If there was one quality which most of the DHS teachers in the sixties had in common it was eccentricity - or so it seems to me in reflecting on those times. DHS boys had a special talent for detecting weakness or vulnerability in their teachers, consequently the weaker ones tended to be brief sojourners, while the strong ones, who became part of the folklore, were eccentric, charismatic and at times brilliant in their ability to command attention. Perhaps the most eccentric of these was Sas Nourse. I wonder how many rulers, pens and other academic utensils were broken or hurled out of the window of his science classroom for no other reason than that it was being held while the 'offender' was listening to Sas's explanation of some concept. In our last lesson with him I remember some brave or foolish soul deliberately tapping a metal ruler. On this occasion, Sas was prepared to share the joke. Who can ever forget his response to an incorrect answer which started with what was almost almost a whispered 'Nooooooo...' and ended with a thundering crescendo which could be heard several classrooms away. I was highly amused when I read several years later, I think it might have been in the Old Boys' magazine, an article by Sas in which he made the observation that if you wanted to ensure good class control, this could be effected by convincing your students that you were just slightly unhinged - that is of course exactly what we had thought of him.

Thanks for this post John. Never had Sas as a teacher but he sounds like a real character!