Footballer Peter Crouch has been explaining to his wife Abbey Clancy why he had to learn the Welsh national anthem at his English primary school. Speaking during the latest episode of their podcast, Therapy Crouch, the former England forward explained it was all down to his headteacher.
The 6ft 7ins former footballer was born in Macclesfield but his family moved to Singapore when he was one and then returned to live in Ealing, west London, when he was four. He went to Roxeth Primary and then North Ealing Primary where he learnt to sing in Welsh.
The former Tottenham Hotspur player attended the school from 1988 to 1992, and has said in the past that his days at the primary school were among the happiest in his life.
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Explaining how he learnt Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau there, he told Abbey: "I had a Welsh headmaster who made us learn the Welsh national anthem, and I knew that before the national anthem."
He then broke into song - getting the words right - but admitted that he didn't understand what he was singing.
"We were all there, English in an English school, and Mr Evans made the whole school learn the Welsh national anthem," he said. "Fair play to him, and it is something that I have never forgotten."
He added: "There will be plenty of Welsh people listening to this and saying I have not got the right dialect but I have still remembered it."
He also remembers Mr Evans having to tell him off for throwing conkers. He told MyLondon in an interview about the school: “We didn’t get into trouble much, but I was made to face the wall a couple of times in the main hall for throwing conkers into into the park after Mr Evans caught me red-handed throwing them over the hedge from the playground."
It is the not the first time he has sung the national anthem on air. In 2018 he sang on a Radio 5 Live sport programme, and told the hosts he had sung it once for an "impressed" Joe Allen.
