Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Former Glenrothes pupil pays tribute to teacher as he becomes top Oxford professor

Former Glenrothes High School pupil William Allan has been made Professor of Greek at Oxford University.
Former Glenrothes High School pupil William Allan has been made Professor of Greek at Oxford University.

A former Fife schoolboy with a love for languages has been made Professor of Greek studies at Oxford University.

William Allan, who attended Glenrothes High School between 1982 and 1988, has been awarded the coveted post at University College, Oxford, the largest and most famous university faculty specialising in classical studies.

Confirmation of the appointment ends months of uncertainty for William who applied for the position a year ago, but who had been left on tenterhooks because of delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

“I’m delighted to be given the position which is a huge honour,” said William, a former Edinburgh University graduated who has previously also lectured in Germany and at the prestigious Harvard University in America.

“Already being an assistant associate professor here at Oxford I applied for the position internally, but considering it attracts applications from around the world I wasn’t sure I’d be successful,” he admitted.

His success is a far cry from that of the Cardenden youngster who came from a non-academic family.

“We never had any books at home and no one in the family had ever gone to university before, but while it may have been a difficult home life, school was always a happy place for me and I soon realised I had a love of languages,” he said.

“I was taught Latin and German, then added Greek and eventually also took to learning Hebrew in the school lunch hour.

“I must attribute my success in later life to original Glenrothes High School language teachers David Potter, Charlie Wallace and Dave Neilson who really set me on the road academically and instilled their love of languages and learning in me.”

William’s appointment comes as no surprise to former teacher Mr Potter, who said he was the most gifted pupil of the thousands he taught in 34-year career as a teacher at Glenrothes.

He said: “It’s wonderful to see William go on and do so well.

“It was noticeable very quickly that William had a talent for languages and while I’ve been blessed to have taught some bright youngsters William’s achievements are astonishing and very much deserved.

“To become Professor of Greek at Oxford after the career he’s had and the academic books he’s written and published over the years, is the pinnacle in that sphere of learning, it’s a position recognised and respected around the world.”