Londoner's Diary: How Lenny Henry built a girl’s chutzpah

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23 March 2017

Caitlin Moran, journalist and author of How to Build a Girl, has always been confident. “When I was 14, I knew I wanted to be a writer and to do things, and I saw an advert for Comic Relief for a managing director,” she tells Glamour podcast Hey It’s OK.

“I was just like ‘I want to work for Comic Relief!’ So I sent a letter off, and two weeks later they sent back a letter saying, ‘Look, you’d hate this job, but here’s a letter from Lenny Henry telling you how amazing he thinks you are’.”

Henry’s kind message told her she showed great promise despite, at 14, lacking practical experience in being MD of a multinational charity. Although stranger things have happened.

At a recent party, Moran ran into Lenny: "I told him and I kiss him and I went, 'You genuinely changed my life'", she recalled, "I had this bolt of adrenaline through me that rewired my brain."

Red Nose Day is taking place tomorrow. Moran is unfortunately not hosting.

For all of today's Diary click here.

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