Shiver me timbers! Hollywood star Johnny Depp makes a shock appearance as Captain Jack Sparrow to join “mutinous” pupils at a London primary school.
Johnny Depp, dressed as Captain Jack Sparrow from the Pirates of the Caribbean movie series, shocked pupils in south-east London to answer a fan letter asking him to join a pupil mutiny.
Nine-year-old Beatrice Delap wrote to Depp’s alter-ego asking for help raising a mutiny against teachers at Meridian Primary School, Greenwich.
In the letter, the youngster wrote: “We are a bunch of budding young pirates and we’re having trouble mutinying against the teachers!
“We’d love it if you could come and help!”
Depp, along with five other ‘pirates’ spent 15 minutes at the school assembly performing pirate songs and dancing in front of pupils on Wednesday. Video of the appearance later emerged on the internet.
The 47-year-old actor had taken a break from filming the latest Pirates of the Caribbean instalment, On Stranger Tides, which is in production at the nearby Old Naval College – an opulent 17th-century seafaring centre designed by architect Christopher Wren.
Depp told an excited audience of pupils and teachers that he was “going to frame” the fan letter.
“[Beatrice] wrote me this lovely letter which says you’re a ‘right handful'”, Depp told the pupils. “She also said it was time for a mutiny.”
“I think we should take over the school and eat lots of candy and all our teeth will fall out,” Deep said.
Beatrice told reporters: “He pulled the letter out of his pocket and said he was going to frame it.”
A message posted on the school’s website added: “Alas, there was no walking the planks or adventures on the high seas but we all had a lesson on how to clean our teeth, the pirate way.
“There was too much excitement to think about taking over the school, so instead, the children all sang their own pirate song to great applause. Captain Jack even danced along.”
Acting headteacher Jo Graham said of the surprise visit: “We just want to thank Johnny Depp because it was a fantastic opportunity for the children and a good example of a child’s determination to do something, not just talk about it.
“We encourage children to write for a real audience, and this just goes to show it can reap great rewards.”