HE grew up to make the world laugh but there was one thing Benny Hill did not find very funny - the time he spent at school in Bournemouth.

It is now 10 years since the saucy comedian died.

Benny - then known as Alfie Hill - was born and bred in Southampton but came to Bournemouth at the start of the war when his school was evacuated to to the resort.

Taunton's, the Southampton school he attended, moved to share premises with Bournemouth School at the outbreak of war when the Hampshire port was recognised as a potential target for bombing.

A new biography of Benny by TV and radio historian Mark Lewison tells of how the 15-year-old Benny did not find his days at Bournemouth over-exciting.

"The billeting of these children was a chaotic affair, undertaken in a series of heavy showers, with many boys sleeping at desks awaiting their instructions," he writes in Funny, Peculiar.

Alfie and Diana (his sister) were taken to lodge with an elderly working-class couple whose "parenting of the Hill children was even more restrictive than even Alf and Helen's (his mum and dad).

"Alfie's hopes of being footloose and fancy-free nosedived."

The author goes on to say that: "The so-called 'Taunton's School at Bournemouth School' was a tiresome bore for Alfie, who had already made up his mind to leave at the earliest oportunity, perhaps even before taking the vital exams.

"He did scant work here but had, at least, a little fun."

He learnt to play the guitar and he and his friends called themselves the Hills Brothers - parodying the American crooners, the Mills Brothers - and performing songs at a school event.

"At other school events Alfie tried out his stand-up comedy routine but 'died' every time, his nerve failing him when he stepped out in front of an audience."

His favourite schoolmaster was Dr Horace King, who went on to become not only a Labour MP but Speaker of the House of Commons.

It was not long, however, before Benny was back in Bournemouth in a different role.

After leaving school he had various jobs including a stint as a milkman (inspiring the song Ernie that was such a hit for him in later years). By 1941 he had left home to try his luck in London.

He marched into a variety promoter's office and landed a job as an assistant stage manager, the dogsbody's dogsbody.

It did not take long, however, for him to make his stage debut and was soon touring with a show called Follow the Fun that brought him to Bournemouth where, sadly, the Daily Echo reviewer overlooked his contribution in a cannibal dance with a fuzzy wig, a fake nose-bone, grass skirt and a black body stocking.

Benny Hill, of course, went on to become one of the greatest comic stars of the small screen, beloved for many years in Britain and in America.

His fans included the likes of singer Michael Jackson, who delighted in his saucy routines chasing the busty Hill's Angels and fellow performers such as Henry McGhee.

Millions would chuckle at his character parts such as Fred Scuttle and Chow-Mein, in which part he was once interviewed by chat show host Des O'Connor.

Benny was bemused when his TV show in Britain was dropped after many years with accusations that it was sexist.

Sadly, he died just three years later and the funeral took place at Southampton, the city he loved.

Funny, Peculiar by Mark Lewisohn, Sidgwick and Jackson £16.99