Greg Dyke - Early Years and Education

Early Years and Education

Dyke was born in 1947, in Hayes, Hillingdon, West London, the youngest of three sons in a "stable, lower middle class" family. His father was an insurance office manager. The family lived at 17 Cerne Close until he was 9, then moved to Cedars Drive, Hillingdon. He was educated at Yeading Primary School and then Hayes Grammar School, which he left with one grade "E" at A-level mathematics. After school he was briefly a trainee manager at Marks & Spencer before leaving to work as a trainee reporter for the Hillingdon Mirror, becoming chief reporter in eight months. He left the Mirror after attempting to stage a union-backed protest against poor pay conditions by the junior staff of the work on the paper. He then got a job at the Slough Evening Mail. Amongst his colleagues was future music journalist Colin Irwin.

He then went on to study for a degree at the University of York as a mature student, graduating in 1974 with a BA in politics. During his time at York, Dyke was active in student politics, and was part of a collective that produced a psychedelic underground student magazine called Nouse. He also met and married his first wife whilst at the university. As he was a mature student with work experience his politics were more of a traditional Labour supporter than some of more radical far left students. Contemporaries and friends at York included the future journalists Linda Grant and Peter Hitchens, the latter then a prominent member of the International Socialists. Dyke was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University in 1999 and has been Chancellor since 2004.