“I got into lots of fights at school: I'd get racially abused, then lash out. One day, this kid said something and instead of putting my fists up, I said something back: people laughed, and he walked away.”

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.