An Andover primary school has featured in a national World Book Day assembly where they quizzed David Walliams on his writing.

The pupils of Endeavour Primary School asked the comedian and children’s author on the inspiration for his books, with Walliams revealing he had based one character, Blubbering Bertha, on his own sister!

The school said that the assembly was an “amazing part of World Book Day” and was delighted to take part.

The Amaaaaazing Assembly was set up by publishers HarperCollins, who publish classic childrens’ books including The Tiger Who Came to Tea and A Bear Called Paddington as well as those of David Walliams.

The comedian began writing children’s novels in 2008, and has since had his work translated into 53 different languages, as well as inspiring a number of television adaptations.

At the assembly, Blue Peter presenter Lindsey Russell asked Walliams Endeavour’s question, which was: “Where do you get your ideas from, and are they every based on people you know?”

In response, the comedian said: “If you’re a writer you need to keep your eyes and ears open at all times because you never know when a good idea might come along. You might be sitting on the bus and you might hear a conversation that gets you thinking.

“You might be watching something on television, maybe a real story, something on the news, and you might think: ‘oh, that could be a great starting point for a story’.

“But I sometimes base characters on real people. When I was younger, my older sister Julie used to like getting me into trouble. I’d be in my room doing homework on my own and she would be in her bedroom rolling around on the bed going: ‘David, get off me, you’re hurting me!’ and then my Dad would storm up the stairs and tell me off and I’d get into trouble.

“So I got my revenge, I waited about 40 years, when I was writing The World’s Worst Children, as I created this character of Blubbering Bertha who’s a young girl who cries to get her younger brother in trouble.

“When I go into schools, I often talk about the world’s worst children which seem to be very popular with kids, and I say: ‘Have you got a brother or sister you think could be in The World’s Worst Children and why?’ and they come up with amazing suggestions.

“It’s something I think kids might have fun doing, which is coming up with their own world’s worst characters as I’ve done World’s Worst Children, World’s Worst Teachers and World’s Worst Parents.”

Realising he was in an assembly with plenty of teachers who didn’t want to be ‘the world’s worst’, Walliams quickly added: “I know teachers are wonderful and I know we’re on a school assembly but there’s only ten in the world!”

To watch the assembly for yourself, you can visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhvKDCdjaYc