Inspired by the 18th century Lunar Men

I had the privilege of being headteacher at Chaucer Technology School in Canterbury in the mid-1990s. Chaucer, as we called it, was a vibrant and often an off-piste kind of school which not only sent some students on their way to Cambridge, but also had a range of amazing talent in other areas, such as the youngest person to walk to the South Pole (Ben Saunders), pass through its doors.

In fact, the list of special people that worked there or were nurtured there is long indeed. It includes extraordinary parents and governors. One parent, Jenny Uglow, without her even knowing, changed my life. Her biographical book The Lunar Men: The friends who made the future 1730-1810, filled me with the hope that it was possible for small groups of people to really change things for the better, and in particular to change things in schools.