Star inspired by school days
One of the nation’s biggest TV stars has paid tribute to his inspirational teachers at the Minster School, Southwell.
Mathew Horne, who plays Gavin in the Bafta-winning Gavin and Stacey, discovered his passion for performing when he was a pupil at the school from 1989-97.
He is riding high as one of the stars of the BBC3 comedy about the romance between Essex boy Gavin and Stacey, from Barry, Wales, played by Joanna Page.
Mathew, who last year was nominated as best newcomer at the Baftas, is also known for his roles in the Catherine Tate Show and The Kylie Show.
The show is written by their co-stars, James Corden, who plays Smithy, and Ruth Jones who plays Nessa.
Speaking to the Advertiser yesterday, Mathew (29) paid tribute to the drama teachers who nurtured his talent.
“For a school that aspired to be a public school back then, with its boarders and choristers, to have a drama department was considered slightly out of the norm,” he said.
Based in the school’s former Nottingham Road site, the school’s drama department played an important role in developing Mathew’s love of comedy.
He said he was part of a clique of students who used to hang out in the drama room.
“We would watch Alan Partridge and other Steve Coogan shows and that’s where it really started,” he said.
Mathew paid particular tribute to the school’s current head of drama, Mr Kevin Troughton.
“Kev was amazing to me,” said Mathew. “He played a major part in me doing what I wanted to do.”
Mr Troughton kept in touch with Mathew after he left the Minster School to study drama at Manchester University, and went to Edinburgh to see him perform stand-up at the festival.
While he was at the Minster School Mathew performed in a play written by Mr Troughton called We’ll Meet Again about evacuees in the second world war.
“It was the culmination of my drama at the school,” he said.
Mathew returned to the school in December last year to give a talk to pupils.
Some of his old teachers were also there.
“It was nice that those teachers were really proud,” he said. “They were teachers I really liked.”
Mathew was impressed by the new £34m school.
“I thought It was incredible,” he said. “Architecturally it was amazing — really stylish and functional.
“The theatre was incredible. I felt quite proud of it.”
Mathew learned to play the drums while at school and said he built up an unlikely relationship with one of the school’s less popular teachers, who taught him music.
“He was quite harsh to a lot of kids but took a liking to me,” said Mathew.
“I was probably the only person in the school, teachers included, he was nice to.
“Maybe he saw something in me that was a bit different, but he was always very supportive.”
Mathew’s family still live in Burton Joyce, where he was brought up and went to primary school, and he visits at Christmas and birthdays.
“The past few years have been particularly busy,” he said.
Many of his friends from the Minster School now live in London where he is based so he is able to keep in contact with them.
Remembering Mathew, Mr Troughton, said: “In the early years in school he was quite quiet.
“He wasn’t a natural drama student at that stage, not someone earmarked as someone who was going to make a living in performance.
“But he gradually grew in confidence and developed as he went through the school.”
Mr Troughton said Mathew was very good in serious role and a performance he gave in his A-level performing arts exam particularly stood out.
“He chose to do something totally serious about a disabled teenager which did not have any comedy in.”
Mr Troughton said the school was proud of Mathew’s achievements.
“He is by far the most famous pupil of any who have gone out from us into the public eye.
“Quite a lot of people go off to do drama but they have not ended up on television so far.”
Mr Troughton still keeps in touch with him via text message.
“He is still very much down to earth,” he said.
“He hasn’t changed from what I remember. He really is very relaxed, very easy to talk to and very personable.
“The students that came to listen to him found him really nice.”
