At 6, Joshua Beckford Became The Youngest Person To Be Admitted Into Oxford University

When he was 10-months old, Joshua Beckford’s father, Knox Daniel, recalled his son while sitting on his father laps, in front of the computer memorized every letter on the keyboard and words;

“I started telling him what the letters on the keyboard were, and I realized that he remembered and could understand. So, if I told him to point to a letter, he could do it. So, we moved to colors.”

That was when he believed his son is a genius.

Joshua Beckford was born in Tottenham, England, in 2005. He was diagnosed with high-functioning Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). 

He started receiving his schooling from home at ten months. At 2, he became fluent in reading, using phonics while learning Japanese, which he later proceeds to learn Chinese Mandarin.

At age 3, young Joshua could name most of the cars he saw on the road, including the country of make. He could name all the internal organs on the human body and explain how the 12-body system works according to keeping humans alive. Master Beckford thoroughly read a book on Human Anatomy: Genes, and DNA. He was able to explain the concepts of infinity and gravity.

Joshua made up his mind to become a Neuro-surgeon at 4; admitting he used to rehearse on his dad’s laptop with a Microsoft surgery simulator. He created a power-point presentation on Human Anatomy at a community fund-raising event which he delivered before the adult audiences.

 

In 2011, a program for children between eight and thirteen came out at Oxford University. Although Joshua was younger, his father knowing his son is a prodigy wrote to Oxford for his son’s admission. Luckily, Joshua was admitted, making him the youngest person to be admitted into Oxford University. He took and passed philosophy and history courses with distinction.

Young Joshua mastered foreign languages, history and philosophy, sport, IT, Maths, Art, and Science. He is the face of the National Autistic Society’s Black and Minority campaign. He made it among his priorities to educate on challenges minority groups face in their efforts to gain autism support and services.

Having solved 29,000 Math problems, he earned a certificate from the IXL online Math program. He was nominated for the National Black Youth Achievement Award for Education in which he won in 2012, and since then became their ambassador.

In 2013, he won the Young Gifted and Black Achievement Award organized in Waltham Forrest in 2013. At 11, Joshua became the youngest person to be invited by TEDx International Conference in Austria. He won 14 awards at 12, and was featured on the White House website for African American Education, in the U.S. and appeared on the One Bank in Boston. He is seen among the top 30 positive role models.

He contested for a letter-writing competition at Birmingham, which he won with a record of 112 accurate words per minute.

Low-Income Families Education (LIFE), whose goal is to create enormous academic opportunities for children from low-income earning homes, appointed Master Beckford Support Ambassador for Boys Mentoring Advocacy Network in Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, South Africa, Ghana, and United Kingdom.

 

At the National Diversity Awards, 2017, young Joshua won The Positive Role Model Award. He also was held in a mentoring session with parents at the Father and Son Together (FAST), organized in Nigeria, in which he came with his father, Knox Daniel in 2019.

According to Joshua Beckford, he believes he can change the world and make people channel their ideas in doing the right thing.