Bob Bass
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Brief Biography

Concise CV


Bob Bass taught at prep schools in Somerset, Kenya and Sussex before moving in 1987 to Orwell Park, Ipswich, where he was Head of Classics and Senior Master until his retirement in the summer of 2021. He served on the editorial board of the Journal of Classics Teaching and on the Council of the Joint Association of Classical Teachers. For twelve years he edited the SATIPS Classics Broadsheet, and for twenty years he served the IAPS as its Classics Subject Leader and then Adviser. He is the Chief Setter of ISEB's Common Entrance and Common Academic Scholarship Latin papers, proof-reader for their Greek papers, and is an IGCSE reviser. The author of various Latin and Greek resources targeted at young learners, he was awarded an MBE in the 2016 Queen's New Year's Honours list. 

Apart from Greek and Latin language and literature (especially hexameter poetry), Bob's interests lie in reading, decent beer, proper food, British railways, technology and fountain pens. He is married to classical-widow Celia; they have a son who is Head of Upper College at Cheltenham College and a daughter who is a sports scientist, works in procurement for the railway industry and is a former captain of both the Ipswich Town and Colchester United women's football teams.

Education
1963 ­– 1969 Isleworth Grammar School
1969 – 1975 University of Southampton:
                        Honours in Latin (subsidiary: Greek)
                        PGCE in Classics
Career
1975 – 2019 Classics (and occasionally French) teacher in four                          independent prep schools:
1975 – 1979: King’s College Junior School, Taunton
1979 – 1981: The Banda School, Nairobi
1981 – 1987: Stoke Brunswick, East Grinstead
1987 – 2021: Orwell Park, Ipswich

Formerly:
  • Member of JACT Council
  • Member of Journal of Classics Teaching Editorial Committee
  • Editor of SATIPS Classics Broadsheet (12 yrs)
  • IAPS Subject Adviser in Classics (20 yrs)
  • IGCSE Latin assistant examiner (4 yrs)
  • Member of Grants Panel of the Primary Latin Project (c 10 yrs)
 
Currently:
  • ISEB Chief Classics exam setter and proof reader (since 1993)
  • IGCSE Latin examination paper reviser
  • Regular contributor to annual Classics conferences for SATIPS and/or IAPS
 
Selected publications
  • Some aspects of the structure of the Phaëthon episode in Ovid’s Metamorphoses (Classical Quarterly 1976)
  • Prep School Classics (chapter in The Teaching of Classics, ed J Morwood, Cambridge, 2003)
  • Latin as an Honour (in three parts) (2017)
  • Streamlined Greek (2017)
  • Prep School Latin (2018)
  • Nova Latina Books 1 (2021) & 2 (2022)
In the pipeline:
​          Nova Latina Book 3 (2023)
 
Other
New Year’s Honours’ List 2016: MBE for services to education
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