Lewis star Fox: Harrow threatened to sue me
Despite once describing himself as ‘ posh and proud’, privately educated Lewis actor Laurence Fox is a vocal critic of his alma mater, Harrow, claiming he encountered racism, homophobia and bullying during his time at the public school.
Now, however, Fox has revealed that the school, founded in 1572 under a Royal Charter granted by elizabeth i, tried to silence him by sending him a letter threatening legal action.
the 37-year-old, who has two young children, Winston, seven, and eugene, three, with his actress wife Billie piper, was asked whether he would send his sons to the £36,150-a-year school.
He replied ‘Absolutely not’ before hastily adding: ‘i love you, Harrow. i’m so sorry. please don’t send me a letter threatening to sue me again — which they did do.’ A spokesman for the school declined to comment yesterday.
Fox, who has reportedly clashed with Billie over whether or not to send their children to a state school, was expelled from Harrow shortly before his A-levels, though he was allowed to return to sit his exams.
‘We were raised to say what we thought and i did,’ explained Fox. ‘And that doesn’t go down well in the old Harrow. i think the new Harrow, and post-Children Act and all of this sort of stuff, really has changed.’
Fox disclosed that an older boy broke two of his front teeth after he declined to buy a hand-made mug from him.
He also revealed that his father, the Remains Of the Day actor James Fox, was similarly kicked out of Harrow as a young man, saying: ‘My dad had been expelled and his father had gone and been expelled.
‘Most of us have been expelled from Harrow and yet we continue to send our children there. i didn’t respond very well to the Harrow education, but i was a pain to them as well, so in the end we parted ways.’