I was saddened to hear that one of my old school teachers, Miss Sturgis, had died. She was an amazing motivator and I’m grateful for her teaching even today. I consider myself very lucky to have been taught by her. She took a close interest in all her pupils and I remember having to write to her about my O-level results. Because it was her and I felt extra effort was required, I wrote a poem about them, of which the letters of her name started each line. A fun exercise had the time and it means I can remember all my O-level results even to this day. Thank you, Madam.

I was interested to read her obituary, written by one of my school colleagues, who had been reading Harry Potter and mentioned this to Miss Sturgis one day. Apparently my Miss Sturgis remarked that she felt that Tolkien would have liked them. When questioned by my school fellow about why she thought that, Miss Sturgis revealed that she had had Tolkien as her one of her tutors at Oxford and therefore knew him well. A brilliant thought that he too might have appreciated such an amazing piece of literature as the Harry Potter series.