History or Acting? An Interview with Mr. Baxter

Tell us a bit about your background education- university, what did you study, where etc.

So I studied my undergraduate degree at Leeds university. I started off doing English and History and then I discovered, whilst being there, that my passion was way more into history so then I switched over to do straight history. Then for my post graduate degree I went to Royal Holloway University of London where I did more history but I focused more on the holocaust in terms of my specialism. 

Why did you move to Madrid in the first place? Was it a difficult adjustment for you?

So, I first came to Madrid I think it was like ten years ago. I came here on holiday with my friends and we had a great and really silly time and ever since then I really wanted to come back here and just saw myself living here and I just saw myself coming back here for holidays with my friends and then last year one of my best friends married a woman from Madrid and so I’ve always wanted to come back here but I just wasn’t sure how. But then I discovered, well thanks to the British empire we’ve exported out education system all over the world [laughs], so I was looking at different international schools. So, last year I had two interviews; one in the British school of Barcelona, didn’t get that one because I couldn’t teach geography, and another one for the British school of Munich cause they said that I was too strict on the kids. But then it was the Easter holidays and I saw a job had come up in Runnymede and I was like oh my god that’s in Madrid that’s my number one destination. 

I think its always difficult when you’re moving country, and leaving behind your friends and family but honestly I have genuinely loved every moment that I’ve been here. Madrid is all that I’ve wish it could be and Runnymede is easily the best school that I’ve ever worked at (apart from my year 12 class). 

Do you like the syllabus that you teach? Would you ever teach anything else? 

Part of the reason that attracted me to Runnymede was that at A-level they teach Mao’s China which is my favourite thing in the absolute world to teach so that was a big draw for me. In terms of that I would like to teach which I’m not getting the opportunity to teach here would be more on the holocaust, I think it’s very important. We have taught it to the year 9’s this year but we’ve been talking about teaching it in greater depth to the year 9’s because we do think its a very important period of history, certainly a very tragic one, but very important.

What is your favourite part of teaching and why?

I like the stories of History. I think that as human beings the way in which we make sense of the world is through telling stories and history is sort of telling a series of lots of little stories that help people understand about the world and their place in it and being able to help them tell their own stories. Yeah, I really enjoy telling stories like when I was kid my party trick that my parents would get me to do for their friends was doing accents and impressions of like president Bill Clinton. So, yeah I’ve always liked performing and telling stories and history lets me to that every day. 

What’s something that we wouldn’t know about you?

So in 1999 they released a Star Wars film and I thought that the Jedi was the coolest person ever. So at the age of six I asked my parents if when I got my haircut I could get a Jedi braid and they said yes, sure. So from 6 to 11 I had a Jedi braid. I didn’t get bullied which you would have thought I was.

What kind of music do you listen to?

I mean I listen to all kinds of music but I would definitely say that hip hop is my favourite type of music. Coming from southeast London, there’s a really big hip hop scene and South London gigs along with other artists coming up when I was growing up. I made this academic journal about hip hop studies, so I think leaning back to the storytelling, I think hip hop for a large part has been the way in which a lot of the stories from the 20th and 21st century have been told. 

If you could listen to one song and watch one movie for the rest of your life what would they be?

There is this song that reminds me of my family and its called Saturday Night at the Movies by the Drifters, then the film Lord of the Rings. I’m a massive Lord of the rings fan. I've read the book so many times. I love the amount of work that went into the films and also the story behind them. It took JR. Talken 30 years of research, he even invented his own language, well languages for the original stories and then invented all different kinds of mythologies and civilisations behind everything. It also really helps to provide a sort of allegory for both the industrial revolution and Europe during WWII so yeah there’s just so much you can get from those films. 

Do you have any other hobbies? 

So at the moment long distance running is probably my main hobby and it's what I'm spending most of my time out of school doing. I ran the Barcelona Marathon last Sunday and my goal is to run a marathon in under 3 hours which I'm hoping to do at the San Sebastian Marathon in November. 

Which historical figure do you relate most to and why?

Mao Zedong. I’m joking, I find Mao very, very interesting but I don’t think that I relate to him. I think I relate more to Zhou Enlai , he was very good at sort of getting on with people. He was very good at sort of looking at what was possible and achievable. I think that’s the sort of person that I am like: I believe in the policies of the possible in terms of what you can actually achieve and that if you get a consensus and you get people agreeing and feeling good about an idea it’s how you unite people.

What historical era would you time travel to?

These are great questions… I think I would like to time travel very far back in time because if you think like I’ve only got one shot at this, I may as well go back to a time where life was completely different. So I think I would go back to either the Romans or like the ancient Egyptians because I think if you like go back to anywhere in the 20th century you’ll still recognise several things. However, by going really far back in time you actually get the experience of being like: wow this is completely different, these people are completely different, they believe in completely different things and look different. And you really get to see different societies. 

What do you have to say about the rumours regarding your short film? 

Well, sometimes it’s the celebrity life that chooses you.

Do you regret not having pursued a career in acting?

No, I don’t think so. In a way I did pursue it for a while but I think teaching it’s far better for me in terms of who I am as a person. I’ve got some friends who are successful actors and I’ve seen the amount of like dedication that they’re willing to put into stuff like that.

And I don’t think I loved it enough to put the full effort into that. I do really love teaching, with teaching I get to perform almost every day, I get to research the history and stories I like and share it with loads of different people, I get to work with fellow teachers who are also really, really intelligent and love history. I am a people person and I know with acting you spend a lot of time actually waiting for your next job rather than working with people. 

Who’s your celebrity crush/ idol?

Queen Elizabeth. I think she was like an incredibly intelligent woman who defied all of the restrictions placed on her at the time. And yeah, she also had great swagger and great clothing, so what’s not to like?

What do you consider to be your greatest achievement? This could be in Runnymede or outside.

Inside work, in education… at my last school was being head of department and I got to redesign the curriculum so that we were teaching the history from every inhabited continent. I was very proud of how we were able to do that throughout the years.

Then outside of work, I’d saying moving to Madrid. Like taking the plunge and moving to Madrid. Actually, the reason I was really attracted to Runnymede was because I read the Runnymede Times online, I clicked a link on the website and went through a few different articles that the students had written and I remember I was blown away by how good they were. I just thought the school had some amazing students, so yeah I’d say moving to Madrid and coming here. 

Ms Logan said you’re the best teacher in the school, what do you have to say about this?

I fully agree, she wasn’t lying.

Closing question, where do you see yourself 10 years from now? 

Leading the European Maoist revolution!

By: Liora, Laura and Claudia Y12