This is absolutely true. A good few years ago, a geography teacher at the secondary school in Bude (shall we call him "Len?") was briefing his class of 15-year-olds before sending them out with clipboards to do a survey of the local shops. His parting shot before sending them out into town was "Right, boys and girls. Don't forget that I'll be in town myself keeping an eye on you, and I don't want to see you boys standing around on the street corners scratching your balls..."

"Len" is an old boy now but he's still around. In his day he was a mean, if wayward, trombone player who'd lead the band through town at the start of the Bude jazz festival. If I bump into him in town, even if it's just a sighting across the street, he greets me at 150 decibels like a long-lost friend, and he always asks about our two children by name, who he knew from the north Cornwall schools band ("Trigg"), even though he hasn't seen them now for 25 years. What a star! We need more of his kind!