Gervase Phinn at Poole Literary Festival
Review by Edna Hobbs
Unassuming and relaxed, Gervase Phinn strolls on stage and asks, ‘What’s the difference between sperm and an inspector? Sperm has a 300 to one chance of becoming human’. We roar with guilty laughter!
As part of the Poole Literary Festival, the Lighthouse hosted this very human ex-inspector, dubbed ‘the James Herriott of teaching’. He has the same warm-hearted sense of humour and the ear for an amusing turn of phrase, but the issues he mulls over go beyond teaching.
Phinn is a born raconteur, setting his listeners up to expect one thing then delivering something slightly different, as with the poem he wrote for his eldest son’s wedding – far from sentimental it was an hilarious ‘payback’ for the teenage years parents have to endure.
Amid the jokes there are always profound insights. ‘Children can’t wait,’ he said, describing the joyful childhood he himself had and wishes every child could have. He reminded teachers in the audience that their job ‘is to help young people to become humane, compassionate and caring’.
Catch him if you can.