Harry Styles’ first school teacher has revealed he was an adorable cheeky monkey during his days in her class.
The superstar proved to fans he’s not forgotten his roots when he halted his Manchester gig to find his old teacher Mrs Vernon in the crowd at the Emirates Old Trafford Stadium on Wednesday.
The superstar grew up in the village of Holmes Chapel in Cheshire, in the north of England.
Playing a homecoming gig in the nearby city of Manchester, the 28-year-old stopped his set and successfully located the primary school teacher, who he’d been told was in the crowd.
Talking on Zoe Ball’s BBC Radio 2 show on Thursday, the educator said: “I taught him when he was four and five and he was adorable. He was a little bit of a monkey, cheeky, and he had lots of friends so a lot of his personality that you see now was quite evident from an early age.
“Later on in the Key Stage 2 he was in lots of performances, so it’s really in those years we saw how talented he was with his music. The best performance that I remember was when he was Elvis in the performance of Joseph that he did. But yeah, in everything he was amazing, all the teachers here are just so proud of him and so excited about this and everything that he’s achieved.”
She thanked him for his public shout out, telling Zoe she was touched by the “lovely” gesture.
During the gig, Harry let the entire stadium know what an impact Mrs Vernon had on him as a youngster.
“How are you? I heard you’re retiring,” he chatted away, much to the delight of the tens of thousands of fans in attendance. “I just want to thank you for everything in those formative years. Thank you so much. It means a lot to me that you’re here tonight, you were truly a wonderful teacher. Thank you from the bottom of my heart it means a lot that you’re here and I’m dedicating this next song to you.”
“Can you imagine dealing with me when I was four?” he added with a grin. “I was very fun.”
The former One Direction star dedicated Canyon Moon to Mrs Vernon.
