TV historian David Olusoga thanks football hero for ‘looking after him’ during attack at school

Nigeria-born Olusoga said former Newcastle and Tottenham star Paul Gascoigne stepped in to help when the pair were youngsters at the same school in the north-east of England

GRATEFUL: David Olusoga

ENGLAND FOOTBALL hero Paul Gascoigne was praised by TV historian David Olusoga when he recalled the horrific racist abuse he and his family were subjected to in his childhood.

Nigeria-born Olusoga thanked the former Newcastle and Tottenham star for stepping in to help fend off racists when the pair were youngsters at the same school in the north-east of England.

Voice columnist Olusoga said of the school incident: “My older sister, Yinka, was three years ahead of me and in her class was Paul Gascoigne. I have one memory of Paul, one strong memory.

“Which is of lying on my back having been pushed over and hit in the playground and this kid with light coloured hair and very bright blue eyes leaned over, he was beside my sister and he gave me his hand and he pulled me up.

“He must have been maybe nine, I must’ve been maybe six or seven, something like that.

“He was one of the tough kids, you won’t be surprised to learn. It wasn’t really in his interest to be looking after this couple of black kids. And I’m very grateful for that.”

One of England’s brightest talents in the 80s and 90s, Gascoigne remains one of British football’s most well-known personalities.

By 1988 he was voted Young Player of the Year and was in the PFA Team of the Year, having shown great natural ability in midfield.

A British record fee (£2 million) followed as Tottenham Hotspur snapped up the country’s hottest footballing prospect. In the same year the talented midfielder made his debut for Bobby Robson’s England.

Olusoga, who presents BBC TV show A House Through Time, moved from Nigeria to his mother’s home of Gateshead, Tyne & Wear, as a child.

ENGLAND HERO: Paul Gascoigne

The family encountered appalling abuse and was targeted by the National Front, who drove them from their house after smashing the windows in the middle of the night, reported the Press Association.

During an appearance on popular radio show Desert Island Discs, Olusoga said racism was “just the background hum of life” and “in some ways the most frightening thing about it is we got used to it”.

He told listeners how one of his teachers had a coffee mug bearing a National Front slogan while another attacked him during a school trip.

Recalling the night the family home was attacked, Olusoga said thugs strapped racist messages to bricks before throwing them though the windows.

He said: “I think it says something quite remarkable about the power of the idea of race. Because these guys were probably not much older than me and my siblings.

“They went to the same shops and the same cinemas, they supported the same football team. And they decided that the right thing to do was to get up in the middle of the night and throw bricks through the glass windows of bedrooms in which children were sleeping.”

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