I was born in 1960, as Jonathan Paul Griffiths, in Dartford, Kent. I spent my secondary school years on a state scholarship at Dulwich College, At Cambridge I found the maths to be, for the most part, a touch dry. While we were at Clare together in 1981, the musician Harvey Brough asked me to join Harvey and the Wallbangers. In September 1987, I became a maths teacher at St Philip Howard 11-16 Comprehensive School in Tower Hamlets. Meanwhile, Clare Bradley, the writer of the children's television programme Playdays, In the summer of 1992, I moved to Paston College in Norfolk. I’ve also been able to renew my own mathematics education in the past twenty years I left Paston in 2015 for pastures new. I spent eighteen months working for Underground Mathematics, In the autumn of 2016, I wrote an A Level Mathematics competition, and offered it to Integral. I have also helped with the writing of several MOOCs for Imperial College (good to be back there now I'm well) and MEI. In early 2020, I was sounded out over covering a maternity leave with my local sixth form provider, Frome College, Meg and I met in 1994; I was visiting the school where she works, In the interests of being open about mental illness; If you have any copyright worries or complaints about any music, image or words on this site,
In 1963, we moved to Malaysia, my father working as a water engineer, and my mother as a hospital doctor.
In 1968, we returned to England, and settled in Kent once more.
a public school in London and a flagship for the direct grant experiment of the time.
Unaware then of the politics of privilege, I enjoyed greatly the music, maths and sport on offer.
In 1977, I won a Mathematics Scholarship to Clare College, Cambridge,
spending two terms out teaching at Great Walstead School in Sussex.
I took a Part One in Mathematics and a Part Two in Education (including half a Part Two in Maths),
graduating in 1982 with a BA Hons, together with a Cert Ed enabling me to teach mathematics in secondary schools.
In my second year I was awarded the Thurkill Prize, given to recognise notable contributions to Clare College life.
We went full–time in 1983, and we stayed that way until 1987.
We were first and foremost a vocal harmony group, but we all played instruments too.
We did lots of television, including Wogan, Russell Harty and The Jasper Carrot Show.
We had a series on Radio Two, and played the Royal Variety Show in 1984 (a particularly surreal gig).
We made six commercial recordings on our own label, and at the end of our career,
we were invited to work with Simon Rattle on his Jazz Album.
Our final gig in this country was to a full Sadler's Wells.
The change from the world of stage, television and recording studio
to comprehensive classroom proved to be dramatic - probably too dramatic...
I resigned from St Philip Howard in 1989, and started work at St Dominic's Sixth Form College in Harrow–on–the–Hill,
a wonderfully impressive place of learning that I left in the summer of 1992.
In the middle of my time at St Dom's, I began an MSc in Computer Studies at Imperial College, London,
but sadly my health at the time didn't allow me to complete it.
invited me to play the character Stringfellow on the show, who appeared in four programmes altogether.
I was able to write some of his songs as we went along.
My Paston career was as a mathematics teacher, but I also worked with students on music and juggling.
I had many of the happiest times of my working life there.
In 2005-6 I was a Gatsby Fellow for the year, writing my Risps website in the process.
This site was followed by my Making Statistics Vital site in 2008, and my Carom site in 2011.
with the help of the Open University, and the University of East Anglia,
where I finally won my MSc, in mathematical research.
I'm hugely grateful to both institutions.
in the quietly satisfying job of polishing exam question solutions into their clearest possible shape.
I've also worked on textbooks with Hodder and HarperCollins, and written investigative resources for MEI/Integral.
I've also published or self-published several books arising from my maths teaching career;
The Proving Ground, Further Risps and Denominator.
Ritangle has run every year since then, and as I type we have just completed our fifth run-through,
with 900 teams from around the world taking part in 2020.
A MOOC is a Massive Open Online Course, and these will, for free, offer students a way into A Level Maths.
The chance to tutor students online has also been a fulfilling way to earn a crust.
I leapt at the chance to teach Further Maths A Level again, to small but committed Year 12 and 13 classes.
As I type I am loving being back in the classroom, despite the wretched virus sadly disrupting our work.
and she remembers the first words she said to me
as I appeared a little lost were, ‘Are you looking for someone?’
We became engaged three months later, and tied the knot in 1995.
I suffered a breakdown in 1989, and was hospitalised eight times in 11 years.
But I've recovered; I've been free of illness since 2000.
If anyone reading this suffers from mental illness or knows someone who does, I'm hopefully a good news story.
I would say that with the right help and with much hard work, making a full return to 'normal' life is - always - possible.
please click HERE and the situation will be swiftly resolved.