I had an American teacher who taught English (I'm Scottish). He grew up on a farm and would tell us crazy stories about his childhood - I vaguely remember his story about being chased by a bear.

He was eccentric in a good way. He had a collection of stuffed toys and puppets in his classroom. He had a friendly rivalry with a Glaswegian English teacher and she was constantly stealing his stuffed animals and hiding them around the English department.

He was the only English teacher that would let us swear in our writing and would let us write about ‘deep issues’ if we wanted to. He would talk to us honestly and answer questions we had about America or the world in general. When Obama was elected as president, someone in class asked why it was such a big deal and he told us about race issues in America. It was really good of him as we were a bunch of white Scottish teenagers who didn’t even know who Malcom X or Rosa Parks was. 

I loved writing at school and English was my favourite subject. He would critique my writing and encouraged me to write about things I cared about. I loved Terry Preatchett and he would talk about Discworld with me and recommend other authors he thought I would like.

The last I heard about him, he left teaching and was now trying to become an actor.  He was a really awesome guy, I hoped acting worked out for him.