BEN Haenow's old school has dug out pictures of the X Factor finalist's first days on stage, starring as the school play's evil villain at 15-years-old.
The pictures show the 29-year-old from Shirley starring in the play 'Roger's Rusty Sword' while in year 11 at Edenham High School in 2000, complete with eye-brow piercing.
Ben's drama teacher, Adrienne Cluer, said the play, written by ex-pupil Adrian Bowley, told the story of a bad dad returned home worse for wear from a night out.
In a sub-plot Ben's character, the villain Evil Bloke, joins other characters on medieval quests which represent the dad's struggles to be a better father.
Mrs Cluer, who taught Ben GCSE drama, said she remembered Ben as one of the funniest pupils she taught, echoing sentiments of his PE teacher David Webb who told the Advertiser the same thing last week.
Mrs Cluer said: "I taught for almost 40 years and I regard him one of the funniest students I ever taught."
The teacher, who retired in 2001, said she has never forgotten Ben's GCSE performance about selling ice cream.
"His routine was the funniest thing I'd seen, we would be falling off our chairs laughing," she said.
"I would love to see his comedy come out in the future," she added.
Ben has quickly become known as the X Factor's nice guy, and Mrs Cluer said she remembers he always had a "really warm personality".
"There was a group of them at that time who were just lovely, lovely boys," she said.
Mrs Cluer will be among Ben's Haeniacs (the name given to his fans) voting for him to win the final of the ITV talent show this weekend.
"I would love him to win," she said. "He has been doing it [singing] for 15 years. Right from school time he's been in a group and performing and honing his skills.
"For that fact alone he deserves to win. I'm totally thrilled for him, even though I'm a cyclist and he drives a white van!"
