Tributes have been paid to a former RAF pilot and Diss maths teacher who ‘always thought of others before himself’. John Blagden who qualified to fly in the 1950s during National Service, before training as a teacher, died on May 18, at the age of 90. The career change came about after a freak accident when the cockpit canopy of his aircraft came off, causing it to rapidly lose pressure and his eardrums to explode. But this did not stop Mr Blagden, who trained as a maths and physics teacher and taught at Diss Grammar School, where he finished his career as Head of Mathematics. During his time …