Gary Lineker criticises son's elite school

BBC football host Gary Lineker: "We don't know what's going on with George at the moment" (Getty Images)

BBC football host Gary Lineker attacked an elite British private school today for failing to get his son into university.

The 49-year-old former England captain said Charterhouse school had treated his son George as a "guinea pig" by ditching A-levels in favour of a new exam system, Cambridge Pre-U.

The 18-year-old learnt he had failed to obtain the three B grades needed for a place at Manchester University on Thursday.

Responding to the comments, the Surrey school said it was "proud" of its students' grades.

Lineker, the ex-Tottenham, Barcelona and Everton striker, told the Daily Mirror: "We don't know what's going on with George at the moment.

"He did the Pre-U and they seem to have been marked much harder than the A-level papers. It's all a bit frustrating, as it is the first year the Pre-U exams have been used, so George has been used as a guinea pig.

"At the moment his university place has been withdrawn, but we are hoping we might be able to find a way round this. We are all very disappointed."

George, who was hoping to read business at Manchester University, was spotted on a week-long holiday to Tenerife just weeks before his exams and had been pictured on nights out with ex-Big Brother contestant Sophie Reade, 22.

The Rev John Witheridge, the school's head, defended the school's results.

He said: "We are indeed delighted with our pupils' excellent results this year.

"As you would expect, we do not comment on the performance of individual pupils."

A spokeswoman for the school, which charges fees of about £25,000 a year, added: "We are very pleased with our first set of Cambridge Pre-U results. Our pupils have benefited from a much richer sixth-form education and they are celebrating excellent grades.

"Half of this year's cohort achieved at least three Pre-U Distinctions or A grades at A-level. 60 pupils achieved the equivalent of straight As or better (including Pre-U distinctions) with six pupils awarded straight D1s (top Distinctions) at Pre-U.

"Overall, 31% of our grades are equivalent to A* or better (including Pre-U D1s and D2s)."

Charterhouse, founded in London in 1611, moved to its 250-acre site in the Surrey countryside near Godalming in 1872.