at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and gained a BA in Classical Acting at the age of 21 in 1961 and along the way acquired a fascination and passion for collecting antique guns, clocks, watches and classic cars.

* made his professional stage début in the 1962 Gate Theatre Dublin's production of 'Othello', playing 'Second Gentleman' and at the age of 23, caught the eye of star-maker, Laurence Olivier, who was recruiting for 'spear carriers' for his new National Theatre Company and was taken on along with the also 'young', Robert Stephens, Derek Jacobi and Frank Finlay.


* after three years at the Old Vic with the National Theatre, was advised by Olivier to gain experience in provincial repertory theatre and 1967 joined the Birmingham Rep and was given the title roles in 'Othello' (right), 'Macbeth' and 'Coriolanus'.

* in 1968-70, on television, played a romantic lead, the swashbuckling Gavin Ker, in the BBC series 'The Borderers' and as a result was asked by 'James Bond' producer, Cubby Brocoli, to audition for the role in 1970, to replace George Lazenby : http://ow.ly/IJwCG

* in 1970s, played comedy as Tom at the Greenwich Theatre in Alan Ayckbourn's 'Norman Conquests' and serious theatre in  Harold Pinter's 'Betayal'.

* in 1980, at the age of forty, saw his career take off when he played in John Dexter's stage version of Brecht's, 'The Life of Galileo', of which Peter Hall said he was : "unsentimental, dangerous and immensely powerful" and the Sunday Times : his performance : "a decisive step in the direction of great tragedy... great acting" and fellow actors paid him the rare compliment of applauding him in the dressing room on the first night.

* became a household name as Philip Marlow in Dennis Potter's tv series, 'The Singing Detective' in 1986 (right), for which he won a BAFTA http://ow.ly/IJxWG and starred in Peter Greenaway's controversial film, 'The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover' : http://ow.ly/IJyfE

* was twice awarded the 'Laurence Olivier Theatre Award' in 1986 for 'Best Comedy Performance' for 'A Chorus of Disapproval' and '88 for 'Best Actor in a New Play' for his performance in 'A View from the Bridge'.

* in 1992, played a psychotic general in the Barry Levinson film, 'Toys' and he also starred as Georges Simenon's  detective Inspector 'Maigret' in the ITV series : http://ow.ly/IJZ8V

* In 2004, at the age of 64, played the lead role, 'Hamm', in Samuel Beckett's post-apocalyptic play 'Endgame' at the Albery Theatre, London and the following year finally achieved a lifelong ambition to play Falstaff in the National Theatre production of 'Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2'.

* in 2002, played President Lyndon B. Johnson in the tv film, 'Path to War' and was nominated for an Emmy Award for 'Best Actor in a Mini-series or Movie' http://ow.ly/IPdAr and the following year played the principal villain in Kevin Costner's Western film,'Open Range.'

* played Albus Dumbledore, Hogwarts's Headmaster, in 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban' in 2004 and also 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire' in 2005 http://ow.ly/IK0F3  and the four succeeding  Potter films from 2007-11 and said that when playing Dumbledore, did not "have to play anyone really. I just stick on a beard and play me, so it's no great feat. I never ease into a role—every part I play is just a variant of my own personality. I'm not really a character actor at all."

*  said : "I am a theatre actor, but the last ten years I've taken parts in movies because it keeps me in money" and returns to the big screen again when he plays Private Godfrey in the film version of 'Dad’s Army' to be released next year.
  
* successfully learned, collectively, hundreds of thousands of lines and thrilled his audiences, as :

