Ken Brearley started life in Hampton (Melbourne) where he attended both Hampton Primary and Hampton High schools before winning a scholarship for Years 9-12 at Scotch College, which was quite some distance away in Hawthorn. In 1948, having won a place into Medicine at the University of Melbourne in

Wyn Beasley, with incredible power of observation and memory, and placing great value on intellectual curiosity, acquired an encyclopaedic knowledge of a broad range of subjects. Traversing both arts and sciences he could readily be described as a polymath. Even though he was a very capable musician