Tim Hawkins, an English teacher described as inspiring generations of pupils, has died at 77. He was a lover of the arts and, in retirement, a familiar figure in Stony Stratford, Buckinghamshire.
Born in Wantage, Oxfordshire, Mr Hawkins studied English at Worcester College, Oxford. After gaining a PGCE teaching qualification, he began his teaching career at Jedburgh grammar school in Scotland in 1972.
Moving south in 1978, he taught at Denbigh school in Milton Keynes and the Royal Latin school in Buckingham. He briefly left teaching in the 1980s to work as a painter and decorator before returning to the Royal Latin in the 90s and retiring in 1998.