Who influences you?
On 3rd January 2015, I first heard that I was to be included on the Debretts500 list; which “recognises high quality education operating at the primary, secondary and higher education levels; those forming education policy, those regulating it and those providing support for people who would not otherwise have access to or benefit from the opportunities on offer.” As you can imagine, for a humble state-school teacher and blogger like me, this was very surprising. You can read my original blog here, The 500 Most Influential People in Britain.
The original letter is here.
State School Education:
The nomination/recognition in January 2015 is the accumulation of 23-years work in London classrooms and I am proud to say, that I am the only current classroom teacher to feature on the list! Some have said, I even knocked Michael Gove off the list from 2014; in all honesty, you can only feature on the list if you are working in that sector. As soon as Gove was moved away from his position as Secretary of State for Education to become Chief Whip in July 2014, he lost the right to feature on this list and created a gap. There were other small movements too, so it all should be taken into context and not too seriously.
The Educators List:
Educators that feature on the list with me, are;
- Professor Sonia Blandford
- Christine Blower
- Dame Sally Coates, DBE – I met at the celebration event.
- Dr Kevan Collins
- Ms Mary Curnock Cook, OBE – I met at the celebration event.
- Prof Les Ebdon – I met at the celebration event.
- Frank Green, CBE – I met at the celebration event.
- Professor David Hargreaves
- The Lord Harris of Peckham
- Lucy Heller
- Russell Hobby – have met at various events.
- Professor Chris Husbands
- Sir Peter Lampl, OBE
- John Latham
- Ross Morrison McGill – that’s me!
- The Lord Nash
- Dr Lynne Sedgmore, CBE – I met at the celebration event.
- Sir Anthony Seldon
- Brett Wigdortz, OBE – have met at various events.
- Sir Michael Wilshaw – have spotted at The Palace of Westminster.
Invitation Only:
The reason for sharing this post, is that I received the following letter from Debretts earlier this month to feature in People of Today, a publication shared annually over the past 30 years, dedicated to contemporary achievement. People are identified by a specialist panel, selecting whom they believe is making an impression in Britain today.
Debrett’s People of Today is a biographical reference tool that catalogues the lives of around 20,000 of the UK’s most influential and successful people. Debretts’ editorial policy is here which outlines how the nominations and publication is formed and maintained.
“No other publication brings this breadth and depth of information together in one place to provide a snapshot of those high achievers pre-eminent in their fields.”
Esquire:
The most common occurrence of term “esquire” today is in the addition of the suffix “Esq.” in order to pay an informal compliment to a male recipient by way of implying ‘gentle birth’. Last time I asked my mother, I weighed in at 10lbs plus on 25th November 1973! That doesn’t sound like a ‘gentle birth’ to me; or have I misinterpreted that descriptor wrong?
In the 1970s, the use of Esq. started to decline, and by the end of the 20th century most people had stopped using it and changed to using Mr instead. There remain respected protocols for identifying those to whom it is thought most proper that the suffix should be given, especially in very formal or in official circumstances. Later on in the year, hopefully I’ll be able to show you a photo of me holding the red book aloft very soon. In the meantime, you will have do make to with the mug-shot below!
In the meantime, you can call me @TeacherToolkit Esq.
TT.
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