* Coster Pearmain in 'The Recruiting Officer' and a player in Shaw's 'Saint Joan' at the National Theatre 1963 followed by :
* Diego in Schaffer's 'The Royal Hunt of the Sun' and a player in Frisch's 'Andorra' in 1964
* Eilif in Brecht's 'Mother Courage and Her Children' and Herrick in Miller's 'The Crucible' in 1965
* 'Macbeth' in the Forum Theatre, Billingham in 1968 ; as Andrew in Storey's 'In Celebration' and in the title role in Shakespeare's 'Coriolanus' at the Liverpool Playhouse in 1969
* Weibe in 'The Plebeians Rehearse the Uprising' ; Charles in Shaw's 'Major Barbara', Surrey in 'Henry VIII', Hotspur/Warwick/Fluellen in 'When Thou Art King in at the Royal Shakespeare Company 1970
* Guy Holden in 'The Brass Hat' at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford in 1972
* Robin at Greenwich Theatre in 'Not Drowning But Waving in 1973
* a player in Ayckbourn's 'The Norman Conquests,' at the Globe Theatre in 1975
* Simon in Gray's 'Otherwise Engaged' at the Queen's Theatre in 1976
* Jerry in Pinter's 'Betrayal' at the National Theatre and Bertie in 'Alice's Boys' at the Savoy Theatre, in 1978
* Buckingham in Shakespeare's 'Richard III' and Henry in Gray's 'Close of Play' at the National Theatre in 1979
* the title role in Brecht's 'The Life of Galileo', a player in Ayckbourn's 'Sisterly Feelings' and as Roderigo in Shakespeare's 'Othello' at the National Theatre in 1980
* Benedick in Shakespeare's 'Much Ado About Nothing' at the National Theatre in 1981
* the title roles at the RSC 'King Lear' and 'Anthony and Cleopatra' in 1982
* Dafydd in Ayckbourn's 'A Chorus of Dissproval' and Von Horvath in Hampton's 'Tales From Hollywood' at the National Theatre in 1983
* Deely in Pinter's 'Old Times' at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in 1985
* Spules in Ayckbourn's 'Tons of Money' at the National Theatre.in 1986, Jack in Ayckbourne's 'A Small Family Business' in 1987, Sergeant in Pinter's 'Mountain Language' and as Eddie in Miller's 'A View From The Bridge' at the National Theatre in 1988
* the title role in Chekhov's 'Uncle Vanya' at Vauderville Theatre, in 1988
* a player in 'Veterans Day' at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, in 1989
* the title role in Shakespeare's 'Othello' and Roland in Ayckbourne's 'Taking Steps' at Scarborough's Stephen Joseph Theatre in 1990
* Douglas in Ayckbourne's 'Man of the Moment' at the Globe Theatre, in 1990
 * Tom in Hare's 'Skylight' and the title role in Jonson's 'Volpone' at the National Theatre in 1995
* Tom Driberg in Chuchett's 'Tom and Clem' at the Aldwych Theatre, in 1997
* as 'the man' in the U.K. premiere of Reza's 'The Unexpected Man' at the RSC in 1998
* Captain Boyle in O'Casey's 'Juno and the Paycock' at Dublin's Gaity Theatre in 1999
* Shank in Wight's 'Cressida', at the Almeida Theatre/ Albery Theatre, London and played in Pinter's 'The Caretaker' at the Comedy Theatre in London 1n 2000 
* Hamm in Beckett's 'Endgame' at the Albery Theatre, London  in 2004
* Falstaff in Shakespeare's 'Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2' at the National Theatre in  2005
* a player in Becklett's 'Eh Joe' at the Gate Theatre, Dublin/ Duke of York's, London in 2006
* Hirst in Pinter's 'No Man's Land' at the Gate Theatre, Dublin / Duke of York Theatre, London in 2008.

* once said, with perfect understatement :
"Every part I play is just a variant of my own personality. No real character actor, of course, just me."

Britain is no longer a country for and says "Goodbye" to a scarce 'old' and tireless Prince of Teacher Trainers called Paul Ginnis

Paul, who described himself in his twitter profile as : 'Young at heart, Stoke City FC season ticket holder, driver for The Zombies, roadie for Southside Johnny, jukebox owner' and with perfect self-effacement : ' author, education trainer and consultant', has died at the age of fifty-nine.
In his twenty-two years as a freelance trainer, Paul inspired many thousands of teachers in over three thousand primary, secondary and special schools and Colleges of Further and Higher Education, both at home and abroad, to examine what they did in their classrooms and by the power of his arguments and strength of his personality, convinced them to implement change.

What you possibly didn't know about Paul, that he :

* was born in 1955 in Leek, Staffordshire, the son of a father who was a joiner and grandfather who had been a coal miner who, when he was six years old, told him stories about his Army service in the First World War and, later in life, kept his promise to take the old man back to the battlefields of Ypres and Cloth Hall Museum, where the staff saluted him.

