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When Wesley Went to Winchester
In 1970, journalist Wesley Kerr won a bursary to the elite Winchester College. What happened to other lucky pupils? From 2011.
In 1970, broadcaster Wesley Kerr was awarded a County Bursary to study at one of Britain's top public schools, Winchester College.
Over 40 years later, he opens the gates of memory and attends a special reunion to find out what happened to the other bursary boys and explores the scheme's attempts at 'social engineering.'
From a working class background, Wesley was a black foster child from Hampshire. With the odds against him, he passed the exam and interview and took the opportunity which led to him becoming 成人快手 TV news' first black reporter and later Royal correspondent.
The national bursary scheme ran from 1947 to 1974, after a request by Winston Churchill that a quarter of public schools places were to be taken by state school boys, funded by the local education authority. A number of other schools such as Eton and Rugby also gave bursaries.
Wesley meets over 30 former pupils, who include a former judge, the man who designed London鈥檚 latest Routemaster bus and the Bishop of Gibraltar.
With stories of strange accents, school pranks and those who struggled to fit into an alien environment, Wesley hears how the experience gave them new opportunities and shaped their lives.
Producer: Tamsin Barber
First broadcast on 成人快手 Radio 4 in June 2011.
Last on
Broadcasts
- Mon 20 Jun 2011 11:00成人快手 Radio 4 FM
- Tue 28 Feb 2017 06:30成人快手 Radio 4 Extra
- Tue 28 Feb 2017 13:30成人快手 Radio 4 Extra
- Tue 28 Feb 2017 20:30成人快手 Radio 4 Extra
- Wed 1 Mar 2017 01:30成人快手 Radio 4 Extra
- Wed 2 Jun 2021 14:30成人快手 Radio 4 Extra
- Thu 3 Jun 2021 02:30成人快手 Radio 4 Extra