JUST around this time last year Podium was sampling the delights of sub-tropical Brisbane.

And since then in a post-Brexit-Trump-Super League XXII world, it’s all been Down Under.

While we may be light on Beatles references at the foot of the page though, if you say you want a(n educational) revolution, we can certainly help.

Supporters of the latest academy trust will be hoping their secondaries quartet – Beamont, Boteler, Bridgewater and Penketh – morph into the Fab Four.

But after the schools upheaval of recent times, from the studio school debacle to Lymm High’s travails to the university technical college altering the landscape, it won’t be a long and winding road to some much-needed stability for our students.

Tortured mop-top puns aside, the aptly-named Challenge Academy Trust, also including Priestley College and assorted primaries, will do well to satisfy the competing ambitions of so many sets of parents in Warrington.

Heartening words from CEO-designate Matthew Grant that he won’t, unlike other northern academy chiefs, be using the formation to line his own pockets.

Little less cheer that ‘financial savings’ are included in his first public pronouncement.

Hopefully the schools, especially Boteler (est 1526) can retain their identities, amid the corporate-speak and launch hype.

  •  City of Culture leaders could do far worse than adopt the likes of builder-turned-artist Marc Turner as one of their ambassadors for the 2021 bid.

Like our reporter Chloe Laversuch relayed, the 58-year-old from Bank Quay turned to painting after suffering a life-altering wrist injury.

Few Warringtonians can recount the contribution the town’s painting school made to the neo-Venetian movement, via Luke Fildes and Henry Wood, in deference to Marc.

Might add a classical dimension.

  •  Jeremy Paxman is another confirmed fan of the borough, even if it’s only the stretch between Kingsway Bridge and Paddington Meadows.

The former Newsnight presenter was taken for a paddle down the Mersey with Warrington Rowing Club for his new series Rivers.

In my lifetime the waterway has undergone a remarkable renaissance, from the old pram and bikes graveyard of the early 80s to a sparkling ribbon on which you can, well, row. The club itself must take a share of the credit, creating a HQ to be proud of down the years.