Comic finds himself on an exam paper

Frank Skinner might have only scraped two O-levels initially – but now he’s found himself the subject of an exam question.

A passage from his 2001 autobiography has been used in a GCSE mock exam comprehension test, he revealed on his Absolute Radio show.

The comic enthused: ’It had questions like, "how does Frank Skinner create a sense of excitement?" Marvellous!.

His co-host Emily Dean mused: 'How does Frank Skinner create tension?'  to which he responded: 'I bet people are queuing up to answer that.'

However, this is not the first time Skinner has appeared as part of an exam.

A 2013 GSCE Media Studies paper featured a question asking candidates to discuss how an episode of Room 101, hosted by Skinner and with guests Jack Whitehall, Clive Anderson and Alex Jones, offered 'audience pleasures’.

Somewhat damningly for Skinner and Anderson though, the question noted that 'the entertainment is given by the use of jokes and sarcasm, mainly by Whitehall as he is a comedian.'

Skinner was expelled from his sixth form college for embezzling school dinner tickets, and his headmaster admonished: ‘You're a drifter, and one day you'll drift into something you can't drift out of.'

But he subsequently knuckled down academically, earning a Masters degree and becoming a lecturer in English before becoming a stand-up.

Published: 6 Nov 2019