Diana Dallyn – TBS Math Teacher in the 1960s Visits the School

Diana Dallyn saw some photos published in The Falcon’s last edition, in our website, and recognized several pupils in the 1967. At that time, she was a Maths Teacher at TBS and enjoyed her days in the city of Rio de Janeiro. In July 2008, Diana visited Brazil and came back to the school, to visit and see some old friends. She visited the school at Botafogo on July 14th and Jenny Byers and Liz Wynn-Jones, who were her pupils in the 60s joined us all. A great moment of memories and friendship!


“I arrived at the British School in August 1966 – just after England had won the World Cup. The Brazilian coach was thrown into the sea, I think, for not winning it! In this photo, there are some teachers: Rehana, who was from East Pakistan, which changed its name to Bangaladesh. I kept in touch with her for many years, she became a doctor and lived in Canada. Then there’s me and Karen, who was American. I think she went to the American School when she left. Sheik was either Indian or Pakistani.”


“In this photo, we have some students who did a popular play at the time, called ‘Salad Days’, an English musical. It was about students who had just left Cambridge University and were looking back at the wonderful time they had had as students. Liz Wynn-Jones is 5th from the left, kneeling down on the left is Paul Porter. I can’t remember any other names. Ian Lodge, the English teacher, was in charge of the production. He also left a few years later and taught at a school in the mountains outside Madrid. We went to visit him there in 1985. I haven’t heard from him for many years though.

Teacher Martha Matthews was a close friend of mine and her daughter Crystal was bridesmaid at my first wedding. She also lived with us in England during school holidays later on when she could not get back to Brazil. Once Martha left Rio I lost touch with her. I would love to know where she and Crystal are now. The Headmaster at that time was Mr Gordon. He lived in a flat above the school classrooms, in Chasman Building, whereas I was in the newly converted building which fronted onto Rua da Matriz (the Ribeiro dos Santos building top floor). I left Brazil in the end of the 1960s but it was a great time.”