Carol Vorderman has shared the challenges of going to Cambridge as a comprehensive school pupil, just days after her son, Cameron's graduation. 61-year-old Countdown legend Carol has been shouting from the rooftops about Cameron's success, as his delayed graduation from the University of the West of England in Bristol took place on Tuesday, May 10.
Cameron King, who is the son of Carol and her ex-husband, Patrick King, obtained a first class degree two years ago in Animation, but his ceremony was delayed due to Covid-19, and also earned a Master's degree from the University of Dundee last year. Cameron, who now works as a 3D animator, faced 'endless bullying' and struggled through school due to his severe learning difficulties, but is now enjoying plenty of success.
After attending her son's graduation ceremony earlier this week, Carol shared a proud realisation with her 219,000 followers on Instagram. Alongside a picture of herself, Cameron, and her daughter, Katie, Carol wrote: "It only just occurred to me that my little brood and I are an academic family.
Read more: Carol Vorderman's son Cameron graduates from UWE Bristol despite childhood 'struggle'
"From left to right: Vorders... Masters degree in Engineering Cambridge. Cameron... Masters Degree in Animation and VFX, Dundee University.
"Dr Katie King... Masters (Science) and PhD (Nanotechnology)... Cambridge. Odd really but we haven't ever thought of ourselves as an academic family, we just love learning...
"Ha... so there we are. The Vorder Kings."
Although Carol has enjoyed a glitzy career in television, things have not always been easy for the star. This morning, May 12, Carol paid tribute to Mr Donald Green, a Fellow in Engineering at Cambridge, who she says 'fought, decades before it was fashionable to do so, for women to study engineering and science at Cambridge University and for children from state schools to get into Cambridge'.
Carol wrote: "I was incredibly lucky to be interviewed by him at what became my beloved college @sidneysussexcollege in 1977. I was just 16 from a comp in Rhyl and on free school meals and life was hard, very hard, but his smile and his incredible zest for life, changed me and so many others."
Carol has previously spoken about her deprived childhood in North Wales, where she was singlehandedly raised by her mum, Jean, alongside her two siblings in a tiny flat in Prestatyn. Until she was nine, Carol shared a bed with her mum, and there were four of them in one bedroom.
In an interview with The Mirror, Carol claimed that getting into Cambridge was the 'proudest moment' of her life. She said: "It’s hard for people to understand now just how momentous that was.
"I’d been at a comprehensive school and I didn’t know anyone in the whole of north Wales who’d been to Cambridge. My headteacher asked why I was applying there and I said, ‘Well, I’m going to be a fighter pilot in the Royal Air Force and if I’m going to try to be that, I need the best degree at the best university.'"
According to Carol, her college gave three offers that year to girls from northern state schools, and they've all ended up with their own Wikipedia pages. She said: "When the offer came through, I don’t think my feet touched the floor for about a week. I went in the third year that the college had started taking girls, and I was one of the first 50 women to study engineering there."
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