“Sometimes I’ll call upon an attitude of some of my old teachers. If there’s a character of, say, a rather pompous man who lays down the law but is actually very amiable, I will think of a man called John Brantston. And say, ‘May I have a word with you?’

“Or a rather more steely person, a teacher — I think his name was Dick Glen Jones: ‘Come here, Jarvis. I have a bone to pick with you.’ And that would provide a different color and tone.

” Martin Jarvis quoted in Neil Gaiman Asks: Heard Any Good Books Lately? November 30, 2009, NPR.org
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120769925&sc=emaf

Also, it may be worth quoting some of my childhood stuff for my portfolio, about the effect teachers have on their students: spittin’ willy, greisinger, etc.