apothecary, in Grantham, where he acquired his interest in chemistry. While living with the Clarke family, Newton was educated at The King's School, Grantham (where his signature can still be seen upon a library window sill). He spent much of his time on independent pursuits, and did poorly in school. Newton was also captivated with mechanical devices and drawing. Not only did he analyze drawings and machines, he actually constructed them himself. From windmills to clocks, Newton constructed models of many objects that surrounded him in his everyday life. He was removed from school, and by October 1659 he was to be found at Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth, where his mother, widowed by now for a second time, attempted to make a farmer of him. He hated farming. Henry Stokes, master at the King's School, persuaded his mother to send him back to school so that he might complete his education. Newton's uncle also had an influence in persuading his mother to send him back to school as he could see the natural ability of Isaac. This he did at the age of eighteen, achieving an admirable final report. Newton lived his childhood during some of the most turbulent times in England as the Civil War began in 1642. Although the effects of the countries issues may not have directly affected Newton, the school and universities in England were certainly impacted. Whether it was for the better or worse was to be determined, but Newton was certainly going to have a unique schooling due to the country's unbalance. Manuscript evidence shows that Newton's earliest known piece writing, a Latin phrasebook, as well as the first letter in his hand which has yet been found, addressed to a ‘Loving friend’, were copied from an unpublished version of a work on Latin pedagogy by William Walker, a schoolmaster and rector whose acquaintance with Newton is documented from 1665. This suggests an early influence of the schoolmaster on the natural philosopher when he was still a schoolboy. In June 1661, he was admitted to Trinity College, Cambridge as a sizar—a sort of work-study role. At that time, the college's teachings were based on those of Aristotle, whom Newton supplemented with modern philosophers such as Descartes and astronomers such as Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler. In 1665, he discovered the generalised binomial theorem and began to develop a mathematical theory that later became infinitesimal calculus. Soon after Newton