My great friend Pete Kewley, who has died aged 69 after suffering heart problems, was most definitely a "man of the north" – and he loved playing up to the stereotype. He was uncompromising, opinionated, fiery and hard (particularly when playing in defence for his football team). However, Pete was a paradox: he loved westerns and musicals, was liberal-minded and traditional, and tolerant and demanding in equal measure. Those who were taught by him or joined the legions of his friends quickly grew to appreciate his qualities.
Born in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, Pete once described his boyhood as one of "football and fighting". As a schoolboy he met Christine Wardell (he described her as "posh"), who was at the girls' grammar school nearby. At the end of the day Pete would hurry to the gates of the girls' school to meet Chris and carry her bag home – and thus began their lives together.
Not many 18-year-olds from his background went to university in the early 1960s but Pete won a place at Leeds University to study economics. On graduation, he embarked on another lifelong relationship – this one with Bradford grammar school, where for 37 years he taught hundreds of grateful sixth-formers.
Pete's lessons were memorable – with lots of humour, occasional bad language, little room for wasters and above all much knowledge and skill. It is said that he must have missed the module on sarcasm (that essential tool for all teachers) when completing his PGCE course. Perhaps he was too busy honing his controlled explosions and swearing for effect.
Certain topics were guaranteed to provoke Pete and produce a response measurable on the Richter scale. To give just a few examples: the state of the railways, television soap operas, the Archers in recent months, loud music played through open windows by passing cars, professional footballers wearing gloves and tights, bureaucracy, hypocrisy, pomposity and Margaret Thatcher.
He is survived by Christine, whom he married in 1967, and by their daughters, Emma and Jo.
