Renowned comedian, presenter and author of The Bolds children’s book series, Julian Clary, visits Bishop’s Stortford College Prep School.

Bishop’s Stortford College welcomed renowned comedian, presenter and author of The Bolds children’s book series, Julian Clary to the Prep School on Friday 20th April. Inspired by his lifelong love of animals, The Bolds is a collection of fabulous stories centred on the idea of what would happen if animals pretended to be like humans.

Joined by pupils from local primary schools; Summercroft, Northgate, Windhill, Albury and St Michael’s, Julian kept everyone very amused whilst reading passages from his books and showcasing his talents as an illustrator. In an interactive session with the pupils he devised a creature which was part fox, part human but had crocodile’s feet and a dog’s tail! When it then came to naming this creature, everyone in the Prep School Hall decided ‘Bob’ was the best fit. The pupils even had a virtual visit from David Roberts, Julian Clary’s own illustrator, via a link on the screen who drew the new villain Mossy the Fox, whilst Julian read aloud from his new book, The Bolds in Trouble.

In the afternoon Julian hosted a very special Book Club for College pupils in Upper and Lower Shell where they discussed with Julian and shared their opinions of the books featured in the morning session. Pupils also recounted their favourite jokes with Julian and were particularly inspired by, and very much enjoyed Julian having a go at drawing himself (even though David Roberts was much better than him).

When a pupil asked, “If you had to get rid of one of the characters from the books who would it be?” Julian responded, “Well, Uncle Tony is getting on a bit…”

The College thanks Julian for coming in and spending a fantastic day with all the pupils.