A 96-year-old man has reportedly become the oldest person in the UK ever to complete a degree.
Archie White has received a BA in Fine Art from the University of Brighton.
The former solicitor, who retired at 92, learned painting, photography and clay modelling as part of his studies at its Hastings campus.
Five years ago, Mr. White suffered a stroke, which limited some of his abilities, however, he has thanked staff and fellow students for helping him out during the course and plans to create a charity to support graduates – and continue painting of course.
Archie said:
“A friend of mine studied here... and she was quite enjoying it, so that gave me the idea when I retired as a solicitor to come here and do the BA fine art degree... I'm not too bothered about being the oldest graduate or not.”
At 96 years and 56 days, Mr. White is just short of being the world's oldest ever graduate.
At the time of submitting his final piece of work to the University of Brighton exam board, East Sussex College said he was just 145 days short of the world record held by Shigemi Hirata, who graduated in Japan five years ago at the age of 96 years and 200 days.
Hannah Birkett, fine art course leader at East Sussex College, said:
“It has been an absolute pleasure to teach Archie over the last three years.
"He brings a unique contribution to the course, and his personal development has been extraordinary.”
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