MATHS wizard Carol Vorderman has urged students at Rochester’s King’s School to stand out from the crowd to achieve their ambitions.

The co-host of TV's Countdown chose to speak about childhood, university life and her successful televison career at the school’s annual Chadlington lecture.

The Cambridge engineering graduate is the seventh high flyer to give the lecture named after Lord Chadlington, a former student at the private school in Rochester.

Carol Vorderman was the first woman to appear on Channel 4 when it was launched in 1982 and was awarded the MBE for services to broadcasting

The 45-year-old surprised listeners by admitting she left university with a third class degree and was having trouble finding work before her mother spotted an advert for a young mathematician to appear on a new show.

Since then she has hosted Tomorrow’s World and Better Homes, produced educational children’s programmes and written books on maths, science, sudoku and even dieting.

Speaking at the lecture hosted by Lord Chadlington himself, she said: “Live life to the full and take risks.

“If you follow the pack, you will only ever stay with the pack. You have to push the boundaries. Ambition is meaningless without drive.

“I’ve been fortunate to be in-volved with people who don’t play safe. I was put up a year at primary school but wouldn’t be accepted at secondary because I was a year younger. My head teacher fought to get me in. He did a risk and did what he believed in.

“I decided I was going to go to Oxford or Cambridge. People told me not to be silly but I applied anyway.

“If you have a positive attitude and are prepared to take risks, opportunities will come your way. You don’t have to have life in your hands at the age of 16. The opportunities will come at a time in your life that’s right for you.”

She added: “We all get dis-couraged but those who go on to be successful in life have the ability to forget the bad things and move on.”