The open university was first established as a futuristic ‘university of the air’, designed, according to Harold Wilson, ‘to provide an opportunity for those who . . . have not been able to take advantage of higher education’, using the benefits of modern TV and radio. But as innovative as the pedagogy and technology of the OU was, it can only really be understood within a broader history of adult education in Britain.

For many decades organisations like the Workers’ Educational Association brought learning to many of those who found themselves excluded from the traditional pathway through night schools and correspondence courses. In fact, many within the Labour Party had themselves been educated through these programmes. They could often be transformative for their students but were often difficult to fit around work and were of varying quality. By the time Jennie Lee became the minister for the arts in 1964 she knew that that ‘the days when people would go out to the old-fashioned night schools and sit on hard benches’ were ‘receding’. If Labour was serious about bringing education to the masses, they would need to abandon the ‘dowdy and mouldy’ old systems and embrace a new approach.