Her Ladyship and I are absolutely delighted for our youngest son, Ben.
This morning, like around a hundred thousand young Brits, Ben awoke in a state of nervous anticipation. Today was A-Level results day!http://education.guardian.co.uk/alevels2002/story/0,12321,775161,00.html
A - Level examinations are the UK's springboard for 18 year old students to move from college on to university. Most students are awaiting the results from 3 or 4 subjects, each marked and graded from an A to an F.
Top red - brick uni's such as Cambridge, Manchester, Oxford, Bristol and Edinburgh demand the highest possible standards of multi - A passes, whilst more down to earth uni's such as Plymouth will settle for 3 "C" passes, some down market uni's even accept 3 "D's".
Ben had anticipated 3 "C's" which would have got him into Plymouth or Portsmouth, although he dearly wanted to attend Cardiff but felt it was too upmarket, as the uni demanded 3 "B's". Well, this is where the surprise came, Ben actually got 2 "C's" and 1 "B", so where would this leave him?
At 3.30 the universities all opened their phone lines, so Ben got onto Cardiff on the stroke of the half-hour. Would they stretch their acceptance levels to accomodate him? Guess what?
They've accepted him!!! Ben gets into Cardiff!
We are so proud of him, well done Ben!
Englishman.