Supermodel secures place at Cambridge University

Lily Cole. Chris McGrath/Getty Images

Supermodel Lily Cole demonstrated that she is not just a pretty face yesterday when she secured a place at Cambridge University after scoring straight As in her A-levels.

The 18-year-old scored top grades in three A-levels - English, philosophy and ethics, and politics - at Latymer Upper School in west London.

Cole, who has already earned a reported £10million ($30m), has deferred the start of her degree course until 2007, when she will study social and political sciences at King's College, Cambridge.

"We expected her to get the grades," said a spokesman for the £12,000-a-year school, which saw record numbers of pupils winning places at Oxford and Cambridge this year.

The flame-haired teenager shocked the modelling world by announcing her determination to go to university even though it could cost her millions in lost fees.

She was offered a conditional place after achieving straight A grades in her AS-levels in English, history, drama and philosophy last year.

Cole was plucked from obscurity in 2002 at the age of 14, when she was spotted by modelling scout Benjamin Hart walking through Covent Garden after enjoying a burger and chips with friends.

Fighting her initial suspicion that she was being followed by a "dodgy guy", she agreed to attend a photo shoot and was later signed to Storm Models, the agency of the catwalk legends Kate Moss and Cindy Crawford.

The following year she was photographed by Steven Meisel and has since been captured by some of the world's leading photographers, including David Bailey and Craig McDean.

She went on to feature in European, north American and Asian editions of Vogue, and was named Model of the Year at the 2004 British Fashion Awards.

When Cole announced her decision to continue her education, her grandmother Maud Cole said: "We have always known that Lily had brains as well as beauty.

She just wants to get on with her studies without too much fuss."

- INDEPENDENT