Mike Lockhart (FS 61-66) writes about Geoffrey Lees:

"I would like, rather diffidently, to add to David Marshall’s excellent appreciation of Geoffrey Lees, which appeared in the last issue. It was because of his inspiration and motivation that I was able to get into university and so I count him as one of the most significant influences in my life.

When Geoffrey Lees came to St Bees, public schools in general and St Bees in particular were facing large changes. No longer was it enough to attend a public school for job offers to arrive; the sense of entitlement was going, there was a need for real achievement and progress for entry to university. Mr. Lees was ideally suited to deal with this. He had a sharp focus on excellence and a visceral hatred of mediocrity. You were allowed to be good or terrible at things but he would not tolerate the mid point. In his time I suspect that the number of university, and in particular Oxbridge, entrants increased dramatically.
Added to this was a sharp sense of humour, a willingness to treat pupils as adults, commonplace now, then rather revolutionary, and a pride in his pupils’ achievements. When I did get to university, he was the first to phone to congratulate, so early that the offer-letter had not yet arrived with me.

 He revelled in the words and sounds of the English language particularly early English with its short sharp words and sentences where meaning was clear. You never wrote purple prose or padding for him. He bemoaned the loss of regional accents and the “low hiss” of RP on the BBC. Rowan Atkinson, in his early days, performed a monologue entitled “Calling the Register”, I suggest listening to it for a sense of what he sounded like.

As a sixth form scientist I would not have been expected to have been taught by him, this underestimates the man. Once it was determined that I would have to write an essay as part of the entrance exam, an essay had to be written for Mr. Lees every two weeks and was then subject to a one on one tutorial, frightening but very good practice for later years!

Reading this back, I think Mr. Lees would have given me C- and a rewrite (too many sub clauses and commas Lockhart).

Geoffrey Lees is still an inspiration".

 

 

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