Harry Styles stops gig in Manchester to thank and dedicate song to his first teacher

Harry Styles trying to find his first teacher in the crowd at the Emirates Old Trafford gig

Harry Styles' first teacher - who he dedicated a song to in his most recent show - says he was a "big character at four years old" and she could see his star quality.

The singer halted his 'homecoming' gig in Manchester to find "Mrs Vernon", after being told she was in audience.

He told his 74,000 fans how "special" it was playing to his friends, family and teachers just around the corner from where he grew up in Holmes Chapel in Cheshire.

Styles' first teacher, Mrs Vernon, says she is proud of her former pupil and says his tribute to her during the show was 'touching'.

He then paid a touching tribute to Mrs Vernon about the impact she had had on him in his "formative years" - and that he had heard she was retiring in the summer.

In fact, Harry's first teacher Ann Vernon, who has taught at Hermitage High for 29 years, was not at the sell-out concert at Emirates Old Trafford.

Her colleague Mrs Bailey was there and it was her face beamed up onto the big screens.

Mrs Vernon said she was very touched by the singer's tribute and said he was a big character, who loved to dress up and was full of mischief.

She said she was inundated with messages about what Harry said. The Cheshire singer is playing again in Manchester on Thursday 16 June.

Asked if she would like to go the concert - you can probably guess her response.

Harry had led the crowd in a huge cheer for Mrs Vernon. But before launching into Canyon Moon, he couldn't help but quip to the audience: “Can you imagine dealing with me when I was 4?" to huge laughter.

Canyon Moon was a fitting tune to dedicate to Mrs Vernon as it refers to happy times in school days. It contains the lyrics "I'm going, oh, I'm going home."Fans wore their glamorous outfits for the show, many showing off his now signature brightly coloured feather boa for the gig, as Harry himself does at the end of the show.

He played a host of his fan favourites and biggest hits including Golden, Matilda, As it Was, Sign of the Times, Watermelon Sugar and Kiwi.

Hundreds of fans camped - some for as long as 48 hours - outside the cricket stadium so they could be in with the chance of bagging a front row view of Styles.

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