Cornwall’s Truro School has loads of celebrity and big name former pupils – Cornwall Live

Its the school on the hill which has looked down (not literally one hopes) on the city of Truro since 1882, but did you realise how many famous people are former pupils?

The largest co-educational independent school in Cornwall with over 1,050 pupils, Truro School has seen Hollywood actors, world-renowned rock stars, Olympians and other top sportsmen, broadcasters and even the chief scientific adviser to the Government (a man you will have seen a lot of over the past year) sat in its classrooms.

Truro Wesleyan Middle Class College which was known as Truro College was founded by Wesleyan Methodists in November 1879, and on January 20, 1880 lessons began at sites in River Street and Strangways Terrace in the city.

The school, which was founded as an alternative to the Church of Englands historic Truro Grammar School, opened in its current site in 1882.

The name Truro College was changed to Truro School in 1931 when it was considered that it was pretentious ... to claim the style of College if its pupils are for the most part below the age of 18".

The preparatory department was opened in 1936 and girls were admitted into the sixth form in 1976, before it became fully co-educational in 1990 (two years after I left, goddammit).

Here are just some of its famous alumni (or old boys to use that peculiar public school phrase).

Best known for playing hard-nosed shark hunter Quint in Jaws, Shaw was nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe for his role as Henry VIII in A Man for All Seasons.

The heavy drinking star died from a heart attack at just 51 in 1978 after a varied theatre and film career, which included being a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company and movies such as From Russia With Love, Battle of Britain, Young Winston, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, Robin and Marian and Black Sunday.

As a pupil in the 1980s, imagine my delight when I found myself sat at an old desk inscribed with the name Robert Shaw. It had to be him.

I remember the excitement when the Queen drummer returned to the school for a special event (organised by my mother) in 1984.

He came brandishing signed copies of the bands keenly awaited new album, The Works, and auctioned them off in a school hall full of excitable boys and even more excited parents. I was a bit of a naughty Truro School pupil and refused to meet him because Id just smoked my first ever cigarette (up the school lane, a Truro School tradition) and was paranoid my mum would kill me if she smelled it on me. She managed to get a copy of the album, complete with Freddie and cos signatures, for just 20 its worth considerably more than that now.

A few years ago Roger told me about his time as a budding rock star while at the school: I was in bands all through my teens. I must have played every town and village hall in Cornwall and some in Devon.

It kept me sane really while at school it was a way of earning money and, of course, Truro School was an all-boys school back then so it was also a way of meeting girls ...."

We played a lot of soul, a lot of covers of popular stuff at the time like Otis Redding and James Brown. I went on to Jimi Hendrix and Dylan, the sound got more progressive.

The first serious band I had while at school was The Reaction. We played everywhere from the Blue Lagoon in Newquay, Liskeard and Bodmin Town Hall right down to St Just Town Hall and places in Hayle. I also remember early gigs at the Princess Pavilion in Falmouth and Truro City Hall and its annexe. A lot of strange people used to come to the City Hall.

Indeed they did.

He may be renowned for imposing Welsh voice but Rhys-Davies actually attended Truro School.

The 76-year-old actor is best known for portraying Gimli and the voice of Treebeard in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and Sallah in the Indiana Jones films.

He has also acted in The Untouchables, Robin of Sherwood, The Living Daylights, and voiced characters in The Jungle Book 2, SpongeBob SquarePants and Justice League.

The four times gold medallist is the most successful sailor in Olympic history. He won medals at five consecutive Olympics from 1996 onwards, including gold at the four consecutive Games (Sydney, Athens, Beijing and London) held between 2000 and 2012.

The Sir Ben Ainslie Sports Centre, Truro Schools state-of-the-art sports facility opened in 2013 was named in honour of its famous pupil. Its not named the Ainsley Harriott Centre as my wife once mistakenly called it.

The Chief Scientific Adviser to the Government has become a well-known face in the past year when he has fronted televised Covid briefings alongside Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chief Medical Officer Chris Witty.

From 1986 to 1995, Vallance taught at St Georges Hospital Medical School, where his research concentrated on vascular biology and endothelial cell physiology. In 1995 he was appointed Professor at UCL Medical School and in 2002 he became head of UCLs Department of Medicine. From 2012 to 2018, he was President of Research and Development at global pharmaceutical company, GlaxoSmithKline.

Scion of the Trevaskis Farm family, Eustice has been MP for Camborne and Redruth since 2010 and is currently Secretary for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Formerly a PR man, Eustice was David Camerons press secretary while the latter was leader of the opposition.

Atkins has become one of the key media figures during the year of Covid on his Outside Source programme on the BBC New Channel and World Service.

The show is renowned for its 'state-of-the-art touch-screen technology', making it seem as if cult 90s comedy The Day Today has become a 21st century reality.

Atkins is the founder of the 50:50 Project, which aims to increase the representation of women in media content. Hes also possibly the only TV journalist to have been a DJ at the Womad festival.

Described as a Cornish aristocrat by the national media, Ollie made a splash when he quit ITV phenomenon Love Island after just three days. The tabloids had a field day when it was suggested he liked a spot of hunting.

