On a tour through the country to support amateur theatre, actor Sir Ian McKellen visits students at Darlington College to spread the message to fight homophobic bullying. Ian Lamming reports.

THE booming voice silences the crowd before him, mouths falling open in awe. It doesn’t really matter that few in the crowd comprehend his ancient words because it is the manner in which they are spoken that has them rapt.

But at least this audience is friendly compared to the computer-generated hordes Sir Ian McKellen is used to addressing when he throws on his robes as Gandalf in the epic Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Next month this seasoned star of everything from stage to big screen, Coronation Street to Gods and Monsters, will travel back to New Zealand to begin shooting the next story in the Tolkien saga – or at least the prequel – The Hobbit. But before embarking on his blockbuster mission he is in the region to speak on a subject he considers more evil than the mythical Sauron he fights on the cinema screen.

Sir Ian addresses staff, students and visiting schoolchildren at Darlington College on the issue of homophobic bullying, a topic on which he campaigns tirelessly after helping to found the charity Stonewall.

In an hour-long session at the college and later at Darlington Education Village, Sir Ian weaves his own personal story of sexual discovery into a decades-long acting career which has seen him star in some of the most popular movies and TV series, including X-Men and Corrie.

He answers questions candidly about his experiences as a gay man and his life’s work and offers advice on how best to overcome discrimination and bigotry.

His performance – including reciting a passage from the play Sir Thomas More which is attributed to Shakespeare – wins his audience over completely with one young student overheard to say: “He’s a living legend, you know.”

Welcoming Sir Ian to Darlington College, principal Tim Grant says: “We are so very proud to have him here. The purpose is to confront antigay bullying which can be really damaging to people’s lives.”

Sir Ian agrees, citing the example last year of a gay couple attacked in London as they celebrated in Trafalgar Square. A 53-year-old man died after a teenage girl continually stamped on his head because she didn’t like the fact he was gay.

“Obviously she was acting illegally, but she was also confirming that somehow some people think they have the right to treat people unequally,”

says Sir Ian, who celebrates 50 years as an actor this year.

“That will not do, which is why I am going round telling people and on the whole people agree with me.”

Sir Ian shares with the audience his experiences and the fact he hid his sexuality until he was 49. “By the time I discovered acting I was also discovering I was gay,” he recalls. “My friends were passing round the mucky books and I thought ‘what are they talking about’? I fancied the boys not the girls. In fact, I was worried I was going to turn into a girl.

“Back then ‘gay’ hadn’t been invented.

There were few words for it – just queer, which isn’t very nice because it implies something that doesn’t work properly, something you would not want to be.

“As far as I was concerned there were no other gay or lesbian people out there, only me,” he says. “I couldn’t even see what was right in front of me, that my best friend was gay. I could not talk to my parents so I just let it go.

“You were totally and absolutely on your own and the law of the land supported this as it was illegal until you were 28. It was no fun having relationships knowing that I could end up on trial. In fact, one of my friends went to prison.

“When I was 49 a law was introduced that made it illegal in state schools for anyone to talk positively about being gay. I got angry about this and helped start Stonewall to make sure the law was repealed.

“Over the past 20 years we have got rid of a lot of laws. Gays can now join the military, they have equal age of consent, civil partnerships and cannot be discriminated against. This college is now legally obliged to prevent discrimination.”

The campaign marked the point where Sir Ian came out of the “cupboard”

as he likes to call it. “You are not totally out until there’s no one you haven’t told. My parents had both died and it is the biggest regret of my life that I was robbed of the moment.

“But I told my 80-year-old stepmother and she said she had known for 40 years. We don’t have a problem with being gay, it is other people that have the problem with us and that isn’t fair.”

He points out that for many people in high places – the church, US actors, politicians – talking openly about being gay remains difficult.

“If only they could complete the journey like Wales rugby player Gareth Thomas, who told me coming out was the best thing he had ever done – better than winning 20 caps for his country.

“My message is going around schools reassuring people that the world is getting better, in this country at least. We just need people to be a bit more sympathetic, to watch their language in the use of the term gay. It would be great if you could just check yourself because even this is a sort of bullying.”

His words strike a chord with Darlington College childcare student Nick Barnard. “I was constantly bullied at school for being gay, particularly in PE,” says the 17-year-old from Darlington. “There was a real stigma attached to it and I was called awful names.

“Then I got the courage to come out at school and everyone was so much more accepting and I didn’t get names any more because I didn’t care what people thought. It was just such a relief.

“I had been out with five girls just to prove to myself I was straight and so no one would know. But I am so much more relaxed now and much more comfortable with myself."