This is an account of David Wright's early education at a school for the deaf, and subsequent university career at Oxford, where he was a contemporary of Sidney Keyes, Keith Douglas, John Heath-Stubbs and Dom Mintoff. The second part traces the history of deaf education from its beginnings in the 16th century, and ends with an outline of recent developments, such as the Mary Hare Grammar School for the Deaf and the Audiology Research Unit at Reading.