My first year at university

I stayed at home for university, so I lived a double life – doing everything at college while still trying to pick up a social life on the other side of town. It was sort of unusual at the time, but Middlesex was where I got in to, my girlfriend was in town, the course fitted – and I only got half a grant, so I couldn't really afford to be too far away. I had taken a year off and done gardening and decorating, so I was very pleased to be in a place where I didn't have to get up really, really early. It meant that I went into education with a real hunger and I was a pretty good student. I decided which tutors I wanted to learn something from and which ones were just reading out textbooks, and applied myself accordingly. The course was a mixture of practical and academic – English literature but also plays, Shakespeare and Ibsen. The thing that ended up being the most useful was putting on poetry workshops – writing stuff and getting people to come and see it. I think the thing you spend most of your time doing at university is the thing you will probably spend most of your life doing. So if you spend most of your time in bed … Top Tip Don't just stay with the people you meet on the first day. Go round and try different people, the same way you would clubs and societies. And start as you mean to go on – if you go into a tackle half heartedly you are more likely to get hurt than if you go in 100%. If you throw yourself into everything, I don't think you'll regret it. Milton Jones achieved at pass in dramatic art. He studied his diploma at Middlesex Polytechnic from 1983-85. He will be touring his Lion Whisperer show this autumn.