17th April
In April 1899 he was thinking about education, and his prospects. In a letter home to his mother from university, he related a conversation with his college Tutor Nathaniel Wedd. The news was that he had little chance of a first-class degree, and Wedd had been very critical of his education at Tonbridge School: too much time had been spent on repetition. Conversation turned to Forster’s future career: perhaps journalism. He ruefully wrote that 'it is rather a pit to attempt without influence [i.e., very difficult to get far without contacts], and I don’t think I shall be good enough’. (Source: Selected Letters of E.M. Forster, ed. Mary Lago and P.N. Furbank (London: Collins, 1983-1985), letter of 23 April 1899)
