Fairground traveller Milly wins a place at Oxford
She left school at 13, taught herself Latin and helps out on the family doughnut stalls, but now this A-star student wants to become a classics professor
WHEN Milly Ayers begins university this autumn, she will be following in the illustrious footsteps of the poet Robert Graves, the author Kingsley Amis and former Prime Minister Tony Blair at St John’s College, Oxford. But just by being there, Milly will be making history herself, because the 18-yearold student is a traveller who left school at 13, home-schooled herself for her GCSEs and learned Latin, which she will need to study classics, by using an app.
Milly comes from a long line of showmen and women – a section of the travelling community who own and operate fairgrounds – and is related to the circus legend Billy Smart.
Her own family is one of the oldest established, having run fairs and circuses for more than 200 years, and her great-great-grandparents ran fairground rides at St Giles’ Fair, just a stone’s throw from her new college.
“I’m very proud of my heritage and hope my time at Oxford breaks down some of the myths and stereotypes around my culture,” she says.
The teenager’s achievement is all the more impressive as Milly studied for her exams while running fairground attractions at the weekend, helping her mother Natasha with the housework and babysitting her three younger siblings.
“I was bullied and subjected to namecalling as many of my relatives are. ‘Dirty pikey’, was a frequent one. I’d just expect it,” she says. “‘Dirty gypsies’ was painted on a bedsheet at Christmas once and hung outside the entrance to where a lot of our community live. ‘Gyppo’ is another common insult.”
Diagnosed with autism and Asperger’s at 13, she loved learning but school made her feel anxious and stressed. “I just thought, ‘I can learn better at home’,” Milly says.
“I read, watched documentaries on the subjects I was studying, visited castles and would revise – in between I’d help mum tidy up and mind my brothers and sisters and work weekends at the family’s burger kiosks and fairground stands and children’s rides. As long as I can remember, that was simply expected of me.”
MILLY lived in caravans and mobile homes until she was seven. The family now have a house in Chertsey, Surrey. But from the age of three, she accompanied her parents and grandparents to work at the fairground stalls, often wearing a money belt full of £1 coins.
Milly gained seven average grade GCSEs, which encouraged her to enrol at a sixth form college. It was there she heard about the extra help available to her.
“I was told by my classics teacher about Zero Gravity – an organisation that helps disadvantaged students get to Oxbridge – and I thought, ‘I want to push myself, maybe I could go’,” she says.
So Milly contacted its founder, Joe Seddon, and he linked her up with a Cambridge University PhD mentor, Elsie Linney, who coached her over Zoom for the language aptitude test given to candidates who have not studied Latin or Greek and supported her through procedure and interview.
Since then, Milly has taught herself Latin using the Duolingo app to ensure she is on an equal footing with her fellow students, many of whom will have come from the UK’s top private schools despite efforts to diversify the student body.
She opted for a classics degree as she has loved Greek mythology since childhood. Milly is predicted to gain three A-stars in her her application
A-levels in classics, English literature and early modern history. She has dreamt of going to Oxford University ever since her dad bought her a jumper with the institution’s logo on it. Parents Brian, 47, and Natasha, 45, are proud of their daughter, as are her siblings Isabella, 17, and twins Tilly and Brian, 11.
Now a film studio supervisor working on blockbuster movies, dad Brian left school aged 11 to work on the family-run fairs. “When Milly told me she had won a place at Oxford, it was the first time in my life I had cried with happiness,” he reveals.
“My granny, Doris, knew the area so well as she and her family always worked the St Giles’ Fair every September in Oxford. While her parents ran the stalls, she would run barefoot through the markets as a child and teenager.
“Doris died just before Milly was born but she would be so proud of her. And our community is. Milly is a fine ambassador for our culture.”
Brian says he regrets missing out on an education. “I had no choice really, it was expected that I’d start work on the fairs and stalls at the age of 11. But my wife and I have always encouraged our kids to reach for the stars and Isabella now wants to do a law degree and is looking at Oxford too.
“I am happy that Milly will meet people outside of our culture. But overall, I just want her to be happy.”
Aside from her studies, Milly’s main hobby is horse riding.
“I have two horses that I care for, a coloured cob called Banjo and a chestnut thoroughbred mare, Scarlet,” she says.
“She was a rescue horse. I got her when she was four months old as she was going to be put down for being the wrong colour. I like going to the paddocks and caring for them. I switch off from studying when I am riding out.”
THE scrupulously polite teenager has no solid plans for life after Oxford. “I have not really thought about that yet – I’d like to do a PhD in classics and stay in education, maybe as a lecturer, or I think I will see where education takes me.”
But she is confident that her head won’t be turned by the elite atmosphere of one of the world’s most famous universities.
“Being a showman is in your blood, no one can take that away from me. I’m proud of my heritage. If anyone mocks
my background, I will try and educate them and if they don’t get it then I’ll give them a wide berth.
“I’ve met quite a few privately educated kids through our uni group chats and a few of my cousins went to private schools.
It doesn’t bother individually.”
As for meeting a future non-traveller partner at university, Milly says that they’d be welcomed by her family with open arms.
“People think we have arranged marriages me as
I judge people but that is a misconception. My parents wouldn’t care if I go out with someone who is a non-traveller, many of my relations have married outside the culture and we accept them wholeheartedly.”
Public records regarding diversity since 2007 show 10 people have applied to Oxford from a gypsy or traveller background but only two won places – one in 2012 and another in 2019 – making Milly only the third.
Joe, a working class lad from Morley, West Yorkshire, was 21 when he set up Zero Gravity as a free service to target bright, working class, low income and disadvantaged youngsters and help them get into Oxbridge.
After graduating in 2018 with a first in philosophy, politics and economics from Oxford, he realised that many able, talented young people from disadvantaged families were slipping through the net at the UK’s oldest universities.
HE BRIDGED the gap by bringing together student mentors already at Oxbridge to help guide aspiring entrants through the application process. This year alone, he has helped 151 students into Oxford and Cambridge – 80 at Oxford and 71 at Cambridge – more than the top three private schools put together.
His organisation has also supported 1,000 low-income students into Russell Group universities this year.
Joe says: “They all have just as much right to be at Oxbridge as their Eton and Westminster counterparts, it’s just far tougher for them to work their way through what can seem an overwhelming process – that’s where I step in to break down those fears and worries.
“What immediately struck me about Milly was her raw talent and incredible determination to defy the odds. She’s exactly the sort of student that should be going to Oxford. Students like her are the reason I created the non profit organisation.”
In the two years since, the son of a single mum, an NHS speech therapist, set up Zero Gravity in his bedroom, funding it from money saved from his student grant, he has achieved amazing results.
“This year’s successful lot takes us to 261 offers. All these students are from low-income backgrounds, and live across all four corners of the UK,” he says.
“When I graduated from Oxford, I was determined to disrupt the status quo in higher education and knew my determination was shared by thousands of current students. I didn’t want to sit around for five years waiting for the universities to do this themselves – so I just went out and did it.
“There’s been lots of talk recently about the levelling up agenda and building back better. Zero Gravity is levelling up in practice. By focusing on unleashing the incredible talent of young people you can actually change things very quickly. Milly’s success proves that.”
Results day for Milly is August 10 and, showing her confidence, she has no backup plans in case she doesn’t get the A levels she requires. “I feel fairly confident I will get the grades,” she adds. “I have no Plan B yet!”