Liam Neeson who trained as a teacher in Newcastle, tells how he punched a pupil

A Hollywood star who trained as a teacher on Tyneside has revealed how he ended up punching a child in class.

Liam Neeson, who has starred in Schindler’s List, Star Wars, Batman Begins and Taken, is believed to have attended the now-closed St Mary’s College, in Fenham, Newcastle, to train as a teacher before joining the Belfast Lyric Players’ Theatre in 1976.

But in an interview which has recently resurfaced online, the star said his ‘worst day’ as a teacher came when a pupil threatened him with a knife.

And he left the profession shortly after he punched the 15-year-old, he said.

Although Neeson did not reveal the school where the incident happened, he suggested it took place during his teacher training.

Neeson, who hails from Ballymena, in Northern Ireland, told his US interviewers: “He was a big guy too, about 15 years of age.

“I had to punch him and then I was reprimanded for hitting the kid.”

He added: “There were always discipline problems, getting them to settle down before you can start to teach them.

“This particular kid did not want to settle down, he wanted to disrupt the whole class.

“So I went over to him and asked him to leave the classroom and stand outside.

“The next thing he pulled a knife on me.

“My reaction was to punch him, which I shouldn’t have done but I felt threatened.”

Neeson spoke of his admiration for teachers, a profession which his two sisters have worked in for decades.

The 62-year-old is also reported to have worked as a forklift operator for Guinness, truck driver, assistant architect and an amateur boxer before stardom beckoned.