Broadcaster Charlene White looks back: ‘I first faced racist abuse at primary school. I realised I was different and tried not to stick out’

My parents were good at throwing activities at me to see what would stick. I loved tap, ballet and the recorder – a lot of my passion for music was absorbed by osmosis at the Jamaican Christian church my grandad helped to create. My love of writing was nurtured from an early age, too – Dad would teach me to read using newspaper headlines, and we watched the news on TV every day. If I wrote something good at school, like a poem, they’d get me to recite it in front of the family.