Father’s delight as stars send birthday wishes to his bullied boy

HE was a young boy feeling blue after suffering a tough time at school. But now Ollie, from Leeds, is celebrating his ninth birthday with celebrities from across the world – all thanks to a Twitter message posted by his father.

Ever since Christopher Hope-smith, 41, first took to Twitter to ask for celebrity well-wishers to leave birthday messages for his son, he has been inundated with comments from public figures including Tim Peake, Russell Crowe, Dame Jessica Ennis-hill and England rugby’s World Cup winner Jason Robinson.

Posting the message on Thursday morning, Mr Hope-smith wrote: “Strange request. Anyone know anyone famous/well-known who could send Ollie a positive 9th birthday message. The bully keeps saying to him that everything [Ollie] has, he has bigger/better/more often. [Ollie is] excited for his birthday but keeps being told it won’t be as good. I would be so grateful… Just would love someone to tell him he does mean something.”

Shared more than 14,000 times by yesterday evening, Mr Hope-smith’s message was met with droves of supportive comments from social media users all over the world.

Among them was a video posted by comedian Jason Manford, who said: “Just wanted to say happy ninth birthday. Nine years old… can’t remember what I was doing… probably chasing girls around with a bit of dog poo at the end of a stick. Have a great day son.”

On a more serious note, Tim Peake, the astronaut, offered some words of advice. “Just remember – a bully is a person too scared to do the right thing,” he wrote. “Hope your 9th birthday is out of this world.”

Meanwhile, the England football team extended an invite for Ollie to come and watch the team play in the World Cup qualifiers in September, adding: “Let us know and we’ll make it happen.”

Dame Jessica also sent her best wishes and told Ollie “never” let the “bullies win”, while Ed Miliband, the former Labour leader, said: “Ollie – have a great birthday. You’ve got a great Dad. And remember people are really lucky to have you as a friend.”

Following their messages, Mr Hopesmith said he hoped the attention generated would help other children.

Ollie’s mother, Natalie Hope-smith, 41, also took to social media. “It is heartbreaking listening to an 8-yearold think that he is worthless and ‘shouldn’t be here’,” she said.

“I know that we are definitely not the only ones in the world to be going through this, but I just want to say, from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much. You really don’t know what this means.”