
Audio
How Boarding Schools Shaped Britain – with Nicky Campbell
In this three-part series Nicky Campbell delves into the history and influence of British boarding schools, exploring their legacy, from shaping leaders to fostering privilege.

Boarding schools have long been synonymous with leadership, privilege and tradition. Woven into the fabric of British society, these institutions have played a significant role in shaping the nation’s leaders – from Empire builders to politicians.
But does early separation from family and loved ones come at a cost? And what impact has Britain’s most enduring educational tradition had on the rest of British society?
Listen here.
The Priveleged Man: Inside Boarding School Minds with Psychotherapist and Author Nick Duffell

Pete Hunt, founder of The Privileged Man, interviews Boarding School Survivors pioneer Nick Duffell, in this episode of The Privileged Man Podcast.
With professional qualifications spanning systemic Family Therapy, Psychosynthesis, Psychoanalysis and Somatic Therapy, Nick has emerged as the trailblazer psychotherapist in understanding the experiences of numerous boarding school pupils, challenging societal norms and perceptions surrounding the boarding school experience.
Listen here.
Jeremy Vine: Vanessa Feltz sits in (16 August 2022)

Vanessa Feltz interviews “Stew from Sussex”, sent to boarding school aged seven and still struggling aged 62.
He gives an articulate account of the long-term consequences of emotional deprivation at such a young age.
Callers to the programme endorse this, with one man finding the effects worsening as he approaches his seventies.
Listen here from 1:06:06 to 1:30:39 – available until 15 September.
Alex Renton: In Dark Corners
Alex Renton attended three traditional private schools. When he was eight he left home and boarded at Ashdown House, a prep school in East Sussex; a feeder school to Eton College.

Within weeks of his arrival he was sexually abused by a teacher. The teacher was never charged or even sacked. He died in 2011, a free man.
The assault, compounded by the physical and emotional abuse so often a feature of boarding school life, has stayed with Alex. And like a great number of the million Britons alive today who attended these institutions, he spent the subsequent years trying to forget what had happened to him there.
Then, in 2014, Alex finally decided he had to face his demons. He wrote a book, Stiff Upper Lip, about public schools and about the experiences he and others had within them. That’s when the emails and letters started pouring in. Former pupils, men and women, from all around the country, shared with him their stories of sexual and physical abuse. The scale was breathtaking.
Now, years later, Alex Renton has unfinished business with Britain’s elite schooling system.
Thurstine Basset talks to Anni Townend
A list of podcast providers where you can listen to this is available on Anni Townend’s LinkedIn page
ABC radio: the lasting effects of boarding school trauma
Christine Jack – author, educational historian and researcher at Charles Sturt University – is interviewed by Julian Morrow. See here.
See also follow-up article.
Joy Schaverien interviewed by Confer
The interview is part of a series entitled ‘Holding the frame and sense of connectedness during the pandemic.’
It can be viewed at here as part of Confer’s series of interviews available here.
Rupert Everett on his boarding school experience
From min 13.18 on Desert Island Discs and the Evening Standard elaborates here.
Why boarding schools produce bad leaders
Nick Duffell interviewed on Radio in New Zealand in 2019 – here