Great inspirations

‘I think continually of those who were truly great,’ wrote Stephen Spender, which must have been awkward when he was trying to read a map, cook the lunch, or write that bloody awful poem about pylons. But I, too, have been thinking, if not continually, then at least often, about two great men, both dead, both much missed. They couldn’t have been more different, but they both played a major part in forming my attitudes, my taste and perhaps even my character.

Philip Balkwill was my English teacher at Charterhouse, and I was reminded of him early in January when I went to re-review Alan Bennett’s The History Boys at Wyndham’s Theatre. The leading character, Hector, superbly played by Desmond Barrit, is one of those teachers his pupils never forget, offering lessons in life that go far beyond whatever subject he happens to be teaching; and PGB, as he was known at Charterhouse, was in the same mould.