'Playing Walter Tull got me through my hardships'

Leon Newman (centre), seen here with fellow actors Neil Reidman and Susie Broadbent, said Walter Tull had inspired him

An actor playing the lead role in a musical about Walter Tull said the character helped him to cope with his own hardships.

Tull was the first ever black officer to command white troops in the British army and one of England's first black football players, facing racial abuse while playing for Tottenham Hotspur and Northampton Town.

Leon Newman, who plays him in Our Little Hour, did not specify what his hardships were but said looking to Tull helped to get him through.

The musical drama was commissioned by charity Show Racism the Red Card in partnership with Live Wire Theatre to "honour" Tull's life.

As the first black officer to command white troops, Tull rose to a position he was legally not permitted to hold at the time

The production toured throughout Black History Month, with the final performance to be held in Northampton.

Newman said: "During this tour, I've had my own little hardships.

"I just look to Walter Tull in those moments and it does genuinely help me and get me through.

"I think, Walter Tull could take this on and power through, and it has definitely been helping me for sure."

When Walter Tull died on the battlefields of World War One, very few people knew how much he had endured in his 29 years.

His parents died and he was left alone in an orphanage in east London after his brother was adopted by a couple in Glasgow.

He was scouted by Tottenham Hotspur but, as one of the first black players in the English game, became a target for racists in the stands.

Later signing for Northampton Town, he played 111 games for the club before war broke out.

Tull became the first black officer in the Army, as well as the first to lead white troops into battle, but war left him with what is now known as post-traumatic stress disorder.

There have been calls for him to receive the Military Cross, 100 years after his death in the last Battle of the Somme.