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Camden News - by TOM FOOT
Published: 20 November 2008

Former Holloway School pupils Michael Drayton, Andrew Franks and soul musician Jazzie B in the House of Commons

Tributes to ‘a hell of a guy’

THE soul musician Jazzie B paid tribute to his secondary school teacher at a memorial event in the House of Commons on Monday.
The founding member of Soul II Soul, who lives in Mornington Place, spoke of the impact his dynamic sociology teacher Jeffrey Gordon had on him during his formative years at Holloway School.
Jazzie told how Mr Gordon, who died in August aged 82, would play American civil rights leader Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech during lessons.
The double Grammy award winner added:“Mr Gordon was a hell of a guy. He made me feel of value and showed us a way of working out
problems. He told me it was no problem to say what I believed and I still go by that principle today.
“I remember he used to put us in charge of the class. That was just one of the great things he did. It gave me confidence and I was actually thinking about becoming a teacher because of Mr Gordon.”
Tributes from friends, family and former pupils and colleagues of Mr Gordon were punctuated by a violin performance of ‘Nigun’ by the classical composer Ernst Bloch, a reading from the writer Thomas Paine’s Age of Reason and the playwright JB Priestley’s An Inspector Calls.

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