Hi Jim
Do you remember the "alternative" english homework set by Mr Priestland from time to time, in the form of "50 Up", "60 Up or even "100 Up" questions. Up to 100 general knowledge questions, with instructions to find the answers by asking parents, relatives, friends or looking up in libraries, encyclopaedias etc. So much better and more interesting than learning lengthy, uninspiring Shakespearean speeches by heart, or analyzing grammatically some rather dry and obscure sentences. Here were instead some nice, gentle brainteasers, of relevance to the real world, and although we did not know it then, very good practice for all those yet to come radio and tv quizzes; pub quizzes; Trivial Pursuit-type games etc. Mr Priestland was perhaps a generation too soon and missed out on a possible career as a game-show host on TV, or at least as a question setter! Certainly now much more financially rewarding than being a school teacher.
Regards
Peter
Hi Peter, I certainly do remember those quiz type homeworks. He also set a monster one for the summer holidays which was a "501 Up". I agree they were interesting and quite demanding. I remember Oofy with some warmth. He had a very droll sense of humour. He also would get quite lively discussions going with the 'awkward squad' pupils. You could sense that he had sympathy with them. I think there was a pupil names Parker in my class and their banter really amused the rest of the class. Mr Priestland figures in the photo showing a group of masters that I have just added to the album. regards, jim wishart, list manager.
ReplyDelete