'I hated maths
until I had Mr Devan,
who used to
compare decimals
with his dog Fang.

When we
stopped
making a noise
in his class
we used to eat
a little
part of his Mars Bar.
And divide it onto everyone’s plate.

And when we were bad
we used to stand on a chair
and say:
'I won't take advantage
of your kind
and generous nature.' '

Alison West wrote this poem in response to the Centerprise publication The Threepenny Doctor: Doctor Jelley of Hackney. Local children used to torment ‘good old’ Dr. Jelley by peeping through his windows in the 1910s.