would it be a viable option to have a down to earth rugby playing comedian (yes i know!) who has studied at a British Private boarding school then one of the top universities? if so, what would be the best boarding school to go for aside from Eton, as i dont want to see that im going anywhere near James Bond Territory
Why can't people excel at many things? I don't see why a funny, sporty guy also happens to be smart. In my school, a supermodel was getting top grades in her class and went on to do modeling and some other business related jobs. Actually, in my school, the prettier you were, the smarter you were. It was a big 180 from the typical cliche. Not sure what British universities exist. I'd just wikipedia them and see which one seems a good fit. Maybe one that has a strong sport related scholarship.
Tom Brown's School Days by Thomas Hughes sounds like it's close to what you're looking for. I've only read an excerpt of the novel, but I'd recommend looking into it as a starting point, even though it's set in the 19th century. I believe the sequel deals with Tom Brown going to Oxford. However, I think Rugby School is a public school, so it may not be an exact match. Unfortunately, other than Hogwarts, that's the only one I know of.
And just as an FYI, for the Yanks... Though @ChaosReigns has chosen Yank-friendly vocab in the original question, in the UK, the kind of school in reference is actually called a public school. UK Public School = US Private School UK State School = US Public School
Hierarchies There's the 5 oldest public schools - Charterhouse, Eton, Harrow, a couple of others, then the next tier comes in mid 19c - sons of industrialists rather than landowners: Rugby is one of those, although I'm confusing red brick schools and red brick universities here, in my mind. As for college there is only Oxford or Cambridge, my old employer would discard CVs from everywhere else, dreadful I know! But next down the snob ladder is LSE and somewhere else, then Bristol Uni, Warwick, Manchester etc... But playing rugby...and this is very subtle, is associated with that second tier of schools NOT Eton...Wikipedia will clear all this up...but 'playing rugby' has different associations in different parts of the UK, USA and France: south of England: middle class, cops and stockbrokers/ West country: builders and blokes, Wales: national sport, France: hippies and VW, is intriguing atb As for your character he can play rugby and be a comedian from almost anywhere. The rugby league scene is a good source - lots of working class guys come down from Yorkshire to make a living in Union. Check out Sedbergh school if you want a posh, romantic, spartan setting with rugby...
thank you to all for your responses, and especially @Wreybies for helping me get the confusing differences between British and American schooling (trust me, i spoke to someone in the states, and neither of us could get each others systems)
Maybe my bitterness speaking, but I knew very few down to earth rugby types when I was at public school (UK). There was one guy, so they do exist but you could play that up by emphasising his (her!) uniqueness. Another school to consider is Wellington College, usually near the top of the UK schools rugby league. Other upper tier universities to add to @matwoolf's suggestions are Durham and York. If memory serves Durham, York, Bristol, and Warwick are seen in some circles as "acceptable" alternatives to Ox-bridge, but they are very good universities in their own right - better in some fields than Ox-bridge, in fact. I also agree with @matwoolf's suggestions regarding rugby's perceptions in different areas of the UK, and would add that the armed services (army, navy, airforce) have well regarded rugby teams too.
Harrow? It's in London, and it has a tradition of all the landowners going there. As someone said, its one of the big ones, the other's being Charterhouse, Eton, Rugby, Shrewsbury, Westminster and Winchester. In the UK there is a big perception about Eton especially being full of toffs; our current prime minister, David Cameron, went to Eton, and whenever he makes any policy decision which would possibly effect the working classes, the media is like "Old Etonian David Cameron does this...", and it is used in a way by the media and his political enemies to make him seem out of touch with everyone else. As for Universities, you are probably best looking at the "Russell Group Unis" like Oxford, Cambridge (obviously world-leading), Durham (seen as being full of Oxford Rejects), the London based ones like Imperial College London, Kings College London, LSE, Queen Mary, UCL (all the London based ones are quite expensive to be at because it costs a fortune to live in London), Cardiff (probably one of the weakest of the Russell Group, but still a good uni); Bristol, Warwick, York (good Oxbridge substitutes), Exeter (seen as being full of Rah's and Hooray Henry's) and lots of others which are equally as good!
George Orwell went to a young boy's private school called St. Cyprian's, and then went Eton. Nothing really 'James Bond' about that guy, I can tell you. P.G Wodehouse also wrote a number of short stories and a few novels about a boy's private school, I recommend a reading of those. Why not, also, make one up?
And with this, three new terms enter my vocabulary. Rah, Hurrah Henry and Sloane Ranger (the last having been found as I researched the first two). I thank you kindly for these additions.
Well plenty of the uk's top comedians attended our top universities. Look up Cambridge Footlights, the Cambridge university comedy group. Heaps of big names were members from John Cleese to Hugh Laurie.
