A 'CHARISMATIC' retired geography teacher who remembers the victory celebrations at the end of the First World War will be celebrating his 105th birthday on Christmas Day.
But William Robinson, or 'Robbie' as he was affectionately known by his colleagues and pupils at St Birinus School, will not be tucking into a traditional turkey tomorrow.
The 104-year-old, who lives in Blewbury with his family, will be enjoying a quiet celebration with a slice of pizza.
His son Nick said: "He really did not want too much fuss to be made.
"His idea of a Christmas lunch is pizza because it is a treat for him, he just wants a simple lunch really.
"I think because of the war, people from his generation did lead a remarkable life.
"He was a geography teacher so he was always interested about the world and now he finds google earth fascinating."
Although Mr Robinson's family were from Cumbria, he came to Didcot in 1933 after gaining a degree from Reading University.
He became a teacher at the co-educational Didcot Secondary School where he met his future wife, Winifred Shaw, who taught maths. She died in 1992.
Three years later when Berkshire County Council segregated the boys from the girls, Mr Robinson was a founding staff member at St Birinus Secondary School.
His teaching took a break when the Second World War broke out and he joined the Royal Air Force.
He took part in the D-Day landings and then undertook wireless inception and intelligence work near the front line in Europe 1945.
After a posting to India and Singapore, Mr Robinson returned to Didcot in 1946 to resume teaching at St Birinus School.
Ron Freeborn, former art teacher at St Birinus and Didcot Girls' School remembers his first geography lesson with Mr Robinson.
The 80-year-old said: "I was 11 and it was 1947.
"He was the most charismatic teacher I ever had and I remember the first lesson I had with him to this day.
"We had to draw a railway map of Didcot with branch lines going off to Oxford and Newbury.
"It was a fascinating lesson."
Mr Freeborn went on to teach at the boys school while Mr Robinson was deputy headteacher.
He added: "He remembered me because I was a bit naughty at times.
"We got on very well.
"He is a remarkable man and an awful lot of people will remember him."
In the early 1950s Mr Robinson participated in one of the UK's earliest post-war pupil exchange visits with a German school to Bad Harzburg and for two decades he was deputy headmaster at the school.
But even when he retired in 1973, Mr Robinson did not slow down enjoying walks, reading, gardening and doing The Times crossword.
He also kept a close eye on the weather, having his own meteorological records dating back more than six decades.
Friend and neighbour Bernard Mattimore described him as a 'wonderful man'.
The Blewbury resident added: "We have known him for the last 20 or 25 years.
"He is an amazing man, he was in the Normandy landings and he still has his ration book from when he was a child during the first world war.
"He remembers the flags going up in celebration of the end of the war in 1918.
"And a lot of middle aged men in Blewbury and Didcot remember being taught by him, they have great admiration for him and I've heard he was an excellent teacher."
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