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manner he said ‘Terry, would you like to go to Oxford or Cambridge?’ and I replied ‘Yes please Sir’ immediately blushing at the foolishness of my reply while Mr Ewan said something to the effect that he alone could not bring this about. I can remember the exact spot, which I saw again when I visited with Richard Heal 65 years later. And felt myself blushing as I recalled my reply 65 years previously. Anyway, it was agreed that I should aim for one of these universities. I don’t think I really appreciated that, if successful, I would be not only the first person in my family to go to university but that it would be to one of the best universities in the world. There was no central system of applying for university in those days. One had to apply for each university separately, and in the case of the ancient universities, for each college. Oxford and Cambridge entrance was by separate exams in November of one’s final year. The first one I sat was at Peterhouse, Cambridge. It was a humiliating experience. I could attempt hardly any questions. Most were far too hard for me, although all were supposedly within the A level syllabus. I was rejected. Pembroke, Oxford, was much better. It included an interview by a panel of about half a dozen dons. They concentrated on the answers I had given to the general paper. A few days later I got a letter offering me a common entrance place to read mathematics. In those days there were four levels of Oxford or Cambridge entrance: Open Scholarship, Open Exhibition, Common Entrance and Closed Scholarship. The last of these was restricted to a small defined group. Pembroke had one, for example, open only to sons of Channel Island clergymen. And they also had the Townsend Scholarship. This was restricted to four schools in rotation. One of these was The Crypt, but it came round only every fourth year, and I missed it. The offer from Pembroke was subject to my getting an O level in a modern language, or taking and passing an equivalent Oxford exam. It was also for two years after I left school and had done my National Service. National Service (NS) in one of the armed services was at the time mandatory for all males on leaving school or university, except for those who failed the fitness test or were in an exempt category. NS was phased out a couple of years later and had I done my university course first I would probably never have done NS. Those going to university could do their National Service either before or after. Pembroke preferred before. If I accepted the Pembroke offer the die was cast. This was not straightforward as I had also applied for two other universities; Bristol to do physics and Fitzwilliam House (as it then was), Cambridge to do mechanical engineering. Bristol had been an interview only but Fitzwilliam had included an entrance exam in which I found the maths for engineers very easy. I was offered a place by each within days of the Pembroke offer. I chose Oxford for no good reason that I can recollect. But maths was a mistake. My abject failure at Peterhouse should have rung alarm bells, as should the fact that while at the end of the year I got top grades in maths, further maths and physics at A level, my grades in the harder S Level were less impressive – although still good enough to get me a State Scholarship; one of only two won by Crypt students that year. There was no national grant system in those days. On gaining admission to a university, one then had to apply to one’s local authority for a grant, which was almost always forthcoming. A small number of State Scholarships, worth more than a local authority grant, were awarded by central government to those who did best nationally on S Levels. The Crypt usually got two or three of these. When I finally left school in 1954, it was to do my two years National Service in the Army before taking up my place at Oxford – provided I got O level French in the meantime. This however was not the end of my association with the school. Five years later I returned with my new wife, Malley, to live in Gloucester and teach at Sir Thomas Rich’s. And play rugby for the Old Cryptians. My marriage lasted 61 years until she died last year at the age of 80.
