Lenny Henry reveals how he overcame a school bully with his comedy | Cornwall Live

Comedian Sir Lenny Henry has thanked the two teachers who inspired him to become a renowned children’s author and said it’s never too late to get an education.

While a pupil at the Blue Coat School in Dudley, West Midlands, in the 1970s, Henry first realized he had a gift for comedy. His quick wit soon overcame the school bully and a natural ability to tell jokes led to the club stand-up comedy circuit before he found TV success with ITV’s New Faces programme.

He co-founded the charity Comic Relief with screenwriter Richard Curtis and later turned to acting, appearing in Chef! and the Amazon Prime series Lord of the Rings.

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The 65-year-old, who was speaking at an event at the Hay Festival in Powys, Wales, said he was inspired to write by two of his teachers, Jim Brookes and Mr Nash.

“He was a brilliant teacher. Are there any teachers here? You guys aren’t getting paid enough,” Henry said.

“Without brilliant teachers you’re not told to read or encouraged or anything. I had a brilliant teacher called Mr Brookes and he encouraged me to read and so did Mr Nash. That’s why I wanted to write. At every exam or anytime. there was an essay or problem question in math, we did a story about it. That’s why I’m inspired to write.”

Henry has now written several children’s adventure comedy books featuring a character called Tunde Wilkinson, who he says was partly inspired by his own childhood.

He said Tunde was an adopted child as his own daughter and also like him was bullied at school. “Has anyone here been bullied? It’s horrible, isn’t it. I was bullied by this guy at school. I can’t say his name,” Henry said.

“Every day he called me, punched me and kicked me. Then one day, the reason I’m where I am today was because I had an idea why he was suffocating me on the floor. I said, ‘You must really like him or something because he’s rolling around on the floor fighting.’

“And whoever was standing around, who was usually saying ‘fight, fight, fight,’ they were suddenly laughing at that joke. I said, “You should come meet my mom and dad and you can buy me a ring and make it official.” …’

“It just came out of me. I said, “Let’s go for a walk, hold hands and jump.” And he ran away. I wanted Tunde to have a sense of humor similar to the one who is bullied in the story.”

He said his favorite subject was English and he went to university after his mother died.

“My mother always told me, ‘Len, you have to get an education.’ So, I always wanted to study and I always wanted to do better as an adult than in school,” he said.

“When I was at school, even though I had a great English teacher, I didn’t really like school because I was bullied and stuff like that. When I was about 30, I decided I wanted to be a writer and did an English degree. with the Open University and I loved it.

“Anyone here who is studying and is older and wants to study now, please do, because the Open University is great and you can do it at home.”

Since then, she has completed an MA in screenwriting for television and film and a PhD on the role of black people in media.

Henry told the audience that he enjoyed the freedom he had to write and encouraged the children to bring a notebook and pen to jot down story ideas.

“You can sit in the kitchen with a pack of dodgers and a pen and pencil in your pajamas and do whatever you want,” he said.

“If you have an idea, you can write it and that can be your story. I love that…your imagination runs wild and just thinking of silly things that kids will enjoy.”