SIR – It was sad to read the death notice of one Frederick L Somers (T&A, June 16) at the age of 90.
He was a schoolmaster at Bradford Grammar School, known colloquially as ‘Charlie Somers’, of somewhat ferocious reputation.
However, behind that invented mask, he was dedicated to imbueing his specialist subject of French into an often reluctant group of pupils, and I certainly credit him with inspiring my own interest and facility in that language through his particular teaching.
But he was also instrumental in widening education beyond any academic field.
For example, when Ian Smith declared UDI in Rhodesia in the mid-1960s, ‘Charlie’ appeared in a cloakroom at lunchtime and announced to the 14-year-old pupils present, “Gentlemen, UDI has come !”, and then stimulated a discussion on that complex topic of current affairs.
Ferocious his mask may have seemed at times, but his interest in broadening young pupils’ awareness of issues outside the ‘groves of academe’ showed the mark of a genuine educator.
We shall remember him with trembling appreciation.
Graham Hoyle, Kirkbourne Grove, Baildon, Shipley
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