Oh-so posh public school of rock that leads the big line-up
SCHOOL’S out for ever, or so rock legend Alice Cooper sang.
But your education could shape your music career long after it’s over as evidenced by the former the number of private school pupils dominating this year’s Glastonbury festival.
Folk singer Laura Marling has a top spot on Sunday night, appearing hours before Ed Sheeran, who will close the world’s most famous music festival. She attended the independent Leighton Park School in Reading, where fees are £34,000 a year.
She is preceded by jazz-pop musician and former public schoolboy Jamie Cullum, 37, who attended the now-closed Grittleton House School, and is married to Sophie Dahl, the granddaughter of Roald Dahl.
Despite privately-educated musicians dominating the line-up of the famous festival, just seven per cent of the UK population are educated privately.
On the John Peel Stage, Grace Chatto will perform with her band Clean Bandit. Miss Chatto, 31, attended the £36,000-a-year Westminster School whose alumni include politicians Nick Clegg and Dominic Lawson.
Sir Peter Lampl, Founder and Chairman of the Sutton Trust, an educational charity, said it was ‘remarkable’ so many of this year’s musicians were privately educated.
He said: ‘Our own research has shown that the alumni of private schools continue to dominate the top of all areas of British life. But it is remarkable that so many Glastonbury musicians have been educated at an elite school.
‘By drawing our musicians from such a small social pool, we are inevitably missing out on a lot of talent.’
Other former private school pupils include Alison Goldfrapp, who attended the fee-paying Alton Convent School, and Sophie Ellis Bextor, who went to the independent Godolphin and Latymer School in Hammersmith. Nineties boyband Busted, whose lead singer Charlie Simpson attended the £35,000-a-year Uppingham School, will also be making an appearance.