Dr John Kittmer returned to the school for the first time in some 35 years, to talk to classics students - those learning Latin, Greek, ancient history or classical civilisation - about the role played by classics, particularly Greek, in his education and professional career in the civil and diplomatic services. In turn, he heard from students who had Greek heritage and wanted to learn the classical and modern languages, and from others who wanted to pursue the classical languages alongside other interests, such as economics, mediaeval history and linguistics. John congratulated Mrs Dickinson and Dr Main for bringing Greek back to Hymers. He closed his talk with a reading in classical Greek of a speech from Euripides’ Bacchae and with strong encouragement to the students to keep studying classics.

John Kittmer studied in the Senior School from 1978 to 1985, where he was taught Latin for three years and Ancient Greek by Mr Larry Trewartha, who read ancient Greek texts with him in the sixth form when he was the only pupil in his year studying ancient Greek A level. He then attended Christ's College at the University of Cambridge, where he obtained a BA in Classics (1988), Magdalen College at the University of Oxford, where he did post-graduate research in Classics (1988-1993), and finally King's College London from which he received an MA in Modern Greek Studies (2007) and a PhD in Modern Greek Literature (2019). He went on to serve as Her Majesty’s Ambassador (HMA) to Greece from January 2013 until December 2016.

Thank you John for spending time with the students.