Sir Lenny Henry believes school brawls helped him become a comedy legend.
Lenny Henry
The 61-year-old star says he turned comedy into his "weapon" in the fight against playground bigots, and has recalled an encounter with one fellow school pupil.
He said: "For a brief period, I'd have a fight every single day with this kid.
"He'd say hateful things like, 'Hey d****, hey n**-n**.' Every day, the same greeting as usual."
But Lenny used his humour to outwit the lad.
He said: "The particular route I chose one morning would lay the foundation for my career.
"I said something like, 'Not this again Waverly. Ya must really fancy me cause you're always trying to get me to roll on the ground with ya. You hit me, I hit you, we fall on the ground and hug. Why don't we go and have dinner and a movie first? You could buy me a ring - mek it official?' "
Lenny knew his approach was successful following the response of his classmates.
Writing in his new autobiography, 'Who am I, again?', serialised in The Mail on Sunday's Event magazine, he wrote: "Normally, whenever these situations occur at the school gates, other kids would gather in a circle and yell, 'FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!' This time, these kids did me a huge favour of actually laughing at my attempts at humour.
"Waverly still gave me one or two bops to the head, but the laughter made me feel immune.
"I had a handle on what to do now. I had a weapon -humour. Result. (sic)"
Lenny previously revealed his mum taught him and his siblings that "integration shouldn't mean humiliation", but the 'Broadchurch' star insists he wasn't actually "bullied", he just "got into fights".
Speaking in 2015, he said: "My mum, who'd come to the West Midlands from Jamaica in the mid-Fifties, instilled in all seven of her children the importance of fitting in but she was very clear that integration shouldn't mean humiliation. Although a born-again Christian, when it came to the racist abuse of her own family, she was prepared to overlook the Lord's 'turn-the-other-cheek' philosophy.
"Although I got into fights, I was never bullied."
Tagged in Lenny Henry