‘Reading is where it clicked for me’

COMEDIAN asked ‘what do you mean,’ and I replied, his name is Terry. It just felt normal, and now I realise it isn’t. you, is that with comedy you get reviewed every few seconds.

Tom Houghton remembers his first day at an all-boys boarding school.

JOINING Reading band Third Lung on the bill for this year’s Fi.Fest is Scouting For Girls.

The indie pop three-piece have been friends since they were five, and during their career have picked up nominations for four Brits, an Ivor Novello and played everywhere from a sold-out Wembley Arena to countless festival stages.

The group will be performing some of their biggest hits at the annual event, including She’s So Lovely, Elvis Ain’t Dead, and Heartbeat.

Also on the bill are The Feeling, Daft, DJoneF, and Boxteles.

Former EastEnders actor Shaun Williamson will be bringing his popular singalong session Barrioke.

And there will entertainment for children, food and drink stalls and more at the family-friendly event.

It is held in Fifield, just outside Maidenhead, on Saturday, July 8. n For more information, or to book, log on to: www.fifest.co.uk

Aged six, he rambled around the classrooms then waited for his mother at the entrance. She had already left. But that’s not the saddest part of his schooldays.

“In my last year, when I was 17, my school went co-ed, so just as I was ready to leave, girls were ready to arrive,” he jokes.

Tom’s educational tales of woe are just part of his awardwinning act which has resulted in several UK tours, numerous TV appearances and amassing over one million fans on TikTok.

One thing is certain –wherever he performs his hilarious show, he is no longer that lonely child standing on his own. Whether he talks about appearing on the hit Netflix show, The Circle, or ordering pizza to his apartment in the Tower of London, you can guarantee it is to a sell-out crowd.

“People ask when I moved into the Tower of London if it was insane and the answer’s no, because before that it was Kensington Palace.”

His upmarket address came from the fact that Tom’s father is General Sir Nicholas Houghton, Chief of the Defence staff who later became the Constable of the historic palace which also meant his son became the Honourable Tom Houghton.

“I grew up in army barracks in Northern Ireland, where we had bodyguards and armoured plated vehicles and got escorted everywhere with everyone saluting everyone,” he says.

“People were shocked when I told them I had a guy outside my door with a gun every day. They