The Top 10: Famous Schoolmates

Some unlikely paths crossed early in life

Lord Sugar and the late Marc Bolan went to the same school, though their lives diverged somewhat thereafter (Getty)

This list followed on from my Top 10 Famous People Who Lived in the Same Street, and was started by Mark, who trades as Burn Marks 1962 on Twitter. Pat Roberts said, “Eton doesn’t count,” and I decided to exclude famous private schools altogether.

1. Alan Sugar and Marc Bolan went to the same school in Hackney and knew each other as kids. Northwold Primary School in Upper Clapton, to be precise. From Burn Marks 1962

2. Ursula Le Guin and Philip K Dick were in the same year at Berkeley High School, California, but didn’t know each other then. Thanks to Pat Roberts.

3. Sam Warburton, Geraint Thomas and Gareth Bale all went to Whitchurch High School, Cardiff, within a year of each other. Nominated by Phil Riley, Greg Callus, Eleanor Hallam and Patrick Walsh. (My colleague Rob Merrick also went there but said he is “much older”.)

4. Winston Churchill and Clement Attlee, nine years apart in age, had the same governess, a Miss Hutchinson. “Attlee enjoyed a story about how one day a maid had entered the room and asked Miss Hutchinson if she had rung the bell, only for little Winston to say, ‘I rang. Take away Miss Hutchinson, she is very cross.’” Clement Attlee in his memoir, As It Happened, quoted by John Bew, Citizen Clem. Nominated by Rob Fuller.

5. Peter Sissons, the former newsreader, was at primary school with John Lennon and at secondary school with Paul McCartney. Thanks to David Lister. Jimmy Tarbuck was also at Dovedale Junior School, Liverpool. George Harrison and Steve Norris, Conservative minister and London mayoral candidate, were also at Liverpool Institute High School for Boys. Further thanks to John Featherstone, Jeremy Olver, Jonathan Isaby and Matthew Davis.

6. Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart (Don Van Vliet). Antelope Valley High School, California, when Vliet was called Don Glen Vliet. Nominated by Peter Russell.

7. Justin Trudeau and Matthew Perry (Chandler Bing). Rockcliffe Park elementary, Ottawa. From Danno the Manno.

8. Philip Hammond and Richard Madeley. Shenfield High School in Brentwood. Thanks to Mr Memory and Jonathan Isaby.

9. Liz Kendall, Priti Patel and Geri Halliwell all attended Watford Grammar School for Girls at the same time. From John Fuchs and Mr Memory.

10. Robert Powell​ and Ben Kingsley were in the same form at Manchester Grammar School. “Jesus and Gandhi in one classroom,” said John Oxley.

The private school rule excluded Tony Blair and Rowan Atkinson, Durham Chorister School (nominated by Peter Hutchinson); George Orwell, Evelyn Waugh and Henry Green, St Cyprian’s School, Eastbourne (John McTernan); Nick Clegg and Louis Theroux, Westminster School (James Shaw); Raymond Chandler and PG Wodehouse, Dulwich College (Black Joan); Ed Balls and Ed Davey, Nottingham High School (Balls once told Jonathan Isaby he relied on Davey’s A-level history notes).

Nominations were also received, but could not be definitely verified, for: Adolf Hitler and Ludwig Wittgenstein, Fadingerstrasse Bundesrealgymnasium, Linz, Austria, overlapping during the 1904–1905 school year, according to Spinning Hugo and John McTernan; and Dom Joly and Osama bin Laden, 10 years apart at Brummana High School in Lebanon in about 1975.

“May I respectfully make an entry for the ‘There’s always one’ category?” asked Geoffrey Mamdani. “I propose Jarvis Cocker and Deborah.”

Next week: Surreptitious political recordings, starting with Pete Willsman, member of Labour’s National Executive, accusing rabbis of falsifying social media

Coming soon: Adjectives used only of women, to commemorate Carrie Symonds, described by some newspapers as “flirty”

The book of Top 10s, Listellany, is still available as an e-book for £4.74

Your suggestions please, and ideas for future Top 10s, to me on Twitter, or by email to top10@independent.co.uk