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Original poster

What is the unlikeliest career that someone you went to school with ended up doing?

335 replies

CatDogMonkeyPOW · 28/04/2022 09:00

Shamelessly stolen from Reddit. Did anyone you went to school with end up with a surprising career.

Girl I did my a levels with was a county athletics champion and one of the smartest kids in school. She went on to be a singer in a mediocre girl band.

OP posts:
ExMachinaDeus · 28/04/2022 13:17

Became a member of parliament then ousted because of paedophilia.

TheYearOfSmallThings · 28/04/2022 13:18

Ice cream van magnate (bought an ice cream business then greatly expanded it with a fleet of vans).

WalkerWalking · 28/04/2022 13:20

beachcomber70 · 28/04/2022 12:03

A boy in our class was the untidiest, chaotic boy of them all, un brushed hair clothes thrown on. His work was messy, awful handwriting, work badly laid out, no paragraphs, no margins, ink smears/splodges all over it [we were made to use fountain pens] and held up by our teacher once as an example of how not to present work. [Probably wouldn't be done today].

He went on to become a headmaster. i was amazed.

I thought you were going to say Prime Minister.....

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yellowsuninthesky · 28/04/2022 13:20

An ex-boyfriend of mine got As for science/Maths A levels and did an electrical engineering degree and worked for computing companies. So far, so predictable. But a few years ago he left his (presumably very well paid) job and is now a physics teacher. I wouldn't have expected that. But not that out of the ordinary. I am not really that in touch with people from school and the ones I still know have been reasonably predictable, eg one who was good at art now runs an art business in Cornwall.

Bitterwounds · 28/04/2022 13:25

I'm sure I win MN bingo with my answer: 'Elephant sperm tester' - a once young lad you wouldn't look twice at. I think it's something to do with genetics testing & sperm quality.

aweegc · 28/04/2022 13:36

A nice guy, but not stunning or remarkable in any real way (not doing him down, he was just normal) became a heart-throb and famous actor. I've been asked about him when I've been abroad.

I don't really know him, just saw him around at school. Always with regular, decent crowd and while a bit of a show off at times, absolutely nothing remarkable. In fact that's part of the surprising part, could never have imagined he'd be quite so popular!

listsandbudgets · 28/04/2022 13:40

I was at school with a very moral and vocal vegeterian...

She's now a senior manager in an abattoir

emmathedilemma · 28/04/2022 13:43

jeez i need to do some facebook stalking, I only keep half in touch with a handful people that i went to school with and they do fairly predictable jobs like nursing and accountancy!

DolphinaPD · 28/04/2022 13:46

Something at NASA. She works with astronauts.

Stylishkidintheriot · 28/04/2022 13:46

@aweegc are you Scottish? I have a suspicion that we may know the same person

Acheyknees · 28/04/2022 13:47

One is a well known DJ in Beirut. Another builds wooden boats by hand on the coast

TheFlis12345 · 28/04/2022 13:48

CantTalkFacts · 28/04/2022 13:16

@TheFlis12345 , same here.

The girl I knew at school was a chaotic, troubled bully who is now a BBC reporter with a completely different accent to the one she grew up with - think more “refined” though, rather than location based change.

It would be funny if it’s the same person.

This girl was lovely so don’t think it’s the same one, she just had a much less cut glass accent than she does now!!

ihmlsnwidhks · 28/04/2022 13:51

Someone from a good family and well behaved at school and bright ended up involved in drugs and now jailed for a horrific crime.

Inchail · 28/04/2022 13:52

Elton John impersonator - he actually left school at 16 to do this

IfOnlyIHadBeenDiplomatic · 28/04/2022 13:55

I went to school with someone whose mother strictly forbade her to have anything to do with me as I was apparently a horrible influence. I was shocked to find out that my peer didn’t go to University and is a waitress that struggles with drug addiction. I was so saddened to see her photograph on FB.

But felt like screaming “suck it” to her horrible mother. I smoked a few joints and had a blonde streak in my hair and went to rock concerts 🙄

Astrabees · 28/04/2022 13:57

One of my old classmates became a nanny to the famous - politicians and a film director, she has the background on lots of news stories. The biggest surprise for most of us though is that the naughtiest girl/free spirit is now the chair of a northern bench of magistrates, and is often in the press telling people to behave themselves.

CloudPop · 28/04/2022 13:58

Comvit · 28/04/2022 12:51

It's not exactly about her career but more of a 'where they ended up' story. I went to a rough comprehensive school in a big city. But there was a gaggle of posh girls who inexplicably went there too.

One of the cleverest, most well-to-do of these girls had very sights set on being an architect. When we were messing about during lessons, she'd be spending time drawing (and I mean technical drawings, not doodling) new buildings and making lists of building materials. When we had to bring in the book we were reading at home for an English lesson, she brought in a book about concrete and its use in building.

At some point along the way (no idea when, where or how) she developed a crippling heroin addiction and became homeless. I've seen her a few times over the years when I've visited my home city. She's unrecognisable, clearly neurologically scarred from the drugs she's used, and eeking out an existence any way she can. It's very sad. I don't see her making it to 40.

@Comvit what a shocking story. How incredibly sad.

ShadowPuppets · 28/04/2022 14:01

I found out the other day that someone I went to school with is Anthony Joshua’s Head of Security.

User478 · 28/04/2022 14:06

Someone from my primary school was a bit of a tomboy, we spent our afternoons poking tadpoles etc.

She's now a Saudi princess.

Neverendingmindfuck · 28/04/2022 14:12

A man from my year murdered his girlfriends baby. He was 17 at the time.

Another guy I thought would be in the entertainment industry, fabulous singing voice etc, ended up being a mortician.

Wbeezer · 28/04/2022 14:14

One of the brainy boys i was friends with at school did engineering type things then changed career and religious denomination and is now a bishop.

Deadringer · 28/04/2022 14:16

One guy in my class became a guide in the alps, another won medals (Olympic I think but not sure) for shooting and makes his living from shooting competitions.

TawnyPippit · 28/04/2022 14:16

A girl who was in my class at school died very messily on EastEnders

Baggal1983 · 28/04/2022 14:23
  • A girl I went to law school with worked as a so called high class escort. She went on, finished her degree and became a partner at a big corporate firm. She was not a great student, so I wonder how she became partner?!
  • A boy in my class at primary school became a very successful entrepreneur in the USA
Mrsjayy · 28/04/2022 14:31

Oh someone in the year below me went on to be a "name" in the beauty business, owned their own division of a company which she sold for millions . She was an absolute tool when I knew her!