In message id, at
23:44:47 on Tue, 14 Apr 2015, Dr J R Stockton
..uk.invalid remarked:
Until the early 60s most male students (other than medics) were older
because they had to do National Service first.

I don't think that's true

See
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cleese#Early_life_and_education,
para 3. He was over three years older than the youngest of his College
intake, who did not do N.S.

So he took two gap years, having also spent a year doing Cambridge
scholarship exams. What does this one person's history tell us about the
general case?

Incidentally, I don't think Footlights would have had a stall at the
Society's Fair, because it was invitation-only; but a much overlooked
club called CULES (Cambridge University Light Entertainment Society)
did. I joined the latter as a stage-hand (I had spent quite a bit of
time working in sound/lighting backstage previously) and looking at the
scripts which were performed it was clear that much of the material had
been written by the future ISERTA crowd, who progressed from CULES to
Footlights.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambrid...ntertainment_S
ociety
--
Roland Perry