Mrs Ryan and Mr Corrin by Simon Mayo

Two history teachers encouraged the young Simon to think for himself. What they taught him has proved useful in his broadcasting career – and helped him to trip up some famous historians
19th December 2014, 12:00am

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Mrs Ryan and Mr Corrin by Simon Mayo

https://www.tes.com/magazine/archive/mrs-ryan-and-mr-corrin-simon-mayo

My father was a headteacher and when I was a child we moved a lot. I changed school at 11 and then at 14 and I’ve experienced both state and private education. I took the 11-plus twice because we moved from London to the West Midlands and my new school wouldn’t accept the first result, even though it was a pass. The second time I took the test, I failed.

I was at Worthing High School in West Sussex between the ages of 14 and 18 and that’s where I studied for my O- and A-levels. It was in the history department that I met two teachers who had a great impact on me and who continue to influence my professional life. Mrs Ryan and Mr Corrin taught me history and politics at a time when I first became fascinated by those subjects.

Mrs Ryan was exotic because her husband had been a Labour MP. She was a passionate socialist and a firebrand - and Worthing didn’t have many of those in the mid 1970s.

She sparked a number of discussions. I remember she invited her husband to school for a debate about social democracy. He defined social democracy in a LeninMarxist way and I was thinking of it in a European social democratic way. So we had an argument. This was unusual as you weren’t encouraged to discuss these things at O-level; O-level was about regurgitating facts in the right order.

Mrs Ryan was far more flamboyant than Mr Corrin, who went through his lessons in a methodical way. He was quite awkward socially and wasn’t particularly garrulous or friendly. Yet he was a good teacher and he told stories that were interesting and engaging.

We studied a lot of modern European history, British political history, as well as the rise of Germany and Stalin’s Russia. This knowledge was never relevant when I was at BBC Radio 1, but at Radio 5 Live I interviewed a number of historians - at last it was possible to tie my education into what I was doing professionally. I gave Niall Ferguson a hard time, which he hadn’t quite expected. And I noticed an error in Simon Schama’s book, which I asked him about on air. Afterwards he made a very cross phone call to his publisher.

I was also down at Westminster every week for Prime Minister’s Questions and very occasionally I found my knowledge of the work of political philosopher Edmund Burke relevant.

I got seven Cs at O-level and failed English literature. Mr Knox, my English teacher, would be genuinely flabbergasted to know that, of all the pupils he taught, I have had some books published.

I wouldn’t have studied history and politics at university if it hadn’t been for having the right teachers at the right time. In my first year at the University of Warwick I used loads of my notes from A-level.

I didn’t keep in touch with these teachers. Do people keep in touch with their teachers? However, on the Radio 1 Breakfast Show I had a slot called On This Day in History and I dedicated it to Mr Corrin.

I would be surprised if he or Mrs Ryan remembered me at all because I don’t think I was that memorable. But I certainly remember them.

Simon Mayo was talking to Kate Bohdanowicz. His latest children’s novel, Itchcraft, was published in September by Doubleday Childrens

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Simon Mayo

Born 21 September 1958, London

Education St John’s Primary School, Croydon; Arden School, Solihull, West Midlands; Solihull School; Worthing High School, West Sussex; University of Warwick

Career Radio broadcaster, formerly on BBC Radio 1, Radio 5 Live, Radio 4 and now Radio 2; children’s author

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