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Harry admitted in an interview with KansasCity.com that he had been bullied when he was five or six years old. He said: ‘I think the most important thing is to make sure you tell somebody. Make sure you talk to your parents or let somebody know.’

Harry left a lasting impression on his teachers, and in their autumn 2010 newsletter they wrote: ‘We all remember Harry for a fantastic performance as the Pharaoh (“Elvis”) in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat in Year 6. He certainly brought his own “style” to the role!’

While Harry was at Hermitage Primary School his parents broke up. He was only seven at the time and it really upset him. His dad Des can still remember Harry crying as he told him the news; it’s something he will never forget. He hated hurting Harry and Gemma. They wanted their parents to stay together but that was impossible, and Des and Anne broke the news to them in the living room of their home. Des lived with them for two more years but eventually left; Anne took Harry and Gemma and moved to the countryside, becoming the landlady of a pub with a new partner. Des didn’t like the man but when she started to date Robin, who is now Harry’s stepdad, he approved because he thought Robin was a nice bloke. Harry was about 12 when his mum began seeing Robin and they had moved back to Holmes Chapel by then.

Des told the Daily Record: ‘Of course, I missed him [Harry] and Gemma, as you would unless you were some sort of monster. It was tough. I used to feed him every night at half 10, change his nappy, put him to bed when he was a baby, and then I was no longer living with them.’

Des only saw Harry every two weeks once he had left, but he gave Anne money towards the children’s upkeep. Harry and Des have a good relationship, with Des telling the newspaper: ‘I’m not an estranged dad. It was a tough time to leave them but these things happen.’

Anne gave Harry a fantastic childhood and Des credits her with the way Harry turned out. Harry had some amazing holidays when he was younger, both when his dad was with them and after his parents had separated. He can still remember when he went with his family to Disney World and the strange dreams he had back then – he used to dream that rats had eaten his toes. He can also remember going ice skating and keeping a tight grip on the sides so that he didn’t fall.

Harry started acting and performing at primary school, and confessed to the X Factor backstage cameras: ‘The first time I sang properly was in a school production – the rush that I got was something that I really enjoyed and wanted to do more of.’

Harry doesn’t come from a musical family as such but his dad loves Elvis, and Harry would sing along to his Elvis tapes when he was growing up. Harry has never been shy and when his granddad gave him a karaoke machine he had great fun pretending to be a singer. As well as singing he loved sport and was a goalie for the Holmes Chapel Hurricanes Football team. They wore red and black kits and Harry was popular with his teammates.

When he was 11, Harry left Hermitage Primary School and went to Holmes Chapel Comprehensive School; he already knew a lot of people there because of playing in the football team. He made lots of new friends as well as having the friends he had had in primary school. At break times he would have a laugh with his friends. One day, 10 of them decided to build a human pyramid. There were four lads on the bottom kneeling down, then three on top of them, then two (including Harry) and one balanced on the top. Another friend quickly took a photo before they collapsed in a heap.

At that time, Harry used to wear quite a few bracelets on his wrists, which made him stand out from the crowd; he wore a navy polo shirt with the school crest for PE, and a white polo shirt with a black sweater for the rest of the time.