I’ve stammered since I was 4. When I was about 14 and a pupil at an all-boys’ boarding school in Hertfordshire, which wasn’t strong on drama, we were – always a dreaded thing – reading round the class in an English lesson. When my turn came, I put on an accent and found that it gave me complete fluency. After that I set out to find out what are these things called “plays” and how could I do more? Eventually I decided I didn’t want to be a doctor after all. I wanted to
