"One teacher was the most cruel man. He used to call me names in front of other kids, called me 'girlie' and 'lassie'. It went on for four years and I hated him."

Boy George, singer

"Bullies are just dumping all their own unhappiness on to somebody else."

Jeremy Hardy, comedian

"I think it's so valuable in those circumstances to have parents who will get involved. If my parents hadn't been interested, it would have been worse."

Jo Brand, comedian

"I was the absolutely natural target for bullying. I was interested in flowers and animals and was very warm and sought warmth, which were not particularly helpful characteristics for settling down with a bunch of tiny thugs. I kept trying to think of all the ways in which I could commit suicide. It was a measure of my despair and unhappiness. It has given me a life-long aversion to bullies. I actually see it as a responsibility to take them on face to face."

Sir John Harvey Jones, industrialist

"I don't think bullies remember who they bullied. It's the bullied who remember who the bullies were."

Ranulph Fiennes, explorer

"The ironic thing about bullying is that the child who is getting bullied needs the immediate help, but the source of the pain is in more need in the long term because they've got large psychological or social problems that need addressing."

Duncan Goodhew, Olympic gold medallist

"I used to try and steel myself, but it didn't stop the fact that I used to get jumped on regularly and had to fight back all the time."

Cliff Richard, entertainer

Source: BBC Education website www.bbc.co.uk/education/archive/bully/celb.shtml