* was almost certainly unaware that, when he was five years old in 1961, Colin Blunstone and Rod Argent formed 'The Zombies' in St.Albans, nine when they recorded 'She's Not There', which he rated, when he was fifty-seven years old, as 'one of the greatest songs of all time' http://ow.ly/Ivouw and ten when they recorded 'Tell Her No'. http://ow.ly/Iz0Sc

* for his secondary education, joined Sandbach School, Cheshire, which, dating from 1677, had been and independent boarding school for boys, but was unique in that, in 1955, it was funded by Cheshire LEA and the Learning Skills Council and by the time he joined in 1966, was a 'new' Grammar School for Boys in South Cheshire with all of its traditions intact.

* would have quickly learnt the school motto, 'Ut Severis Seges' and its rough translation : 'As you sow, so shall you reap' and quickly recognised the figure of the Headmaster, John Bowles and teacher, Geoff Pigott, who he met again in 2014 and when he was, fourteen, in 1969, quite possibly made his first vinyl acquaintance with his future pop heroes, 'The Zombies' who released their 'Time of the Season' in that year. http://ow.ly/IyZJX

 * left school in the early 1970s and joined University College, Durham as an undergraduate studying for a Theology Degree, where the College Master, D.W.McDowall, would have been a familiar figure and considered the city his 'spiritual home' where he 'stopped off for half an hour' on occasion in his fifties 'just to breathe the holy air' and after teacher training, began life as a 'probationary teacher' in Sutton Coldfield in 1979 at the age of twenty-four and three years later started work in an inner city boys secondary school in Birmingham and later recalled his first RE lesson with the lads  : '15 arms-folded Y11 boys defied me to make them sit down'.

* later acknowledged, he came under the 'deepest and most pervasive influence' of Dr Donna Brandes, who in 1979 had published the 'Gamesters' Handbook' of 140 games for teachers and group leaders, who 'brought into my young professional life, at a time when I am ashamed to say that students called me “Hitler”, a coherent person-centred philosophy and skill set. The ideas stretched me to the limit but resonated strongly with the deep values of my theological training and so created the kind of congruence in my teaching that I had been seeking'

 * further acknowledged his debt to Donna who : 'taught me how to trust students, how to be myself in the classroom, how to pursue the goals of self-esteem and personal responsibility above all and let everything else fall into place. A master practitioner herself, she showed me the power of optimism, unconditional regard and self-belief' and lamented her death at the age of eighty in 2013 and his loss of  'a dear friend & long-time mentor'  who 'taught me the ways of student-centred learning, she believed in me and I couldn't do what I do without her wisdom.'

* became a Head of an R.E. Department in Birmingham and invited the singer 'Cat Stevens', to his school and his house for tea, who by this time, had converted to Islam and adopted the name 'Yusuf Islam' and expanded his career into staff development with his : 'A Guide to Student Centred Learning' written with Donna and published when he was thirty-one in 1986 and was out of the classroom as a Local Authority Adviser when he published 'The Student Centred School' in 1990 and two years later, made the leap, at the age of thirty-seven, and set himself up as a freelance trainer.

* after a decade as am independent provider, brought his ideas together in 'The Teacher's Toolkit' in 2001, reviewed by Tim Brighouse, Chief Education Officer in Birmingham as 'one of those rare and precious books which has that uncanny knack of revealing explicitly to you things about teaching which you knew instinctively all along but had never thought about so clearly.'

* in 2009, at the age of fifty-four, made an adolescent dream come true as driver and roadie for 'The Zombies' on their national ‘Odessey and Oracle’ tour and in 2011 http://ow.ly/IveSx roadied for 'Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes' in Scandinavia over Easter and commented, with : '3700 miles on the road. It was a real education' http://ow.ly/Ivgkn but had to turn down work on their UK tour in October 2012 'due to work! Priorities, priorities'.

* saw his ‘magnum opus’, 'The Teacher's Handbook' go into its 12th reprint and said in 2011 that he felt honoured that it 'is now published in Arabic. Adds to the Indonesian, Hungarian and Slovenian editions' and by then, as a freelance provider, in twenty-four years had worked in over 3,500 schools in Britain and 60 or so in international schools in the Middle East, North and South America, the Caribbean and Europe.

* demonstrated his powers of persuasion in 2012 when filmed delivering the final session of the 'Annual Symposium of the National Association of Principles and Deputy Principles' in Dublin, when he :

- began by emphasising the need for change in education, using a sequence of slides showing failed attempts to raise a car from a habour pier, to demonstrate Einstein's definition of insanity : 'Doing the same thing in the same way and expecting the same result'.

