Ref.10401A 16-year-old boy, who has spent his life struggling with severe learning difficulties, has won a place on a prestigious acting course.

Proud mum Kerena Angell, 47, of Richmond Road, in Calne, said she feared her son JJ would not survive his school life, which was made a misery by his dyslexia.

His problems became so unbearable that when he was nine JJ told his mum he felt dying was preferable to school and told her he wished he was an ant so he could crawl under a stone and disappear.

But against all the odds JJ overcame competition from 4,000 young hopefuls from across the UK to become one of 400 youngsters to win a place at the National Youth Theatre, in London.

"What he has achieved is beyond my wildest dreams," Mrs Angell, said.

"For him to stand up on stage and do this type of thing in front of other people, whereas before he wanted to make himself insignificant, it's like the butterfly emerging from the chrysalis.

"He's discovered there's something in life he can do at least as well as, if not better than someone else. That's the most important thing in life, to have the opportunity for success of some kind."

The nature of his dyslexia means JJ finds reading and writing extremely difficult. It also affects his short-term memory, which leads to disorganisation and makes it difficult for him to follow instructions.

He was diagnosed with dyslexia when he was five, but his mother had to spend three years battling with the local education authority before JJ was given a statement of special needs. She then had to fight another battle to get him a place at a specialist school.

Attempting to describe what school was like for JJ, who has just completed his GCSE exams, Mrs Angell, who is chairman of the Wiltshire Dyslexic Association, compared it to being in a classroom where everyone else is talking Chinese.

Mrs Angell said JJ had to learn from a very early age that life is not fair and while for most children life up until secondary school is a bit of a breeze she said for JJ it was always miserable.

"I said to him life is hard and you just have to work ten times harder than the others, but you'll get there in the end if you stick at it," she said.

It is difficult for JJ to learn his lines by reading scripts so his parents read them on to a tape recorder for him to listen to. His mother also goes through his scripts two lines at a time, rote fashion, to help him remember his words.

His interview for a place at the National Youth Theatre, in London, took place in the Old Vic in Bristol and he was asked to prepare two pieces for recital, one extract from Shakespeare and one of his own choice.

He had learned an extract from the Man Who Fell Out Of Bed, by Oliver Sacks, which he used for his interviews at college, where he plans to go next year to study a Btech National Diploma in Performing Arts. But because it takes him so long to remember his lines JJ did not have time to learn any Shakespeare.

However, despite reciting only one extract JJ was offered a place on the two-week course, which started on July 28.

"Never in a thousand years did we think he would get chosen," Mrs Angell said. She said Hollywood superstar Tom Cruise, who also suffers from dyslexia, is one of JJ's heroes.

Mrs Angell said Cruise provides her son with the inspiration to believe he has a future in acting.

Like many dyslexics JJ is very creative and excels at art, but it was not until GCSE level that he discovered his talent for the stage. His parents encouraged his interestand picked him up from Shapwick School, in Somerset, every Saturday to take him to Bristol's School of Performing Arts.

JJ has already performed on television with a walk on part in the BBC's Toys And The Magic Grandad, which was set in the 1960s.