DAME Judi Dench may be the nation's best-loved actress, but she admitted today to being a tearaway during her school years in York.

The York-born actress, who attended The Mount School, Britain's only all-girls' independent Quaker school, said: "They didn't give me a report for my first term because I was just appalling.

"On the very first day I was there, I had an altercation with a friend and she pushed me on to a fire extinguisher and it went off. The damage was so bad that the corridor had to be repainted."

Dame Judi was giving a rare interview to mark today's launch of an ambitious development programme at her former school. She has agreed to be patron of The Mount School Foundation, which aims to raise funds for extensive further development of the school in Dalton Terrace.

Plans include a new sports hall, advanced language laboratories and a design and technology centre.

Dame Judi admitted to getting embroiled in several more pranks in her time at the school.

"I remember getting a friend's head stuck between two uprights of a banister and they had to get the fire brigade out to get it unstuck," she said.

And the mischief did not stop there for Dame Judi, who was recently nominated for an Oscar for her starring role in the film Mrs Brown.

On another occasion, she ran off with someone's slipper and, as she was pursued across a landing, she threw it over the banister.

"What I didn't know at the time was that the headmistress had been coming up with a tray with tea things on it and the slipper had landed on it," revealed Dame Judi. "Yes, I was a tearaway."

Constance Nightingale was the headmistress in 1947, the year a 13-year-old Dame Judi joined the school. And while the actress was to remain at the school until 1952, her headmistress left in 1948.

"I think I drove her out," joked Dami Judi.

But the school made a huge impact on her life. "It wasn't all naughty games," she said.

Even though she wanted to become a set designer at the time, Dame Judi is in no doubt the seeds of her acting career were sown at The Mount.

She was cast as the Queen in Richard II, but could only play her for two nights because she was sharing the role with another girl.

She also played Titania in Midsummer Night's Dream and Ariel in The Tempest.

The school also fostered her Quaker beliefs.

"Gradually, I found that going to a Quaker meeting was for me absolutely right and that's why I have been a Quaker ever since. It gives me a quiet core, which in this job is essential."

And it was at The Mount where she was first told the facts of life - by her headmistress.

"She said 'if ever a young man puts his hand on you, say 'Hands off, young man' and he'll respect you for it'," she recalled.

Dame Judi's latest role is starring in a promotional video about The Mount's new development plan.

Joining pupils at today's launch of the Foundation was the Lord Mayor of York and Old Scholars of The Mount, including BBC's Look North Cathy Killick and Anna Walker. from Sky.

The celebrations included a pupil re-enactment of the changing face of boarding, from the 1700s to the modern day.

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