Sir — Your obituary of Michael Broadway (August 29) mentions briefly his career in teaching, a career which in fact spanned half a century and demonstrated to colleagues and students alike a gift for inspiring others which marks out the great teacher from the merely diligent.

We had the great good fortune to be colleagues of Michael's over a number of years and soon became aware of how he quietly set alight the minds and imaginations of those he taught, from students of history and politics to the generations of people who were enriched personally and professionally by his 'Oxford Past and Present' classes.

Not for Michael machine-based learning — for I doubt he ever used classroom computers, interactive whiteboards, etc. — but rather the imparting of knowledge and understanding borne from his deep and idiosyncratic sense of rootedness, in Jericho, in Oxford, and in the interconnecting worlds beyond, and through his application of R.H. Tawney's dictum that a good historian must always have to hand a stout pair of walking boots.

We did suggest to Michael from time to time that he ought to write his memoirs, to which he would grin and ask modestly: 'Why?'

His legacy lies with and in all of us who learnt from him that true love of learning which must be based in the life and activities of the everyday, certain and uncertain as every day is and must be. Today, as he used to say, is a product of yesterday. And so it is, for which we are eternally grateful.

Sally Mercer and Bruce Ross-Smith, Headington