Peyton wanted for college place

The school has money available to fund a student called Peyton

An independent school in Brighton has been trawling through telephone books to find a teenager to take up a scholarship place.

Brighton College has a place for a boy or girl aged 13 to 18 - but they must be called Peyton.

It follows a six-figure bequest to the school by former pupil Derek Wakehurst Peyton, who died in 2002.

Headmaster Richard Cairns said the school had been at a loss to find a Peyton which was "a terrible shame".

He said staff had contacted all 600 Peytons in UK telephone books in an attempt to find a suitable beneficiary, but so far without luck.

We have the money available to fund a child through this wonderful school but we seem to be at a loss Richard Cairns

Mr Cairns is now using internet search engines to spread the net wider to the United States, Australia and beyond.

He said he had contacted the office of American Football player Peyton Manning in his search for leads.

He said: "I think it is a terrible shame that we have the money available to fund a child through this wonderful school but we seem to be at a loss to find ourselves a Peyton.

"We do have a large number of boarders here so it seems sensible to extend our search beyond these shores."

The headmaster said the "virtually free" place covered all costs apart from extras such as trips abroad and additional music lessons.