He was bullied mercilessly in school due to his small size (which was revealed in January 2013). Originally a pupil of Solihull School, a fee-paying boys' independent school in the West Midlands town, he moved to Ripon Grammar School, and from 1987 to 1989 attended Harrogate College of Art and Technology. He gained a BTEC National Diploma in Visual Communications but chose not to pursue a career in this direction.