Celebrities speak out against school bullying

Tom Daley, Holly Branson and Rio Ferdinand have told how they were picked on in the classroom as part of a campaign to end school bullying.

They spoke out as research revealed that almost half (47 per cent) of British adults said they had been bullied at school.

Olympic diver Daley said: “When I came back from Beijing, that’s when everything changed.

“They took the mick out of what I was wearing on the diving board, they would throw stuff at me at lunchtime. It became a thing that diving was becoming a burden.”

Channel 4 News presenter Cathy Newman said: “Some of

0 Holly Branson and Tom Daley were bullied in the classroom the things that happened to me would definitely be described now as sexual harassment. If you were a girl and wore a white T-shirt, the girls would get a fire hose and spray you down so they could see your underwear.”

Holly Branson, daughter of Sir Richard, said: “I was a bit of a tomboy. One of the girls in my school started calling me a lesbian. I didn’t realise I was being bullied until I told my parents.”

Former England footballer Ferdinand said: “I got racist abuse growing up. It got me upset, I was angry.

“I’ve got young kids now. I don’t want to see them being bullied but I also stress to them I don’t want to see you bullying anyone.”

The Vamps vocalist James Mcvey said: “I would be punched in the stomach whenever I was seen in the corridors and told I would be ‘cut up and hidden under the floorboards’.”

The celebrities relived experiences for charity The Diana Award’s Back2school campaign. Its Yougov survey revealed 64 per cent of young people say at least one of their friends has been bullied at school. Nearly a quarter of 15-year-olds said friends were worried about going back to school because of bullying.