One of the best known opera singers of his generation and proud Cornishman (who now lives in the States), Luxon was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1986 Queen's Birthday Honours.

A member of Benjamin Brittens English Opera Group, in 1971 Britten composed the title role of his television opera Owen Wingrave specifically for Luxons voice. Before retiring, he also had a long association with the English National Opera.

Another renowned opera singer, Alan Opie, attended Truro School. His performance in the title role of Verdi's Falstaff earned Opie a nomination for the 1998 Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2013 Birthday Honours for services to music

A member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, the late actor is best known for playing King Arthur in the 1981 film Excalibur.

Other notable film appearances included The Lion in Winter in 1968 with Katharine Hepburn, Peter OToole and Anthony Hopkins, and Derek Jarmans Caravaggio in 1986, in which he played the title character.

After 30 years of living in London, Terry returned to reside in Cornwall in 1993. He died in Newquay of emphysema in 2015.

In the absence of any surviving close family, his memorial service was organised by his friends, actors Maggie Steed and David Horovitch, in Truro in May 2015, attended by fellow actors and personal friends.

The TV director of such popular series as Doctor Who, Black Mirror, Snowpiercer, Penny Dreadful and many more says his successful career is down to his education at Truro School.

He told me: I was really lucky at Truro School partly because of drama teacher Watson Weeks, but I was also a chorister and I got on really well with the choir and music teacher Henry Doughty and Derek Burrell was an energetic, involved, musical head.

I spoke at Watsons funeral. I was able to say there were producers, actors, directors and drama teachers who couldnt be there because they were working thanks to Watson.

You look at the creative arts side of things and Truro School has done very well. You tend to think of Roger Taylor and Benjamin Luxon but theres many, many more out there. John Rhys-Davies very much acknowledges his career to Watson. I owe the school a lot.

Alongside father Donald, the automotive engineer behind the Austin-Healey and the Healey Silverstone sports cars. The cars he made are still hugely sought-after.

Kendall-Carpenter was an England rugby union international who won 23 caps as a back row forward between 1949 and 1954. He subsequently served as President of the Rugby Football Union (19801981), the England Schools Rugby Football Union (198590) and Cornwall RFU (198487). He was also chairman of the committee that organised the first Rugby World Cup in 1987.

He was one of only five Cornishmen to captain the England Rugby team.

The former chairman of the Guardian media group, Baron Myners CBE was the Financial Services Secretary (sometimes referred to as City Minister) in HM Treasury, the UKs finance ministry, during the Labour Government of Gordon Brown.

Made a life peer, he now sits as a crossbencher in the House of Lords.

Shunning being a media celebrity, Curtice has become one all the same as the polling guru who gave accurate predictions of the election results for the BBC in 2005, 2010, 2015 and 2017.

Brought up in St Austell, he is currently Professor of Politics at the University of Strathclyde and Senior Research Fellow at the National Centre for Social Research.

Arguably, the most loved Cornish politician of the modern age. Penhaligon was Liberal MP for Truro from 1974 to 1986 and was tipped to be party leader until he was tragically killed in a car accident just before Christmas 1986.

Born in Truro in 1971, Adams is an English chess grandmaster. His highest ranking is world No 4, achieved several times from October 2000 to October 2002. He is also a seven-time British Chess Champion.

Also born in 1971, Middleton is also a grandmaster but of the decks. The DJ, composer and producer is famous for his work with Aphex Twin, Global Communications and Reload. Check out his The Trip mix CDs for the ultimate musical voyage.

Another notable name in the dance music field, Vibert has recorded for labels such as Rephlex, Warp and Ninja Tune under an array of names, including Plug and Wagon Christ.

Skeels-Piggins, aged 50, is a World Champion 600cc (Paralysed category) and British alpine skier who was paralysed from the chest down following a motorcycle accident in March 2003, which shattered his spine and broke his neck.

He represented Great Britain in the 2010 Winter Paralympics.

Between 1909 and 1941 Walpole wrote 36 novels, five volumes of short stories, two original plays and three volumes of memoirs. His range included disturbing studies of the macabre, childrens stories and historical fiction, most notably his Herries Chronicle series, set in the Lake District.

He worked in Hollywood writing scenarios for two Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films in the 1930s and played a cameo in the 1935 version of David Copperfield.

Despite being a boys school until fairly recently in its history, lets not forgot some of its notable female pupils.

Harper is an English former international cricketer who played for the England women's cricket team. At the time of her debut, she was the youngest player to have played for England.

Nethsingha is a British politician, who was a Liberal Democrats MEP for the East of England between 2019 and the UKs withdrawal from the EU. She was chair of the Parliament's Committee on Legal Affairs.

Julia Church, formerly Goldsworthy, is the former MP for Falmouth and Camborne from 2005 until 2010. She was narrowly defeated by 66 votes by the Conservatives in the new Camborne and Redruth constituency following boundary changes.

In the House of Commons, she served as the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Communities and Local Government. After her defeat, she worked as a special adviser.

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Cornwall's Truro School has loads of celebrity and big name former pupils - Cornwall Live