‘Philip Pullman taught me English at school, and he was fantastic’

Mr O’Connor said he had starred in one such production written by Sir Philip, where he played a villain in the Arabian Golden Age-set production.

“The highlight was having to get a custard pie in the face – it was just loads of fun, really creative and a real stand out,” he said.

But Sir Philip’s teaching was not all custard pies and creative writing.

“He [Sir Philip] was strict,” Mr O’Connor said.

“Once, when my best friends and I all got caught doing some sort of naughtiness, Mr Pullman gave us 500 lines each and we had to stay in at lunch break.

“I’ll tell you now it doesn’t sound like a lot, but it took half the week and was pretty painful on the old arms.”