Sea tragedy teacher had inspired generations

Dec 12 2006 By David Whetstone, The Journal

Tributes were paid yesterday to an inspirational teacher who died after falling into the sea from the pier at Tynemouth.

Jeremy Thomas was pronounced dead on December 1 after a rescue attempt involving RNLI lifeboats, a helicopter from RAF Boulmer and the Coastguard.

An inquest was opened and adjourned by the North Tyneside coroner on December 5.

It emerged yesterday that Mr Thomas, 51, was a talented and highly regarded teacher of English and drama at Newcastle Royal Grammar School.

Headmaster James Miller said Mr Thomas had been a loyal member of the RGS staff from 1977 until 2005. He had been seriously ill with depression for about 18 months.

Mr Miller recalled "an able and civilised man who contributed much to the teaching world".

He said: "He was a real English scholar but will probably be best remembered by generations of RGS actors and actresses.

"Without his energy and commitment, RGS drama would have been but a pale reflection of the thriving plant that it became over Jeremy's many years."

Mr Miller said Mr Thomas had been a talented actor and singer himself, performing in the school choir and as a soloist. He had been a member of the famous Cambridge Footlights cabaret troupe at university and was a friend of Nicholas Hytner, director of the National Theatre.

Recalling a "witty and generous colleague", he said: "The fact that ill health led to his departure from the RGS was a matter of great sadness to us all."

Another who paid tribute was former pupil Charlie Carrick who appeared in a production of Noel Coward's Hay Fever, the last directed by Mr Thomas before he left the school.

"He was just a real one-off," recalled the 20-year-old, of Jesmond, Newcastle, who is now training to be an actor at a film school in Vancouver, Canada.

"He was a perfectionist in the very best sense of the word. There are about eight of us who went on to study drama because of him."

Mr Miller said his late colleague would be remembered in a special tribute performance next year in the school's new theatre.

Mr Thomas was a single man who lived in Chandler Court, Jesmond, but had been staying with his parents in Wales before his death.