The HamVention reference was simply the result of a bit of Googling.
However I passed my RAE in 1970, when I was in the 6th form at school, after many years as an SWL. I fully intended to go on to take the Morse test, and to take out a full licence, but alas the problems of paying my way through college (with all that beer to be drunk!) prevented me from doing so.
I checked the OfCom website recently and, amazingly, my RAE pass still seems to be valid, so if I ever come into some money I might still take out a licence.
Incidentally, when I was 14 I was thinking about what callsign it would be great to have. So I looked up callsigns such as G3HAM and G8HAM, to see if anyone owned them. The callsign that I regarded as the most attractive though was G3YLS (G3 Wireless), so I looked that one up too, to see that it was registered to Yew Lane School in Sheffield. I forgot all about it until I started my teaching career 8 years later. I'm sure you can guess where!
;-)