"community college" goer confused about university applications

Just looking for some advice here, I left school at 16 and started working as an apprentice joiner( think its called a chippy in England) for 3 years or so and ended up with a NVQ level 2 in carpentry and joinery. I jacked it in last September and started doing 1 year govpol and history a levels at a community college . Just got my results and I got 2 As, I knew i wanted to go to uni but hadn’t really planned what for, just knew itd be something English/history based. I think i sold myself short a bit as well, i was only in tech for 2.5 hours a week for each subject and did no work at all outside the class until the week before the exams. So Ive enrolled to do English lit and sociology this year and im hoping to get an A* in at least one of them.

Anyway i don’t even know if that matters, the reason im saying all this is because i have absolutely no idea what im doing with applying to university or even what universities are within my reach. Ive got an appointment at my old school at the end of the week so that should sort out a reference and all the technical questions about UCAS forms and all that, im just looking some questions answered so im on the right track and don’t look like a complete dick when im talking to my old headmaster. I have sort of decided i want to do law/politics but ive got a few questions.

First, id like to do law with politics and i was wondering what way that works, ive no idea about combining courses other than what ive heard on TV.( mostly Americans saying i majored in this but minored in this etc, i know this sounds stupid but bear with me ive spent most of the last 4 years carrying skirting boards up stairs) i know we do something like that here from seeing bits and pieces on websites but i cant find a definitive guide to how it works. And what should i look out for in a prospectus to see what subjects can be combined with others etc.

Second, ive looked at the top 10 or so universities for law and politics and the ones that keep coming up(apart from Oxbridge) are kings college London, LSE, university college london, Durham, maybe Glasgow etc. After looking at the gcse’s that people are recommending for Oxbridge i was wondering if it was even possible to get into the universities i mentioned with the a levels ive got and am hoping to get and my gcses( A eng, A history, 4 Bs, 3 Cs including maths, and a d in French and r.e i think) and also whats the craic with the NVQ i did, will that help or does it not really matter?

Thanks to anyone who struggled through that and thanks in advance to anyone who replies.
Im Jay, 20, from Belfast.

First, id like to do law with politics and i was wondering what way that works, ive no idea about combining courses other than what ive heard on TV.( mostly Americans saying i majored in this but minored in this etc, i know this sounds stupid but bear with me ive spent most of the last 4 years carrying skirting boards up stairs) i know we do something like that here from seeing bits and pieces on websites but i cant find a definitive guide to how it works. And what should i look out for in a prospectus to see what subjects can be combined with others etc.

thats brilliant thanks for the help sownrose i appreciate it. lol it can mean having a good time but "whats the craic with" can be like "whats happening with" etc.

thanks, sounds like i picked a bad year to try for uni anyway. it was alright for a bit of craic(enjoyable conversations that is) lol but i just couldnt get interested in it as a career, and got to a point i thought i couldnt leave trying for uni any longer. sounds like a bit of a plastic paddy lol, nah its an easy mistake like.