Berwick man receives grade 8 in GCSE maths at the age of 73

George Neil Broxton decided to study for GCSE maths last October and he did the three 90-minute higher level exam papers at Alnwick in late May and early June at the age of 72.

The now 73-year-old received his results last week at the same time as 16-year-olds across the country and he achieved a grade 8 – the second best grade – for the subject.

George explained that he went along to study at Berwick Library and after doing an initial test was told that the foundation level would be too easy for him.

This meant he prepared for the higher level, but as it was just him for those papers this time round he was “effectively self taught”.

He added: “The main thing that made me want to do this is that I have five grandchildren and some of them are already showing sharpness and aptitude in maths – so by studying and completing the exams myself, I can help them when they get to GCSE age.

“I was an engineer and used to numbers, but it had obviously been a long time since I studied maths and there were many new topics, and some I had never heard of that I had to learn from scratch.

“I was delighted to achieve a grade 8. In fact, my overall score was about 85 per cent of the total marks.

“What I've done shows that you are never too old to learn and do something worthwhile that keeps your mind active.”