Well, thanks for the replies people.
Reckon I'll at least give the CTC scheme a shot - at the very least there is nothing to lose.
Fully agree with people that you must have a good motivation for the job....which in my case would be a desperate desire to avoid the typical desk job (sorry accountants!). Anybody who thinks 4am starts and working hours piloting are crazy should consider the minimum city work week of 60hours (going upto 100 for some nutters in corp fin).
Also agree that motivation is only part of the picture. For example, a couple of other guys at uni I know got trading jobs without having even read the company website. Basically they pulled this off cos they're massively intelligent and graced with the gift of the gab....for which I could get 'sour grapes', but really they deserved them.(actually, maybe I am just a tad jealous!)
I think my main challenge will be to convince my interviewer that I am committed to the training, dodgy work hours etc. of piloting without having had the desire to climb into a plane since I was 5...which I reckon I should be able to do given my choice of highly exciting alternative careers.