WHEN Paddy Coulter first arrived in Oxford in 1964 to study at Queen's College he knew so little about the city or its university that he tried every grand door in High Street before finding the right one.

The path that led him there started at a rural primary school in Northern Ireland and led to him eventually becoming an associate fellow at Green Templeton College.

The former broadcaster is also chairman of the directing board of Eynsham Partnership Academy (EPA), which runs Bartholomew School in the village and six primary schools in West Oxfordshire.

He said the grounding he was given in his early education and his later experiences at Oxford helped instil in him a belief in the transformative role of education that he has tried to carry on at the EPA.

The County Down-native, who now lives in Eynsham said: "The EPA is unique because of its mix of community schools and five church schools.

"We are the only academy trust that has all those different kinds of school.

"Unlike some academy trusts we do not impose a central philosophy or control and we are community-based.

"Education is all about the community.

"Looking back at it growing up in Northern Ireland I had the benefit of a really outstanding education.

"Ballynahinch Primary School was outstanding and it really allowed me to coast in secondary school at Methodist College Belfast.

"At Ballynahinch the support of the village-level community was just fantastic."

The grandfather-of-four added that his education and life in rural County Down helped in his role at a multi academy trust focussing on schools in West Oxfordshire, although he is quick not to take any credit for Bartholmew School's recent A-Level successes.

He said: "They've got something bottled here. It is a combination of the extremely good executive headteacher, a very good operational headteacher and great staff."

After graduating from Oxford with a degree in classics, ancient history and philosophy Mr Coulter took on a range of jobs, including head of communications at Oxfam and director of the International Broadcasting Trust.

In 2001 he left that post to become director of the Reuters Journalist Fellowship Programme at Oxford University.

The position brought with it a fellowship at Green Templeton College and, since 2007, the 70-year-old has worked part-time as the communications director for Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative.

He said: "That is a brilliant project of economists who are measuring poverty in developing countries.

"In fact what this group does is have a complimentary measure which looks at nutrition, health, education and sanitation.

"It is about this idea that poverty is more than just income. It is more than just money."

Mr Coulter's various roles have allowed him the opportunity of international travel, including to the Middle East which has fascinated him since his time as a student.

In summer 2015 he helped organise the Palestine Unlocked festival in Oxford, which included films, dance, stand-up comedy and a tapestry exhibition.

His interest in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was sparked at an infamous debate at the Oxford Union in October 1964.

Mr Coulter said: "I went to the debate not knowing anything really, to find that it was very acrid.

"There were some young Zionists who leapt up and down when an Arab intellectual, Edward Attiyah, was speaking.

"He was struggling to get his point over and these young people were trying to get their point over and he collapsed and died right there in front of us.

"It gave me such an anger that he was prevented from speaking that I left and vowed I would never go back to the Oxford Union.

"Nobody ever expected that it would end in tragedy but it made me sad that people would deny a platform to someone.

"What was the case that could not be heard?"

Mr Coulter's work has seem him given the Gold Award by the United Nations Correspondents Association and, in 2000, he was made an OBE.

He is a trustee of the international press freedom body ARTICLE 19 and has worked on a consultant on communications strategies for the British and German ministries for international development.

His combined achievements might have seemed far-fetched for a teenager who arrived in Oxford in 1964 totally unprepared by what he was letting himself in for.

He said: "It was a terrible shock.

"When I first got off the train in Oxford I had been told that Queen's College was in High Street and had a medieval door.

"I think I must have knocked about half-a-dozen medieval doors. I did not know anything.

"It was a great shock coming here and finding that I lived in what felt like a monastery."

And he also picked up a new name, which was not to the liking of his mother back home.

He said: "Paddy is a nickname, I am really John and I got the name when I came over here.

"People used to ring us up on our old phone number – Ballynahinch 206 – and ask to speak to Paddy.

"My mother thought I was being discriminated against, although I wasn't of course."