- presupposed that his audience were signed-up agents of change in the move to get pupils to take more and more responsibility for their own learning involving much professional development of the staff which : "involves a shift of mindset and that's a considerable operation. Yourselves are crucial to that, of course, and I imagine that you will before long want to map out the resources and the strategy for bringing about this multi-layered professional development that's going to be required.'

- gave his audience a taste of student-centred learning by splitting them into groups of three, in the context of a Year 8 History lesson and asking them to produce solutions to four problems faced by the Mogul Emperor, Akbar in the sixteenth century and inadvertently showed how easily they fell into the pupil-teacher relationship.
http://vimeo.com/40443486

*  joined Twitter in 2011 with : 'First tweet. I feel young again' and subsequently over the next four years was a regular tweeter, giving his views on the fortunes of :

His beloved Stoke City Football Club :
'After a day at the desk, I'm off to Stoke City's first European match in 37 years. Been a long wait. I'm so excited.'........'Great way to start a misty Japanese morning - news that Stoke City managed a draw against Dynamo Kiev. Unbeaten so far this season.'.......'Phew, what a relief! Great win for the Potters. Football does wonders for the soul.' .......'My friend Prof Roland Meighan, a West Brom supporter, always says "it's not the despair that's hard to live with, it's the hope!" ..........'When I lived in Coleshill I used to watch Coventry sometimes, then decided that it was bad for my health.' ........'Nerves will soon kick in: Stoke v Swansea this afternoon. I'll be there feeling the contradictory emotions of optimism and fear.'

His Music :

'Enjoyed Tarantino's Django on the plane. Tarantino and I have the same jukebox: AMI Continental 2, 1962.'.......'Great Rhythm Fest - check Oli Brown, young British blues guitarist. Buzzcocks - barrier collapsed and I was at bottom of pile. Very adolescent.'........'Jools Holland good, Sandie Shaw fun, but Ruby Turner stole the show - best black female voice in the country. Jaw-dropping range and power.' .......'A day at the desk today. I say this in a whisper, but I think I might download some Barclay James Harvest. Am in need of revisiting my youth.' ......'Paul Weller says my mates 'The Zombies' Odyssey and Oracle' is his 'perfect album.'......'Discovered a great little venue in Crewe - The Box. Waiting for Andy Fairweather-Low on stage.' His Politics : 'I oppose the UK's underpinning Victorian, industrial, Thatcherite business model of education, with its roots in competition and aggression.'.........'How come we let a bunch of narrow-minded, nationalistic, nostalgia-driven, born-to-rule individuals with limited experience rule over us?'.......'Had a morning with Tony Benn at his home a few years ago. He's been an inspiration since I was a lad, due to my socialist grandfather.'.......'Gove, exactly how will your new exams make us 'more competitive' when they won't assess the skills that industry, society & the world needs?'......'Can't believe this. The Government's values and mine are so disconnected. It doesn't feel like my country anymore.' His views about education : 'As I see it, the price we're paying for raising 'standards' is a diminishing of the qualities needed for a healthy democratic society.'...... 'Phases of teaching and learning : active/student-centred learning (1980s); accelerated/brain-based learning (1990s); thinking skills/L2L (2000s); Ofsted (now).'....... 'Teaching is the world's most important job. For those of us who feel nervous, it's natural. We don't want to mess up.'......'A repeat pattern over here (in Japan) as in the UK, is that kids are very independent in the Early Years, then become steadily less so with age.'.......' There are many things that we mere mortals can do nothing about. Dull teaching is not one of them.'......'International comparisons? Many of our teachers are among the best in the world; some of the circumstances they work in are among the worst.'......'Conviction, encouragement, gentle persuasion and permission to 'try and try again' seem to be some of the keys to strong leadership.'......'I am saying that working class kids seem to do less well in one-shot, end-of-course papers for reasons other than intelligence.'......'Wherever you go in the world, the teaching and learning issues are pretty much the same. There are universal truths about the human brain.'.....'I've been teaching for 33 years and I still get butterflies at the start of each term.' *  was planning to work alongside teachers in the British School Manila for ten days in March and made his last tweet on 30th January : 'Superb chapter in 'Learning with e's'. Old Theories, New Contexts. It's important to understand education's past giants.' * in 2011 sent two tweets out to his followers which might serve as his epitaph : First half of a Mark Twain quote: 'Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that Second half of the Mark Twain quote: ... but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.' .'