In 1983, Lampl set up the Sutton Company, a private equity firm with offices in New York City, London and Munich, and by the mid-1990s had become extremely wealthy.

[8] On his return from America, Lampl was appalled to discover that nowadays "a kid like me had little chance of making it to Oxbridge",[9] noting that his old grammar school was now "all fee-paying" [10] and his old Oxford college "used to have lots of ordinary Welsh kids, but they're not coming through any more.

[9] Lampl founded the Sutton Trust in 1997 "to improve educational opportunities for young people from non-privileged backgrounds and increase social mobility.

"[12] The trust funds a variety of research, campaigning and philanthropical projects, including the "Open Access" programme which funded 70% of places at the academically selective Belvedere School in Liverpool,[13] a scheme which Lampl says the state should eventually expand to 100 or 200 independent day schools who would like to provide "needs-blind" admissions.

Lampl was appointed an Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1999[1] for services to Access to Higher Education,[17] and knighted in June 2003.