I SAT MATHS EXAM AS MISSILES FELL

ANDY MURRAY will never forget the maths exam he sat aboard a battleship, with a gas mask around his neck and Tomahawk missiles flying overhead.

It was 1999 and the HMs Iron Duke was off the coast of Kosovo, ready to assist with the humanitarian crisis arising from the war. It is, he says, the perfect example of how you can study for an Open University degree in any circumstances.

‘I’ve got friends who filled in their exam papers while in submarines in the arctic Circle, and some of the circumstances I sat mine under were extraordinary,’ he says.

Now 44 and a father-of-two, andy, who is from south Yorkshire, joined the Navy at 19.

‘I didn’t do as much at school as I should have,’ he says. ‘Then I was selected to do an engineering diploma in the Navy and I suddenly realised I wasn’t that bad at maths. My adviser recommended the Open University, and it developed from there.’

after basic maths courses, he studied for a Bsc Honours in Physical sciences.

It was the requirement that, if he was abroad, any OU exams had to be taken at the same time as they were being sat in the UK, that led to those strange scenarios for andy and other military personnel who enrolled with the OU — or the University of the second Chance as it is known.

‘There is nowhere on a ship that you can get peace and quiet,’ he says. ‘But I got used to working in the dining room surrounded by noise and clatter, and other crew members got used to me sitting there with my books.

‘There were many times I didn’t want to study, but I pushed myself on because I did not want to give up.’

When andy left the Navy in 2009 — by then Chief Petty Officer — after 22 years’ of service, he says his OU degree was the key to a successful transition from the services to civilian life. ‘Having a Bsc after my name definitely helped me to find a job.

‘In fact, I was headhunted by a gas turbine company, and I left the Navy on a Friday and started there on the Monday. I now work as a gas turbine engineer, which also takes me all over the world.

‘Last week I was on an oil rig in the North sea, and next week I am off to India. But now I am only away for weeks at a time instead of months.

‘I haven’t done any studying since leaving the Navy, but a colleague is currently studying engineering and I think it has rubbed off on me, because I am now contemplating going back to my OU studies and doing a Masters degree.’