Anne Stanyon

BA History, 1977

Being at Warwick was the best time ever! Before, I’d been a stage designer and illustrator and never dreamed, coming from a working class background, and the depths of darkest Coventry, that I’d ever be accepted into a university. I’d been told, in Sixth Form, that “girls from Secondary Modern Schools don’t go to university”, so getting that acceptance letter changed my whole life!

Best memories: having acorns chucked at me by an angry, sweary squirrel as I walked from Gibbet Hill; high-kicking along the History Department corridor with my friend, Christine, singing a production number from a Broadway Musical; and the sheer concern, thoughtfulness and kindness of the History Department Staff, who guided a rather lost and penniless girl (I had to pay for myself - my parents were in no position to finance me.) through her degree.

I went on to be Head of History at Banbury School and subsequently, Faculty Head at Hymers College, specialising in Medieval, Tudor and US Frontier History. In the meantime, I had an assorted number of publications, including a graphic history (by OUP) and I retired in 2009. I’d always said I’d go back to university, once the career was over, the mortgage was paid and the cat kept in the style necessary for a feline monarch. Thanks to the advice of the very special Professor Christopher Read, with whom I’d remained in touch, that’s exactly what I did!

In 2014, I embarked on. PhD in Musicology at the University of Leeds, graduating in 2018...a real change of direction! (Although I still draw graphic novels!) Now I’m mentoring Music students, presenting papers at Musicology Conferences and writing articles - a whole new career that I’m loving - which, I think, isn’t bad for a seventy-two year old! Rock on, say I, and thank you Warwick University Department of History, for kicking it all off!