Britain’s most elderly student: go to work first
Joy Leslie Gibson, who at 90 can lay claim to being Britain’s most elderly student, has some sage advice: avoid “Mickey Mouse” degrees such as golf club management and go straight out to work. She said: “Students ought to think of how they can earn enough money.”
AT JUST a decade shy of 100 years old, you would be forgiven for wanting to put your feet up and enjoy your retirement.
But not so for Joy Leslie Gibson who, at the age of 90, can lay claim to being Britain’s most elderly student.
Since retiring 30 years ago, she has completed five degrees – a BA, an MA, two Mphils as well as an Mlit. She is currently in the throes of her PHD at the Shakespeare Institute, Birmingham University.
And she has not shied away from throwing herself into university life.
Since starting her first MA 18 years ago, she has been a keen member of the institute’s drama society – although she admits that she has not auditioned for parts in recent years as she has trouble remembering her lines. “I played Isabelle of France in Henry VI, that was about six years ago,” she said. “I have directed Hamlet, The Changeling, and The Importance of Being Earnest.”
Ms Gibson, from Stratford-uponavon, faces the age-old student dilemma: dividing her time between extra-curricular activities and her studies. “It is always a difficult balance between work and societies,” she said. “If you have a talent like acting or debating I think it is good to join a society – but you can get swamped by doing so many things.”
Ms Gibson, who is 63,000 words into her PHD on forgiveness and
repentance in Elizabethan theatre, said it had always “rankled” her that she had been unable to go to university when she was younger.
“I was 18 in 1945 when the war came to an end. I had a place at the LSE [London School of Economics and Political Science] to read politics,” she told The Daily Telegraph. “But the government said that all places at university were to go to ex-service people.”
Her advice for students is not to waste their time and money by enroll- ing on “Mickey Mouse” degrees such as “golf club management”. Rather, they should throw themselves into the world of work and enrol on university courses later in life.
“I don’t think anyone is properly educated these days,” Ms Gibson said. “I talk to university students who haven’t had as good an education as I had at school. Being taught how to read properly at primary school is far more important than sending people to university to do Mickey Mouse degrees like golf club management. I think students ought to think of what they want to do after university and really, how they can earn enough money after.”
Ms Gibson, who was born in the Isle of Wight but spent most of her childhood in west London was educated at Notting Hill School, a private girls’ school. She worked as a drama teacher and a magazine journalist, and renewed her efforts with higher education after she retired, aged 60.
She studied a foundation course at the Open University, and went on to take a BA in philosophy at the University of North London. Next, she studied for an MA in renaissance studies with the University of Sussex, then two Mphils on various aspects of Shakespeare, followed by an Mlit on Elizabethan costume.
She is currently taking a year-long break from her PHD while she recovers from a double hip operation. She aims to finish by next spring and has already started thinking about a topic for her next doctorate.