It was fantastic - I remember running up
to it thinking ‘oh we have got our own
bathroom’ and all that so it was terrific.
Then I managed to get in to a grammar
school in Sunbury which was quite a long
way from where my estate was, it was
there that I started getting interested in
acting - there were no drama lessons in
those days but we had school plays. I
went to audition for a play called The
Crucible by Arthur Miller - a very famous
play - I did not get a part but my mate
did with one line and I was really jealous.
Then the boy playing the main part left
school abruptly and for some reason my
English teacher suggested me - I was
only a fifth former and the sixth formers
were all very angry because they thought
one of them should have got it. Anyway
I got the part and I pulled it off - it was
terrific and people said to me ‘you should
be an actor you know’.
In the meantime my mother was working
for BOAC as it was in those days which
then became British Airways - she
brought home an application for me to be
an air steward - that and acting were both
very camp professions of course - I did
not know what I was going to do but then
I got expelled from school over a girl - but
that is a long story! Eventually someone
said to become an actor you have to go
to a thing called a drama school and I
did not know anything about them so
my mate, who was a year above me,
researched them and he got into a drama
school. I thought ‘bloody hell if he can
get in I must be able to get in’. So I tried
round all the drama schools and the best
day of my life was getting into a place
called London Academy of Music and
Dramatic Art and they only take 24 people
and six of those are foreigners - I do not
know how I got in! You had to audition a
Shakespeare piece and a modern piece
and you have to do a monologue.
Eventually I retook my A levels after I’d
been expelled and I went to Windsor
Technology everyday to do economics,
English and geography. I used to spend
one day a week mucking out the stables
of 21 horses and also to deliver cars at
the airport. So that was my year before I
went to drama school and then I started
and it completely changed me. It was the
best three years of my life. My stepfather
had left my mother by then so she was
on her own which was a bit of a shame
but I was pleased to get away and start
building a life.
What sort of things did you do at
drama school?
Well drama school is quite intense; you
are taken apart psychologically in a
way. The whole idea of drama school is
to get rid of all your bad habits, so you
are quite neutral and then you take on
characteristics. I’m being a bit wacky
but that’s what you go through, but it’s
all good lessons for life. They teach you
how to relax, you learn about massage,
you learn about voice projection, and of
course all the technical things you need
to have to be an actor and I didn’t really
understand anything about plays, it was a
good grounding.
Another thing about acting is it touches
upon all walks of life so you learn about
philosophy and psychology - and it’s so
fascinating, every play you do is different.
In those days we would go to the Royal
Court with our free tickets to go and see
Chekhov and that sort of thing - all these
fabulous classic plays and modern plays
at the same time. It was so fascinating it
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