“I failed my 11-plus and ended up working in a factory after I left school. But then I passed my audition on 'New Faces' and I was on the telly. Suddenly, I was living in London, and sending my parents money that they could never have imagined. It was a massive thing for me; I was a 17-year-old kid who was able to support his family!”

British comedian, actor, presenter and writer

Sir Lenworth George Henry is a British comedian, actor, presenter and writer. Born in 1958, he rose to prominence in the late 1970s and early 1980s as a stand-up comedian and impressionist, and became a familiar face on Tiswas and Three of a Kind. In 1984, he launched The Lenny Henry Show, which continued until 2005 and moved between sketch comedy and sitcom. He was a leading Black British comedian of his era, and much of his work drew on, celebrated and gently parodied his African-Caribbean background.