Meet the Scottish pensioner, 88, graduating from university in same year as his granddaughter

Lawrie Taylor, 88, is graduating from The Open University in October with a BA (Honours) degree in English literature and creative writing.

Mr Taylor said he was “looking forward” to graduating after “thoroughly enjoying” the degree that he started studying six years ago.

The Open University is a British public university that is the largest provider of distance learning degrees in the UK, offering a wide range of undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications.

The Bothwell-based writer, who was born in Charing Cross during 1937, has grown up with a love for literature since he was in primary school.

Mr Taylor decided to start The Open University course when he was 82 out of “curiosity” for the subject.

The former civil engineer is graduating in the same year as his 22-year-old granddaughter Hope Mackinnon.

“My youngest granddaughter graduated this year in Ophthalmics from Glasgow Caledonian University,” he said. “So you’ve got a 22-year-old granddaughter graduating the same year as her 88-year-old grandfather.”

When asked why he decided to start the university course six years ago while in his 80s, Mr Taylor said: “It’s all about curiosity to a degree. I know my pals used to take the mickey. I find it difficult to speak to people about it because no one’s really interested in literature or poetry anymore, so it’s more difficult to discuss it.

“I did the degree and thoroughly enjoyed it. I always felt in life that as well as keeping all the physical parts healthy, I also needed mental food from somewhere. That degree filled the bill.”

Passion for English Literature since primary school

Mr Taylor said he grew up surrounded by literature and fondly remembered his primary school days and listening to the works of literary greats, including Arthur Conan Doyle, Walter Scott and R.M. Ballantyne during readings.

This passion continued into secondary school and later, when he was 17, Mr Taylor won a competition and went to work as a trainee cartographer with the Admiralty in London.

After coming home and “realising the civil service wasn’t his forte”, the Glasgow-born man received an offer from the University of Glasgow in 1955 to study mechanical engineering. Instead, he opted to becoming an apprentice with a consulting civil engineer.

“Although my career was in motorways and civil construction across the UK, I wanted to become a bit more mature to study literature,” he said.

It was around 25 years ago when Mr Taylor attended a creative writing course at the University of Glasgow and he “got a taste for it”. He later went to Strathclyde University as a mature student to study English literature.

Mr Taylor said: “I had an illness, so that course stopped. When I tried to go back to the university, it was suggested that they would give me the credits and I could finish it off at The Open University, which gave me more time to complete it.”

As well as keeping up with his education, Mr Taylor is also a keen gardener and has won his local vegetable show four times for his onions.

When asked if he had any future plans, Mr Taylor laughed. “Not really - just carrying on with what I’m doing,” he said.

“What really interests me now is that people at university don’t recognise the age I’m at. The student union asked me what I intend to do after graduating. It’s the end of a chapter and I don’t know what the next one will be.”