Hard work over a long distance’ was author Tony Birch’s ticket to success

During a high-school reunion that I attended several years ago, the conversation turned to memories of our teachers: the crazy ones, the cruel and the brilliant. After more than 40 years apart, we gathered around a large table and reminisced, each of us recalling a favourite. Each of us except me. While I had strong memories of, and could easily have recalled, wild stories about my many transgressions then, I could barely remember who’d…