Quiz: name the famous teacher
1
I am a 50-something husband and father. My father died of Huntington’s disease when I was six. I studied at the California Institute of Technology, before becoming
a researcher for the Los Alamos National
Laboratory and going on to co-found a company
that I left before it hit the big time – on my own
damn research! Anyway, I had a midlife crisis and
then things got way out of hand. 4
I was born on July 1, 1899, and am a native of Princeton,
New Jersey. Although I am a
tenured professor, I am rarely to
be found teaching my students. I
have a complicated relationship
with my father and a deep-seated
fear of certain reptiles. And I
probably have an impressive
amount of air miles. 9
I was born on June 9, 1925, the son of a fisherman. I emigrated to Hawaii to avoid having to fight my best friend to the death, after falling for the woman who had been promised to him. At the onset of World War
II, I was detained in the Manzanar Japanese-American
rights for all, my actions and words have seen
me compared to Martin Luther King Jnr.
internment camp, along with my wife and child, who both
perished there. One of my ancestors wound up in China,
where they studied martial arts, the skills of which were
passed down through our family, and onto me. 2
I may be small but I am still a force to be reckoned with. And like many of the great poets, I have a penchant for anastrophe. Oh, and I come in
Lego form, so there’s that. 3
I am a Scot, born on October 4, 1935. I am deputy head, head of department and head of house. I am respected by my colleagues and students alike and you will
never see me in the same room as my cat. 5
When I failed in my previous career and was on the verge of being made homeless, I stole someone’s identity to land a
job as a supply teacher. When my crime
was discovered by the school and my
students’ rightly outraged parents,
they decided to do the right thing –
and gave me a permanent position.
6 genius and a leading authority in genetics. An uncompromising pacifist who advocates equal
I run a private school for gifted
students in Westchester, New York.
I am widely considered a scientific 7
I served as a Green Beret sergeant during the Vietnam war, was captured by the Viet Cong at the Battle of Khe Sanh and spent three years as
a prisoner of war. I developed post-traumatic
stress disorder when I witnessed my entire
platoon get devoured by an elephant. I
work hard to maintain order in my school,
with varying degrees of success due to
one particular student and his knack for
pranks. I have an unhealthy dependence
on my mother, which led to my fiancée
breaking off our relationship. 8
I am devoutly loyal to the family I serve, the sons of which I not only teach but become a surrogate father
to after they lose their own. Finding
myself embroiled in the coldest of cold
wars, I am mortally wounded and
face a slow, painful death when a
kindly savage agrees to put me out
of my misery. 10
I was born on March 14, 1879, and by the age of 12, I had surpassed my tutor in knowledge. I am known as
the creator of the world’s most famous
equation and I bagged a Nobel Prize, but I
get the most joy in life from music. One of
the other teachers in this quiz has a face
that was based on mine.