FROM TALENT SHOW TEENAGER TO
I did Tommy Cooper, Muhammad Ali, Elvis... the DJ said I should be on TV She told us: You have to ‘hintegrate’ Footman asked ‘Are you at Premier Inn?
Sir Lenny first fell in love with comedy watching Marx brothers movies in his summer holidays when he was about 12.
He also loved Bruce Forsyth, The Two Ronnies and Eric and Ernie and would try out impressions of them all. “I used to do jokes for my mates and they really appreciated it. Even if it was rubbish they’d say keep going,” says Lenny.
His pals urged him to perform at a local disco. Lenny recalls:
“In front of all my peers at Dudley’s
Queen Mary
Ballroom, I did
Elvis, Tommy
Cooper, Lenny describes his mother Winifred Henry, a seamstress and factory worker who died in 1998, as a “warrior” who had a huge influence on his life.
“She had our backs. She was at work all day so she did rule by fear. She was tough because she needed to be,” he says.
Lenny has Sir Trevor giggling as he launches into an impression of his mum, who had lined his Jamaican family in the hallway of their Midlands home as kids and warned: “You have to ‘hintegrate’ with the people of Dudley, or you won’t fit in.”
Winifred once stormed into Lenny’s Lenny, made a CBE in 1999, was knighted in the Queen’s 2015 Birthday Honours for services to drama and charity.
“I wasn’t going to accept it,” he reveals. “But then I rang my sister Sharon and I’ve never heard her so excited in my life.
“She was going to the palace even if I wasn’t. She was damned if she wasn’t going to be Sir Sharon Henry. The rest of the family agreed with her. They said, ‘it’s an honour, go and do it’.”
Arriving at Windsor Castle, he remembers Sharon forgot her passport but luckily was allowed in. A footman took him to one side to gruffly tell him where to Muhammad Ali... it brought the house down.” The DJ said he should be on telly. He says: “One day I bunked off school, put on my Sunday school clothes and went to the New Faces audition in this Birmingham club. I thought, these are my people.” The judges were so wowed by Lenny that they let his audition run and run until he bowed and they all stood up. But when he got home he had to face his mother. “My mum was silhouetted in the window,” he says. “I had to convince her so I did the whole audition again in the hallway She gave a half smile... The full smile came when I bought her a house and a big TV.” school “like Godzilla with a handbag” to yell at a teacher who had kicked him up the backside for throwing paint in art class. Just a couple of weeks later, Lenny recalls, he nearly drowned in a swimming pool and it was that teacher who jumped in fully clothed to save him.
“She was nice as pie to him then!” says Lenny, of his mum. “Britain in 1957 when she came over was different to what she thought it was going to be like. She thought it was going to be milk and honey and it wasn’t. It was no blacks, no Irish, no dogs, in every single place that you went.” stand and what to do, including advice on how to address the Queen: “It’s ma’am as in spam, not maarm as in balm”. Lenny says: “I remember thinking, ‘You’ve achieved a lot and you’re being honoured.’
“Then, no word of a lie, the footman says, ‘You staying in the Premier Inn?’ ”
Elsewhere in tonight’s show, Lenny teases Sir Trevor: “We’re knights of the realm here. Hanging out like regular people, giving our butlers the night off.”
When Lenny Henry was 16 he bunked off school for the day... and the little act of rebellion back in 1975 opened the way to a glittering career.
Instead of hitting town with friends, Lenny auditioned for TV talent show New Faces.
And he became one of the most famous new faces of all... triumphing in comedy, theatre and film.
Lenny captured the hearts of the world, finally bagging a knighthood. As his pirate radio character Delbert
Wilkins would say: “Wicked!”
Sir Lenny has been in everything from Saturday morning TV’S Tiswas, sketch show Three of A Kind, 90s sitcom Chef! to Broadchurch and a stage production of Othello.
He has also made his mark with Comic Relief charity work – and er, even those Premier Inn adverts.
The dad-of-one, married to comedian Dawn French for 25 years until 2010, has made a unique impact on entertainment.
With his 60th birthday next week, it’s the perfect time to celebrate him. The Lenny Henry Birthday Show on BBC1 tonight showcases classic clips.
It also includes new sketches, including a send-up of Bishop Michael Curry, who preached at Harry and Meghan’s wedding.
Lenny says: “You never imagine you’re going to be 60 when you’re a kid. To have a commemorative show is fantastic.”
He will also be interviewed by old pal Sir Trevor Mcdonald, impersonated by Lenny many times. ■ The Lenny Henry Birthday Show is on BBC1 tonight at 8pm. Lenny with Dawn in 2006 Lenny with gong at Windsor Castle