It took Dawn Faizey-Webster three weeks to complete one exam as, having locked-in syndrome after a stroke, she had to blink each letter. Now she has a BA in ancient history and is studying for her PhD. Mike Niblett, another student, worked towards his international studies degree while serving in Afghanistan. Paul Carabine has two autistic sons so did most of his revising for his BA in English literature at 2am. “The Open University made me feel normal,” he says.

When the “University of the Air” was launched in 1969 it was sneered at by Oxbridge and redbrick academics, and the shadow chancellor, Iain Macleod, called it “blithering nonsense”. The idea that people could learn from radio and TV lectures broadcast at night with only