Leslie Turner, an inspirational teacher and school leader, has died aged 88. He was a music lover who filled his home with the sounds of his eclectic record collection until extreme deafness made this impossible.
Early Life and Education
Leslie was born in Leamington, Warwickshire, the fourth child of Ivy (nee Allen) and Fred Turner, a soldier with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. The second world war began the year after his birth, and as a result of his father’s capture at Dunkirk and wartime postings, most of Leslie’s childhood was spent with his mother.
From his primary school, Westgate, in Warwick, Leslie was awarded a scholarship to Warwick School. Under the mentorship of a gifted history teacher he was encouraged to apply to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and was awarded a minor scholarship to read history.
Early Career and Marriage
While at Warwick, Leslie joined a local youth club, where he had his first experience of amateur dramatics. As a result of the inequalities he encountered at school and during his national service with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, his political views began to emerge, and these were strengthened by his time at university.
He and his wife met during his first term at Cambridge, where she was a Girton undergraduate. They married the week after graduation in 1962 and three days later set sail for New Zealand to be trainee teachers. At the start of 1963, they both started teaching in Methven District high school.
Teaching Career in the UK
In 1965, now with a daughter, Jacquie, they returned to the UK where Leslie got a job as a history teacher at Dinnington High, a large comprehensive in the West Riding. They moved to Rugby in 1968 when he joined Binley Park comprehensive school in Coventry, where he stayed until its closure in 1990, going from head of history to head of sixth form and finally deputy head.
He was well known for his quirky sense of humour. Former students have spoken of his wit and the way in which he made lessons engaging and enjoyable, while never compromising intellectual rigour.
Later Career and Retirement
After the closure of Binley Park, Leslie worked at the Teacher Centre in Coventry, where he continued to have an impact on leadership throughout the city’s secondary schools. After his retirement in 1993 they moved to the village of Birdingbury, where he became clerk to the parish council.
Leslie revelled in transforming the new house and garden, planting hedges and landscaping, until a diagnosis of cancer in 2017, from which he recovered, and then a period of ill-health.
Family and Legacy
Leslie was truly committed to his family, playing a significant part in giving their three children, Jacquie, Andrew and Rosie, a sense of fairness and morality. He is survived by them, four grandsons, Fred, Tom, Jonty and Ralf, and his wife.
