Who influenced you at school?

Sue Lawley who used to host desert island discs spoke at prize giving at the school where my husband used to teach. She said that she was both moved and impressed by the number of guests who spoke so warmly of the huge influence of specific teachers in their lives

Miss Lever - English teacher. I would never have achieved what I have without her

My hero is Mr Bonnett - I wish I knew where he was so I could thank him - I was hopeless at Maths, could never fathom things out ( perhaps cos I moved school a lot at primary ) I got 'demoted' to a CSE group from O level in 5th Form with all the other no hopers..
He took us right back to basics, adding , multiplying, and built on our confidence - every one of us got a CSE grade 1 , equalling a C at O level, which opened all the doors to future employment
Thank you Mr Bonnett !!

My deputy head teacher when I was choosing my options for A level. Despite the fact that I was in the top set at grammar school she quashed my dreams of being a vet and told me I should settle for a 'nice little secretarial job where you can look at the animals in the fields'

In other words I was the wrong class of girl to aim for university. I had little enough confidence as it was, and she convinced me (for a time) that I should know my place in the world. I did go to university though, but I never became a vet

Miss Wagstaffe. A spinster who wore her hair in two plaits coiled over her ears like earphones, dressed do widely, was as thin as stick, but was my science teacher who inspired me to try and take physics chemistry and biology separately at 'O' level, without which I couldn't have gone to tech to take 'A' levels and study medicine.
The school did general science

Teachers do make a difference in the world, they can be a replacement for absent parents, they can be a better kind of Parent than present parents. I think they are very important people. Not sure they know it though. They are definitely not appreciated enough, I don't think.

I had an English Teacher at school and she not so much Influenced me as made me realise there are all sorts of different people in the world, she was the first person that I had met from Poland. I wonder what ever happened to her.

An English teacher in Senior school by the name of Miss Loyd. She would brook no nonsense, would throw the chalkboard duster at miscreants and could not abide grammatical errors. She loved Shakespeare and Browning and was a thoroughly neat and inspiring person.