Paul McGann

I went to an all-boys Roman Catholic grammar school in Liverpool, near to where I grew up. When I was 16 I was mad about sport – I was a good track and field athlete and I dreamt about going to the Olympics. But I was persuaded to do a Tom Stoppard play, The Real Inspector Hound, and I kind of loved it. People laughed, and clapped. We were taught by Christian Brothers and one of them, the deputy head, Father James Higham – I’ve never met before or since a more frustrated actor. He was the director and he’d show you how to do every scene and the kids would end up saying, look Father, why don’t you just put the costume on and do it yourself?

Our English teacher, Joe Hartley, also took us to Stratford to see Ian McKellen and Judi. It was the first time I’d been to the theatre and I was absolutely riveted. On the bus home I was dreaming and I kept asking Mr Hartley, but is that a job, is that a real job? After I’d left school I came back to the school to visit and he asked me what I’d been doing since I moved London. I told him I was selling shoes and having a nice time. He said, you should go to RADA. He told me Glenda Jackson, who was from Liverpool, ended up being Queen Elizabeth I. So I auditioned for RADA and I got in.