One over the bullies

Not long ago, Barratt Waugh returned to his secondary school to sing a live set in front of 1,000 pupils. It was, he says, "a terrifying experience" - not because he was performing but because the school was the scene of his most wretched moments. "I was bullied virtually every day at that school," he says, "so going back had really painful memories for me. My old form tutor was sitting there. I had tried to tell him a few times that I was being bullied, but he would simply tell me to shut up. When I gave the performance at my school, he looked at me and winked. I thought to myself, 'Why couldn't you give me that support when I needed it?', so I ignored him." Barratt smiles. A revenge of sorts.

He is now 23, living in south London, and a rising pop star - his debut single is out next month. His boyish good looks and slim physique mean he has legions of teenage fans but, growing up, it was a different story.

"I suppose I was a real-life Billy Elliot. As a kid I was a singer and a dancer. I studied ballet when I was seven and was accepted by the Royal Ballet School, although I didn't join. When the other children found out about my dancing, the bullying started. I would be called names and, one by one, I lost all my friends. They all assumed I was gay. It was a very lonely time; I can honestly say I didn't have one good day at school."

When Barratt moved on to secondary school, he thought the bullying would stop. In fact, the cruelty escalated. "There were about 1,000 kids there and I soon found that there were even fewer places to hide," he says. "I come from a small village in Nottinghamshire so the same people who bullied me at primary school carried on at secondary school.

"Initially, it was the people in my year and the year above who picked on me, but eventually, the whole school knew that I was the odd one out. I dreaded break times, lunchtimes, even lessons, because I always knew that something was going to happen."

The worst torment was a game called "Barratt Stew", where he would be surrounded by up to 40 pupils in the playground, pushing and shoving him until he fell and started bleeding. "That would happen most days. Once I fell over and hit my head and I started feeling very dizzy. A teacher came along and broke the gang up, but it was too late. It was always too late."

Did he ever consider giving up dancing and singing and taking up something more acceptable, like football? "No, there was no question, I loved performing too much. I did try to make an effort to get people to like me. When I was 14, I went to my first party, which took a lot of guts. But once I got there, this guy just started laying into me and gave me three blows to the back of my head.

"I felt the most amazing pain and my vision started to go green and I had to rush outside. His friends came up and said he wanted to apologise. Like a fool, I trusted them. I went up to him and he hit me again. At that point, my younger brother jumped in to try to protect me. Eventually the crowd ran off and I ran home. I composed myself before telling my mum because I didn't want to worry her. I was one of five kids, my parents were divorced and she had enough on her plate.

"When I did pluck up the courage to tell her - she was concerned because I was always ill and never able to sleep - she visited my school every week to talk to the teachers, but nothing was done. The kids promised to stop, then just did it the next day."

Shockingly, 10 children in Britain commit suicide every year because they are unable to cope with bullying. Barratt never fought back "because if I let them hit me then it would lessen the chances of a severe beating later.

I got used to being miserable - it was the only state I felt comfortable in.

"When I was 14 I contemplated suicide - I kept running over the options in my head: should I take tablets, cut myself ? Only the thought of the effect on my mum stopped me doing it." The bullying carried on every day until he left school at 18. Somehow, in the middle of it all, he managed to get nine GCSEs and one A-level and moved to London.

"For the first time in my life I didn't have to constantly look over my shoulder." By the age of 21, he was suffering severe headaches. "My sight was going funny and I assumed I was having migraines so I just kept taking tablets. In the end I took 40 and was admitted into hospital where they discovered I had a brain abscess."

It took 18 months after surgery for Barratt to regain his memory and his ability to read and write. He is convinced the damage to his brain is linked to the beatings he endured.

But Barratt knows he is one of the lucky ones. As well as a promising career, he has a model girlfriend - the wonderfully named Franky Wedge (star of the new Ford Mondeo advertisements). In support of the Anti-Bullying campaign, he is embarking on a 55-date tour of schools, including the Oliver Goldsmith Primary in Peckham, where Damilola Taylor was a pupil. "I want to show bullied kids that they can turn their lives around, that they are not alone.

"I'm not even angry with the people who used to bully me any more because I wouldn't waste my energy. I'm loving my life. And that's the best revenge."