The ‘A’ level college in London wouldn’t let me take three subjects in one year, considering it too heavy a workload.
Just for background reference: when I was doing my ‘A’ levels in Singapore the first time round, called Pre-U in those days (1971–2), we had to do five subjects and pass them all in one sitting. If you failed in any of the five subjects, you couldn’t just re-take that/those subject(s) alone, you had to re-take all five. Such were the high standards demanded of us out in the ex-colony. In the UK, however, it was possible to take one ‘A’ level subject at a time during those days (1977), adding them up until you had enough to apply for university.
A British friend’s advice at the time was that although universities asked for a minimum of two ‘A’ level passes to get in (the grades would depend on what was set by each individual university), I would/might have more of a competitive edge with three ‘A’ level passes, even if the third one was a mere D (two grades above Fail).
Since the day college wouldn’t let me take three ‘A’ level subjects in one year with them, I decided to sign up for an evening ‘A’ level subject at the Polytechnic of Central London for my third offering for university application. I chose Mandarin, as I’d only done it up to ‘O’ levels (age 16) as a second language (compulsory in Singapore in my days).
It was on that evening Mandarin course that I met Steve Hunt and Hugh Lansdowne who would turn out to be the two guardian angels guiding me a year later onto the future path of my life.
I’d originally set my sights on the Polytechnic’s dual language degree because I like languages and also because students got to go abroad in their third year, staying six months in each country of their two chosen languages. So, in my case, it was to be China and either Spain or Mexico, which was all very exciting.
After my ‘A’ level results came out, Steve and Hugh said that with two distinctions, I should apply to SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies). I argued that the single honours degree programme at SOAS offered only one language with no Year Abroad (at that time). They said that a degree from the University of London would be worth a lot more to future employers than a degree from a polytechnic.
They then took it in turn to ring me every day to remind me to apply to SOAS through the clearing system*.
In the end, I was too embarrassed about telling them each time that I hadn’t applied to SOAS, after all their good intentions, which made me feel ungrateful, that I did apply just so that I could tell them the next time they rang that I had indeed acted on their advice.
So, it was these two guardian angels who set me on the path to SOAS, where I spent three wonderful years on the BA course, then went back four years after graduating to work on two Chinese computer research projects there.
A BIG THANK YOU to Steve (deceased) and Hugh! I’m eternally grateful.
(London, 1977–78)
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