During the year 1958-59, my PGCE tutor at London University Institute of Education, Old Gaytonian Cyril Daltry, assigned me to Harrow County to do my teaching practice. There I became acquainted with a fine set of mathematicians, Bil Duke, Reg King, Ted Wright, Saunders and Ray Boorman, some of whom dared to let me loose on their students following brief period observing them at work in the classroom.

I vividly recall Ray Boorman's classes - brisk, down-to-earth, clear, lively but well ordered. His gown flew behind him as he patrolled the blackboard and the aisles; the rapport between Ray and his pupils was palpable.

Little did I know that 22 years later our paths would cross when he joined us at Dr Challoner's Grammar School in Amersham to teach mathematics in the department I was then leading. Indeed, he was to stay with us until his retirement in 1993. In the intervening years, Ray had risen to be Headteacher in Farnborough (in a school closed down over his head, through no fault of his own) and chief mathematical examiner to the London Examination Board.

Ray's experience was vast. He was a professional in everything he did, a shining example to his colleagues and an inspirationto his charges. In the classroom he was a good friend and colleague, ready with interesting and humorous concersation, and occasionally one could tease out something of his war experiences. He had flown Sunderlands, and regularly attended Farnborough Air Show. He did not enjoy the best of health in his all too brief retirement, but would always turn up at School events.

The high esteem in which he was held was marked by the the large turn out of colleagues, including some who knew him during his time at Harrow County, and the current Head of Mathematics at Dr Challoner's interrupted his holiday to attend.