An 85-year-old man has finally picked up his degree – more than six decades after completing his studies.

Navy officer Harold Jones finished a course in mechanical engineering at Cardiff University in 1945, but was unable to attend his graduation ceremony after Second World War military chiefs sent him to complete his training.

Today, 66 years later, the grandfather of eight donned a cap and gown as he graduated with fellow students less than a quarter his age.

He said: “It’s exciting even after all these years to finally get my degree. “It’s a big thrill – I’m probably the oldest by 40 or 50 years but that is relatively unimportant. It’s just nice to be here back in Cardiff.”

Brecon-born Mr Jones began his studies in the Welsh capital in 1942 at Howard Gardens Sixth Form.

“My mother knew the registrar and had tried to get me on to the maths and civil engineering courses before settling for mechanical engineering,” he said.

“We never really discussed it. Some people did it to avoid getting called up, so that might have been my mother’s motivation.

“There were originally 15 people on the course to begin with but only five finished their studies.

While at university Mr Jones completed weekly fire-watching and Home Guard duties, which saw him manning a radar plotting station to track incoming German bombers.

He also pitched in with the war effort by making nuts and bolts for aircraft at a factory in Treforest, near Pontypridd.

In 1944, with one year left of his studies, he travelled to London with three friends to join the Royal Navy’s flying wing, the Fleet Air Arm, as a midshipman.

And 12 months later, he was told to report for training just as hostilities were coming to an end.

After leaving the services, Mr Jones embarked on an international career in engineering, which saw him work in the Middle East, London, Holland and South Africa.

Despite his services being sought after across the globe, he kept in touch with Cardiff University through its alumni programme, which was stunned when it discovered one of the university’s most successful students had not received his degree.

Earlier this year, university officials contacted Mr Jones at his home in Madrid about attending one of its graduation ceremonies in the Welsh capital in a move which came as a pleasant surprise to him.

More than 7,000 Cardiff University students are expected to graduate over the next five days.