When I entered King Edward VII School, Sheffield, in September 1945 at the age of 11 Mr Watling was already established as a Classics teacher and scholar of some renown. The school offered every scholar Latin from the outset, and Greek could be taken as an option later. Mr Watling remained an Assistant Master throughout his career, never aspiring to the post of Head of Classics, although I am sure he could have filled this post on his scholarship alone.
He presented a tall, thin, pale, somewhat ascetic and austere figure, and his nick-name, known throughout the school, was “Marcus” (for short) or “Marcus Lamp-postus” (in full)!
I was not aware that he had served in the armed forces during the Second World War, but certainly many of the other teachers returned from active service in the months of 1945-46.
He played the double bass in the school orchestra, and I can picture him now sitting on his high stool. He may have been musically well qualified, but he certainly was very deaf. Consequently, his keeping of discipline was affected by this, and chatter and jokes would frequently occur among the pupils, and he sometimes lost his cool as a result, becoming angry and frustrated, but never to my knowledge taking it out on any pupil. He must have been very patient. And he also had a wry sense of humour. In one lesson a translation of a passage was taking place, and a pupil floundered. “Come on, boy”, he said. “Audacitur, audacitur - surely you know what this means? - How dark it is!! - How dark it is!!”
He is of course nationally and internationally known for his translation work, especially of the Greek comedies and tragedies, and specifically in the editions of Penguin Classics.*
I have really fond memories of this teacher.
[* A www.google.com search on "E F Watling" returns hundreds of references to his translations, but nothing about him.]