Willie Jones (M 56-59).

We have been informed that Mr Jones died at his home in Japan on 1st May. The following notes were submitted some time ago by Mr Jones himself about his life and are here reproduced for the first time.

“St Bees was my first teaching post and for my last two terms I was Head of English, succeeding Paul Williams, and housemaster of Foundation South, again succeeding Paul, at a time when such a doubling up was possible. I moved from St Bees to be Head of English at Shrewsbury, where I stayed for seventeen years. After a year at Edinburgh, where I took an MSc in Applied Linguistics, I was appointed by the British Council in London to take up a post at Hokkaido University, at that time one of Japan's six national universities (they have all subsequently become private). I retired from Hokkaido University eleven years ago, and was, on my retirement, elected by my colleagues Professor Emeritus, the only foreign teacher so far to have been thus honoured. I mention it for the record, although to do so probably sounds a little like vain-glory: one shouldn't speak of it, I know. My last post was as Professor of English Rhetoric at Sappers University, a post created for me.

As for whatever future is left, that may not be too different from what has gone before, as long as my health holds up. I shall have the same number of classes as for the last two years, a Shakespeare Seminar and perhaps two Writing Classes, but organised on a private basis. And now that the upheavals of the last few months are over, I am hoping that I may be able to settle into a rhythm of writing, reading and teaching, a selfish dream, perhaps, but I hope forgivable. As for my health, I am, thanks to a reduced diet and the maximum dose of warfarin, in better shape than for years, and am feeling not only fitter, but younger, too.”

 

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