'You won't amount to anything' Jay Blades talks brutal exchange with school careers staff

express.co.uk:

Jay Blades, 51, has become a firm fan-favourite since his rise to fame on BBC's hit DIY show The Repair Shop. But while the presenter has made it big, he admitted it was a very different story when he was younger, after a school careers officer was adamant he wouldn't go anywhere in life.A tough thing to read now, but even tougher to hear those words as a child.He recalled the day when he and his classmates were queuing up to get advice about their futures.Chatting to Zoe Ball on her Radio 2 show, Blades said: "My careers teacher said I wasn't going to amount to anything."And then he just said, 'Next.'"There was a pause as Blades continued: "You know when everybody used to line up to see the careers officer?"He saw me come to the table and said, 'Blades, you're going to amount to nothing - next!' And he looked behind me."He sighed: "I didn't even get to sit down in the chair."That was it, [it was a] bit naughty."The recollection comes after his new documentary Learning To Read At 51, broadcast on BBC.The furniture creator bravely allows the world to see him at his most vulnerable, as his opens up about his struggles with literature.Blades was diagnosed with dyslexia at the age of 31 while studying criminology at Buckinghamshire New University.He had struggled with literacy for years before, but the presenter was stunned to learn he had the reading age of an 11-year-old child.In the film, the TV star tells viewers how it's impacted his life to the point where he had to get a stranger on the street to read an important letter from the hospital to him.The programme also sees him join forces with other people learning to read with the help of a charity, he spoke candidly of how he's had to overcome feelings of "shame" about.