Another World: The Oxford Years

by Melvyn Bragg

Having won a scholarship to Oxford University, eighteen-year-old Melvyn Bragg leaves his hometown of Wigton to travel south and immerse himself in a new and golden world.

There, he must find his place amongst the raucous public school boys and the students fresh from National Service, making new friends from varied backgrounds but never forgetting those at home. Over three formative years - as his tutors, his studies and the people around him all expand his horizons and his sense of what is possible - he takes his next steps into adulthood, surrounded by the old, imposing buildings and libraries (and protests and parties) of the 'city of dreaming spires'.

In this moment of change, for a young man and for the nation, Bragg looks to the past and the future, and as he studies History in his tutorials, so he remembers the histories of family, friends and lovers that shaped his own story.

Alive with insight and tenderness, Another World beautifully captures a decisive step in a remarkable life.

PRAISE FOR BACK IN THE DAY:
'A memoir bursting with affection . . . fascinating' Sunday Times
'Masterly . . . I loved it' Observer
'Utterly captivating' Daily Mail

234 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 26, 2026

About the author

Melvyn Bragg, Baron Bragg, FRSL, FRTS (born 6 October 1939) is an English author, broadcaster and media personality who, aside from his many literary endeavours, is perhaps most recognised for his work on The South Bank Show.

Bragg is a prolific novelist and writer of non-fiction, and has written a number of television and film screenplays. Some of his early television work was in collaboration with Ken Russell, for whom he wrote the biographical dramas The Debussy Film (1965) and Isadora Duncan, the Biggest Dancer in the World (1967), as well as Russell's film about Tchaikovsky, The Music Lovers (1970). He is president of the National Academy of Writing. His 2008 novel, Remember Me is a largely autobiographical story.

He is also a Vice President of the Friends of the British Library, a charity set up to provide funding support to the British Library.

Reviews

[Eddie Lees · Rating 5 out of 5]

REAL LIFE

I admire this man. His writing is straightforward. Every sentence clearly records his life from Wigtown to, and through, Oxford. He takes us with him in plain, unembroidered English.
I know his accent. It’s refreshingly clear and unaffected. The journey is like the soup they make in the north of England; it comprises real, unpretentious ingredients that reflect the nourishing basics we all go through in that time between the end of one type of education and the start of another.
I thoroughly enjoyed the stories Mr Bragg tells in this interesting, heartfelt part of his autobiography. A good read about an interesting man at a captivating time of life.
I liked his mother and father as well. More than a story … this is real life. Thank you.

[George Clarke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beguiling, if uneven. Written in a lyrical, almost ethereal way that is enjoyable, but mildly confusing.

Beautiful in parts. The part about his father visiting him in Oxford was stunning and tear inducing. His writing about Oxford and his college is superb.

At other times clunky and confusing. He spends ages talking about a town in Cumbria for no good reason, and his remembering and detail of an old relationship felt off somehow.

Overall, if you like either Bragg or Oxford (or both), well worth your time and regardless, the good bits are good enough to make up for the rest.

[Les Dangerfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fluently written in an engaging style, as ever with Melvyn Bragg. I expected it to be more focussed on the realities and challenges of migrating from a working class small-town family background to a totally different social culture at Oxford University. However, it was more about what happened to his relationship with Sarah, the girlfriend he had back in his hometown area. That was part of the story of his socio-cultural migration but neglected other aspects of it.

[Gerard Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent addition to the memoirs of Melvyn Bragg.
His time at Wadham College Oxford as a history undergraduate

Caught between two worlds, he explores the many challenges he faces - the purposes of a university education - how we learn - the people he meets and his own relationships

An interesting read

[Kexx · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another canon added to Melvyn Bragg’s books on himself. The assumption that he’s one of only 3 ‘lower class’ members of Oxford are rather crushed as he writes as a very middle class young man, a book interrupted with short biographies of his contemporaries.Worthy, but dull. A generous, and expensive 3*s.

[Donna Holland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Melvyn Bragg can do no wrong by me so another chapter in his autobiography was always gonna be a hit with me . This volume covers his Oxford University years. Would have been 5 stars if longer ..

[S · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Ian White · Rating 4 out of 5]

It delivered what I expected. Flowing prose, an insight into the worlds apart of Wigton and Oxford and the bridges connecting the two. Thoroughly enjoyable.