Part 2 (Obituaries) - King's College - University of Cambridge

from London University (a much less stimulating university, he found, than
Cambridge). As a born educator and communicator, Martin found teaching
was a natural choice of career.
In 1961 he was appointed as Assistant Master at Bury Grammar School in
Lancashire, where he soon acquired a reputation for passion and imagination
in his teaching. It was at Bury that he met his future wife Meg, whom he
married in 1968; their lifelong and productive partnership and their two
daughters became and remained at the centre of Martin’s subsequent life.
Martin left Bury two years before his marriage to develop his ideas about the
teaching of History by taking a Master of Education degree at Southampton,
which he later developed into a PhD at Reading.The research formed the basis
of his book History Betrayed?, which had an enormous influence on the teaching
and examination of history in schools, stimulated the Schools History Project
and helped to shape what would become the GCSE in History.
The research was also a factor in Martin’s appointment at the age of 30 as
Head of History at Burnt Mill Comprehensive School in Harlow. It was there
between 1967 and 1972 that Martin’s stature as a teacher became firmly
established. Students and teachers were encouraged to think for themselves,
and innovation was pursued for the sake of real improvement, not just for
fashion. Not only was he an inspiring and popular teacher, remembered with
real affection, but (assisted perhaps by his earlier training in the Navy) an
excellent Department Head.
In 1972, Martin moved into teacher training, taking the post of Senior
Lecturer in Education at Goldsmith’s College, University of London, and in
1981 that of University Lecturer in History and Education at Cambridge,
where he remained until his retirement. In 1995 he was appointed Head of
the Department of Education at Cambridge, and in 1996 became a Fellow of
Hughes Hall, where his links became in many ways stronger than those with
King’s. He edited the College’s Annual Report, organised its series of weekly
interdisciplinary seminars and was a stimulating and loving supervisor,
colleague and mentor to many generations of students and Fellows. From
89
OBITUARIES