Ah, well, my first, late, wife came up to Cambridge at the great age of 28, with what was known as a Mature State Scholarship ~~ which was awarded by the Government, gained by extended essay and interview rather than examination, the qualification age being 25, the maximum number given nationwide in any year, 30. She spent three most happy years at Newnham College as a "Mature Student", ending with a First; and one of her normal-aged undergraduate fellow-students once introduced her at a party, "Valerie is our Interesting Person" ~~ which to them, as an experienced local paper Chief Reporter & Fleet Street subeditor turned undergraduate, while their careers, whatever they should turn out to be, lay still in the future, I suppose she was! "Maturity" is, of course, a comparative concept.

~M~