Mr. Sawer (Geography)



Mr. Sawer- Similar to Jason King, television icon.

Mr. Sawer taught Geography and was my year one registration tutor he also did the same job in my final year. He was quite a character with dark hair, bushy moustache, and wore the usual green or brown suits of the day. He used to roll his lips round his moustache, sometimes he would pick his ears with a pencil. We used to think he looked like Jason King who was a television icon the late sixties early seventies played by Peter Wyngarde because of his accent and his charisma. Or a possible Leo McKern ( Rumpole of The Bailey), written by John Mortimer.   

In the fourth year we had Mr. Sawer for Geography CSE. Geography can be a dry subject and Mr. Sawer would inject a bit of humour into our lessons. There was a girl called Susan Strange, whenever he walked by her desk, or she would ask a question he would burst into Frank Sinatra, Stranger’s in the Night, this puzzled Susan who wasn’t aware of old blue eyes signature tune. There was John Ismay, who was nicknamed Dismay. He nicknamed Hazel Hodson "Blondie "after the pop group's lead singer Debbie Harry who at the time were top of the music charts.

One afternoon near the end term we had a bit of time to kill. Mr. Sawer asked “can anybody give us a song or a monologue? Leonard Graham said, “John Ismay can do a bit of a Cliff Richard's Living Doll, Sir.” To John’s credit he was not a bad singer he did a version of Cliff’s classic tune plus The King, Elvis Presley’s, Good Luck Charm. Quite deservedly John, got a round of applause from us all. It was only a class of about 20, it worked out well in those final two years. We went on a couple of field trips, and everybody got on so well. I managed to pass the exam in May 1980. I cannot say it has helped me very much in the world of work though. I did bump into Mr. Sawer in the Lanes End pub a few years after I left Tulketh. We had a brief conversation and he wished me well.” I did hear Mr. Sawer had died some years later, he was one of my favourite teachers from my time at Tulketh. 

I recently bumped into Susan Strange outside the local Morrison's store.  The first time I had seen her since we left Tulketh in the Spring of 1980.

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