Tim Clark (84-17) Head of Lower School and Classics teacher – remembered by countless ONs – retires this summer, after 101 terms at the RGS.
Tim on a RGS Classics trip to Rome
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What year did you start at the RGS? January 1984 – my predecessor, Don Shipley (52-83), head of Classics, had retired at Christmas; Tony Griffiths (69-02 and 05-06) became head of department, and I slotted in as the junior member of the department (I’d like to say seamlessly, but I remember being a particularly anxious new teacher!) As well as being head of Lower School and teaching Classics, what else have you been involved with at the RGS? My main involvement has, of course, been as a classicist (I admit not a ‘proper one’, but primarily as an ancient historian), and also dabbling in the performing arts. In the old days, collaborations between staff and students in both RGS and Central Newcastle High School (CNHS) were frequent and I have fond memories of Gilbert and Sullivan operettas (The Mikado and Patience in the early 90s) and choir concerts under directors of music Martyn Lane (7590), Tony Bird (whatever became of him?) and Neal Parker (99-12), when staff and students performed together; great fun. We also used to produce Greek plays with CNHS: I was very much out of my comfort zone between 1987 and 1994 when I directed a series of tragedies in the original ancient language, my own Greek being less than rudimentary. But somehow we got away with it. The advent of school musicals since the building of The Miller Theatre has been a huge plus – from Guys and Dolls (the opening show for the Theatre in 2006) through Jesus Christ Superstar, Oklahoma and the wonderful Les Miserables to West Side Story and Sweet Charity, RGS has produced some fabulous shows over the last few years and I count myself lucky to have been involved in a number of them.
