Brentwood School
Reminiscences of David Irving’s school years, 1947–1956
David Irving attended Brentwood School from 1947 to 1956, when he went up to university in London. During his time at the school he gained a total of eight A-levels and thirteen or more O-levels. He failed — as he cheerfully notes — in History.
The Mock Election
Among the most vivid memories of Irving’s school years is the mock election campaign of May 1955, in which the young Irving stood as the school’s Labour Party candidate. Photographs survive of Irving speaking at the hustings, showing the energy and oratory skills that would later distinguish his public career. The episode was later recalled by Giles Coren in The Times, when a schoolfriend of David Irving telephoned to share his memories.
Reminiscences from School Friends
- Tony Jack wrote in August 2003 to recall those years at Brentwood, where Irving was already showing the intellectual drive and independence of mind that would define his career
- Mr Everitt wrote to Mr Irving in September 2006 while Irving was in Vienna prison, recalling their shared school days
- Keith W. Banyard wrote to him in prison in July and November 2006, combining reminiscences of Brentwood School with more colourful observations on life
- Colin Amery, by then a lawyer in Auckland, New Zealand, sent a message in July 2005 recalling their school days together
After Brentwood
From Brentwood, Irving went up to Imperial College, London, as one of ten students in an experimental scheme for converting arts students into scientists and engineers. He later studied at University College, London. As he told Susan Barnes of The Sunday Times in 1970: “Out of the ten of us, two got degrees. One is now a computer mechanic. The other is a teacher in a secondary modern school in the Midlands. I say to myself, ‘I escaped by the skin of my teeth.’ If I’d got a degree, I would have felt bound to do something safe with it.”
Before finding his vocation as an author, Irving worked as a steelworker in the Thyssen works in the Ruhr Valley in Germany and as a clerk-stenographer with U.S. Strategic Air Command in Spain, where he met his future wife.