David King (left in 2000)

David King returned to Haberdashers' in 1996 following his earlier association with the School as a pupil (1986-1991). In just four years his impact, on boys and staff alike, has been immense. In the classroom his enthusiasm for History knows no bounds; his love of the medieval period and expert (and often gruesome) knowledge of battles, castles and the weaponry of war (exploding heads and gore are a regular feature of lower school lessons) are infectious.

David quickly established himself as the History Department's acknowledged guru of G.C.S.E., the wizard of substantiated judgements and the contortions of source technique, and pupils will surely miss his academic integrity, clarity of explanation, love of the subject and his sheer common sense in his approach to the business of learning.

Outside the classroom, David's contribution has been considerable. He served as a conscientious and caring form master. He has made an enormous contribution to school rugby, serving as inspirational coach to first the U14B team and more recently to the U14As. He played an important role in Crosstalk and has been an invaluable stalwart of the School Box Office.

The greatest loss at David's departure will be felt amongst his colleagues in the History Department. Almost single-handedly David has trail-blazed the merits of I.C.T. and dragged his colleagues into the modern age. He is irreplaceable: who else could expose the pretensions of Dr. Sloan to I.C.T. proficiency with such effortless grace, espouse the merits of Durham and Wasps with such conviction, talk so candidly about what it is really like to be a Sixth Form pupil of Mr. Cooper or engage in such memorable sparring with the likes of Saddington and Simm?

Our loss is the Church of England's gain and we wish David every success as he trains for ordination at Cambridge.