York teenager who fooled newspapers with inspired Woolworths hoax lands top job

When Woolworths tweeted they were ready to reopen stores in UK towns, the story quickly went viral.

News stories were carried in dozens of newspapers and websites, from the York Press to the Mail and Mirror.

The only trouble was – it was a hoax, perpetrated by a York student.

Huntington School sixth former Luke Castle fooled everyone with the Woolworths news. It was a brilliant way to reveal how easy it is to spread fake news, part of a digital marketing project for his business A level.

Now Luke’s ingenuity has landed him a top job.

He is still at sixth form – but will join the team at creative digital agency Rise at Seven team in September.

The move will act as a gap year and see him learning skills from industry experts before returning to his university path in the future.

So many opportunities

Luke, 17, said: “I decided to ditch the idea of university straight after the announcement of the third lockdown.

“There are so many opportunities outside of university and education out there at the moment, with remote learning having drained me this past year and so much uncertainty around grades, joining Rise at Seven was a no-brainer.

“I can always go to university at a later date when the full experience returns.”

The hire has now inspired a major campaign from Rise at Seven. The Sheffield-based agency is encouraging students who aren’t getting the full university experience to quit uni (for now), and take a ‘year out’ in industry.

They’ll even refund any successful applicant’s first term accommodation rent as an incentive.

It is looking for students to join in roles in PR, content, creative, data, marketing and more. 

CEO Carrie Rose said: “We’re so excited to welcome Luke to our team and are looking for more amazing new talent, bursting with enthusiasm and energy to be a part of Rise at Seven.”

Interested? Find out more here.