My first memory of school in Yorkshire is of walking out of the place. My friend had decided there was a witch in our outside toilets and we got so scared we left at lunchtime and walked half a mile home. I was five. They sent a search party out for us and dragged us back.
But apart from that I had a wonderful time at school. I was bright, and I liked my subjects, but the big thing for me was that I was stage-struck by the age of five and that became my passion. From that age, I knew where I was going.
I was born in a little Yorkshire village called Honley where I went to junior school and grammar school. But it was at Sunday school that we did a concert every year and, from the first one, I was just mesmerised.
I can still remember my first performance, in the politically incorrect Black and White Minstrels Show. It was lit by car headlamps and we sang, did a bit of acting. We were all blacked up and I forgot the words, bawled my eyes out and the make-up came running off in great streaks. I still thought it was all magical.
After that, I took every chance of getting on stage. When I was 10, we did a Hans Christian Anderson show. My sister went to a local dance school and one day I went along with her to pick up some moves for the Anderson show from her teacher, who said I should come again. My teacher was wonderful, very like Julie Walters in Billy Elliot - broad Yorkshire and smoked while she taught. By the end of primary school, I was going for two to three lessons a week with her.
It was tough being a boy and dancing but I could fight and I was good at athletics and football, so really I was still one the lads. At 14, I decided I wanted to get to the Royal Ballet School. I only had a few years to get in, because they took children at about 16.
My original teacher said she'd taught me everything she could and I needed a better classical teacher. So I went to Manchester on Saturdays and through to Leeds and Halifax - everywhere, anywhere just to get good classes.
