Struggles at school ‘inspired me to go on and be better’ Jack Whitehall tells Jewish education fundraiser

Jack Whitehall (Photo Getty Images)Getty Images

During the conversation in a north-west London venue, the comedian said he was dyslexic and had received extra support when he was at school. When asked how he memorises scripts, he said he was a “very slow reader,” had “appalling” handwriting and was “not great in my exams,” getting a D in drama.

“All of these things inspired me to go on and be better,” Whitehall said.

Turner – who was part of the team that created the Emmy-award-winning documentary We Will Dance Again – said many people he worked with in film and television did not thrive at school but were very successful in adulthood. “You’re not defined by your success at school,” he said to the room of 300 people.

The pair first met working with James Corden in the noughties, and Whitehall knew Turner was “someone I wanted to hitch my wagon to.” At one stage, Whitehall said he would only work on a particular advert series if Turner was brought on to direct.

The two, who have since become good friends, shared anecdotes from their television careers. Turner recalled the YouTube series, Training Days, which involved the pair thinking of “the most stupid thing we could do with a pro footballer”.

Whitehall was asked by a member of the audience if his father, Michael, was different on his television series, Travels with My Father, to how he was to real life. “He is dialled down; in real life, he is an even stronger flavour,” Whitehall said.

When asked who his favourite comedian was, Whitehall – who also confirmed he would be hosting this year’s Brit Awards – said Mel Brookes and Jackie Mason, much to the audience’s appreciation.

The room also heard from Gateways’ chief executive and founder Laurence Field, who said, in any given week, 50 young people come through the doors of the charity’s Hendon base.

Young Jewish people aged between 14 and 25 people, who struggle in mainstream education and are referred to the service, receive a tailor-made curriculum that can include subjects ranging from hairdressing and cookery to maths and English, as well as mentoring and therapy.

Founder and CEO of Gateways, Laurence Field (Photo: Julian Knopf Gander Photography)[Missing Credit]

Field said the charity, which has been operating for over 12 years and has supported more than 600 young people, had seen a surge in demand – and could not keep up.

There are 40 families on the Gateways waiting list, and the charity needs to fundraise £1.5 million a year to continue operating.

“There is an epidemic of young people suffering with mental health,” Field said, explaining how this could impact their ability to access mainstream education.

“It doesn’t just impact that one young person; it impacts the whole family,” he said. “At Gateways, we believe that every young person deserves an education, no matter the challenges they face.”

A Gateways’ mother also addressed the room, describing how the charity had supported her son when, shortly after starting secondary school, he suffered a mental health breakdown.

He suffered a “tsunami of anxiety and emotion”.

She said: "I would force him out the door whilst he was sobbing. We would sit for hours in the school car park. My husband and I kept asking for help, but no adult could help us.” With a two-year waiting list for her son to be seen by Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (Camhs) and threats of legal action from her son’s school, the mother said the family was in “crisis”.

"For a year and a half, he wasn’t getting any better and we needed to change the story. We had hoped that a smaller private school could be the solution but this only meant more days - sitting in the car, sobbing, fighting, trying to convince him that he could do this. But he couldn’t.”

Gateways, she said, “was literally like a glimmer of hope when all the doors were shut”.

When her son arrived at Gateways, the mother said: “We were welcomed with warm smiles from the kindest people who 100 per cent got what he was going through. They had seen this before and they had time for us.”

“Gateways is within reach,” she went on, describing how her teenage son is now in lessons and therapy.

He was not able to get have a barmitzvah, “because at 13, he was too unwell”, but “We are so fortunate to be able to be part of this incredible Jewish support system,” the mother said.

To find out more about Gateways, click here.