Dance star takes a historic step toward his dream of Oxford
AN A-level student who once toured in a professional musical discovered a passion for history during lockdown and is now hoping to land a place at Oxford University.
Henry Farmer completed his GCSEs at Haslingden High School last year, achieving three Grade 9s, four Grade 8s and three Grade 7s.
When he was 11, Henry was one of four actors who played the role of Michael in Billy Elliot which toured the UK for 15 months.
Each month, he spent three weeks away from his Haslingden home appearing on 13 different stages all over the country in front of crowds of up to 3,000 people.
The 17-year-old is now studying A levels in History, Psychology, Music and Drama at Haslingden High’s Sixth Form Centre and he has been accepted by Lancaster University for a place on its Access Programme.
Henry said: “I have been to webinars and in-person conferences, there might be a residential and everything is voluntary but everything also counts as points and these add up to a grade reduction for the course that I wish to do.
“The programme equips you for university life and is aimed at first generation university students. I went to an open day at Lancaster University and it was really interesting and really exciting.
“I am still going to work hard for everything I can get, but the grade reduction will take a lot of pressure off as I would have that little bit of assurance that I know I am already there.”
Although Lancaster is his main focus, Henry is also trying for a place at Oxford to read history - describing both universities as ‘on a par.’
He said: “During lockdown I was watching a lot more documentaries and reading a lot of books and I found myself down a rabbit hole learning all about classical warfare.
“There is so much to discover; you can never get bored. It changes your perception on so many different things. 600BC to Augustus, that is my own personal fascination.
“I think Covid pushed me to enjoy academic study more and I have really fallen in love with history. I am excited for university and to get a degree.
“In the long term, I don’t know what job I want to do - maybe some form of teaching, maybe a lecturer or I may even write a book.”