Over 150 years of King’s service
John Lee
41 years
An Interview with Mr Lee, by Tilly Barker and Tegan Williams
Mr Lee has been teaching at King’s for on with particular fondness is his time timetable, and regrets that “Tuckwell
41 years and during that time he never as the coach of the Junior Colts Rugby and Woodard should have been bigger”.
seems to have stopped wholeheartedly team. Under his management there were He has always relished the English
throwing himself into life at King’s. His not one, but two, unbeaten seasons, as Society, especially the Summer Literary
involvement has included coaching the well as a Daily Mail Cup semi-final. In Evening and one performance of ‘Look
Junior Colts rugby teams for 33 years, this final King’s was unfortunate to lose Back in Anger’ starring Guilia Roggia,
becoming Head of English, and being 0-3 on a penalty scored in the dying with another entertaining memory
Housemaster of Bishop Fox for 15 years, being Megan Roberts dressing as God
all of which he has now polished off for world book day. More recently, his
with his role as Head of Careers and as a work as Head of Careers and vetting all
Sixth Form Tutor. the 6.2’s UCAS forms, has been “very
As Housemaster of Bishop Fox, Mr rewarding to see the results” though
Lee has of course experienced some “irritating when pupils ignore deadlines!”
interesting events. He remembers one Whilst the school cooked breakfasts
morning, on the way to breakfast, have been a constant highlight.
“seeing that the 6.2’s had taken the trays When talking to Mr Lee it is clear that
from the dining room and laid them out he loves the atmosphere of King’s,
on the fields to spell ‘Fox rules’”. After especially the “friendship of colleagues”,
explaining the location of the old Fox “laughter”, “seeing pupils come up with
which was 5 minutes down the road, Mr fantastic ideas”, and the “enthusiasm of
Lee tells us of a surprise discovery after the pupils”. All of this has contributed
the house moved to its present site: “It to 41 unforgettable years which have
was so warm in the new Fox that a few brought “different things each day”, and
boys had managed to create an illegal provided him with many memories.
brewery in the spaces beneath their In his retirement Mr Lee is looking
beds. This went on for about a month minutes of the game, but nevertheless forward to travelling around the world,
before being discovered”. We can safely the achievement of coaching a team to particularly his planned visit to “the
say that being Housemaster of Bishop this level is highly commendable, and East: Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam”,
Fox never saw a dull moment, and that just one example of Mr Lee’s illustrious and feels he may take a handwriting
Mr Lee learnt a lot about coping with career at King’s. course to satisfy his ex-pupils, whilst the
teenage boys. Mr Lee never enjoyed periods 7 and prospect of “no more essays to mark” is
Another period that Mr Lee looks back 8 coming after games on the winter also extremely inviting.
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