Jonathan Andrews by Chris Ottewill
If it doesn’t work, I shall be returning my copy of Weather Spells and Incantations by Mr M Fish straight back to the charity shop and demanding a refund of my 25p.” Having demonstrated his dedication and seriousness in organising cover it was natural for Jonathan to step up to running internal examinations at the College. Again Jonathan took the process to the next level, developing an online system still used by James Faiers. Students may remember Jonathan’s instructions to indicate where Single and Further Mathematics students should sit in the hall: “Sums over here, hard sums over there”. Ever the polymath, throughout this time, Jonathan continued to teach both Mathematics and Economics, always with a particular interest in Statistics, arguing for its place in Further Mathematics and keen to demonstrate the beauty of its concepts in opposition to the stereotypical image of dry number-crunching. Jonathan showed this passion to the full in a recent departmental INSET, presenting a session describing a very elegant and concise matrix approach to regression analysis. Jonathan has been described by another member of the department as “the archetypal Mathematician with wild hair and probing manner, with a Welsh lilt combined with subtle and wry humour”. Perhaps less well known is his interest in literature, where his attendance at a 19th-Century reading group is reported to have demonstrated a wider knowledge of Dickens, Gaskell and the Brontës than most of the English department. Jonathan has also been a stalwart of the Common Room, taking on the exacting role of being the Finance Treasurer for the last number of years. He leaves the finances in great shape – and the coffers full – due to both his work behind the scenes on a spreadsheet and his contributions in the bar after work. He is well known for challenging orthodoxies over a drink, often starting with
the cartoons that Jonathan found time to add each day to the end of the staff list, along with useful comments reflecting any specifics of that day’s cover such as: “I’m sure it’s wrong…”, “Less shambolic draft of tomorrow’s cover:”, “With apologies if I’ve spoiled your Sunday afternoon…, “Several members of staff have been consigned to the naughty step for failing to correctly complete the cover request form”, “If this email has disturbed your evening, well, like, well, it wasn’t my fault, innit. Look iSAMS probably messed up, right, or like, like, the email got like delayed, see?” and “I shall give the snow dance another go this evening.
Jonathan joined Dulwich College from DLD Tutorial College on a one-year maternity cover in 2010. Jonathan is keen to point out that the fact that this was followed by a one-year probationary period gave the College two chances to get rid of him early on, which it failed to use. As part of his co-curricular commitment, Jonathan took on helping Steve Purchase run squash for several years, despite knowing little about the game except that it involved hitting a little ball against a wall. He also taught economics, clearly undaunted by the recent disastrous combination of mathematics and economics which had resulted in the financial crash of 2008. Jonathan had a form group for many years with students enjoying his good humour as well as genuine care for their progress. This care led to Jonathan’s responsibility within the department of running the mathematics clinics. They grew from once a week to Jonathan making himself available in his form room most days. Jonathan’s conviction was that such clinics work best when students choose to go to them; he noted that some of his best moments of teaching were with the students who found mathematics difficult, but who had voluntarily turned up and genuinely wanted to ask for help. In 2015, Jonathan took over the role of staff cover from Buddhika (his email icon changing to Dick Dastardly at this point). Showing considerable dedication for someone who lives in Blackheath, Jonathan would be in at 7.3am every day, ready to wade through the requests that had come in overnight. With the cover being organised through iSAMS, Jonathan soon realised that the process could be taken to the next level and emailed to colleagues rather than them having to come to the pigeon-hole room to check their cover each morning. Many colleagues will remember
the phrase “forgive me, but…” delivered in his most tuneful Welsh accent, before delivering an argument or observation which, no matter how much one might disagree, was never meant to be offensive. His humour will be remembered by many with whom he came into contact, including bewildered boys being met with “one pound entry fee today, boys” when Jonathan was on gate duty before school. Jonathan would often describe himself as a “bitter man” when in the bar but in reality was always full of sunny optimism. His wit, erudition and engaging conversation will be greatly missed by many both within and outside the department. We wish Jonathan and his wife Suzanna all the best as he moves on to the next stage of his life in Margate. ◎
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