Ted Read obituary

Ted Read, my father, who has died aged 94, was a man of intelligence and passion who will be remembered as an inspirational classics teacher. He enjoyed entertaining people with a special brand of jokes, and he loved challenging people with his forthright opinions. He was never bored – he couldn’t be, he had so many things that interested him. He was mad about playing and watching sport, including football, rugby, cricket, basketball, tennis, squash and golf. He excelled at them all. He became a teacher at Southend high school for boys in Essex in the 1950s, staying at the school until his retirement in the late 90s. He was a natural educator whose enthusiasm to encourage talent left a lasting legacy of respect among the boys he taught. Anthony Haycroft, taught by Ted in the early 70s, said: “His lessons were also life lessons and politics usually featured.” Kevin May, a late 70s pupil, said: “He was informal and rarely diplomatic. His classroom was a place where discussion and argument was encouraged about any topic.” David Steed said: “When I attended Southend in the late 70s, the regime at the school was old-fashioned and quite brutal at times. But Ted treated us with a level of respect and humility which was remarkable and singular to him.” Ted’s individuality meant he would never rise to become an administrator in school. But his ways of handling things meant he became legendary at the school. Haycroft said that, even after 50 years: “There is hardly a month that goes by without me telling someone of a ‘Ted’ story.” Ted ran the second XI cricket team, coached cross country, and was heavily involved in house sports. Paul Johnson, another pupil, reported that when Ted took football games lessons, he delegated refereeing duties to a pupil so that he could play as a goal-hanging forward. He played bridge to a high level, believing it to be up there with chess as an intellectual challenge. He was still playing and enjoying bridge in the last weeks of his life and remained an excellent player until the end. Ted was born in London, the son of Harold, a messenger for the Daily Mirror and his wife, Ada. He went to St Olave’s grammar school and then studied classics at King’s College London. After completing two years’ national service in the RAF he met and in 1957 married Jean Hopkins, before moving to Southend and joining Southend High. Jean taught music at the same school for a number of years. Ted outlived both Jean, the mother of his three children, who died in 1999, and his second wife, Linda Kendra, a deputy headteacher, whom he met at the wedding of a former pupil, and married in 2008. She died in 2022. He is survived by his children, Michele, Tim and me, six grandchildren, Sarah, Chris, Joshua, Jasper, George and Freddie, and two great-grandchildren, Teddie and Ollie.