American actor, producer and director Henry Winkler brought laughter to children and adults alike during a visit to the Bath Children's Literature Festival today.
For adults, Henry is best known for playing Arthur Herbert Fonzarelli or The Fonz in the American sitcom Happy Days.
But children will know Henry for his books, the Hanks Zipzer series, which came to CBBC in January this year.
Hanks Zipzer is the world's greatest underachiever, a boy with dyslexia who has his own unique way of dealing with the world.
And Henry, who plays Hank's teacher Mr Rock, in the comedy series knows only too well what it is like to be a child with dyslexia.
Speaking to a packed room at the literature festival, he confided how hard it was to be a boy with dyslexia in a New York schoolroom.
He said: "English was hard, math was hard, science was hard. I was great at lunch, I could eat two to three sandwiches better than anyone you have met ever in your life.
"I had so little self-esteem they had to put my name on my tie. I was so dyslexic at five when I looked down I saw "ebby".
"My parents were very short German people, they came to America from Germany and my father had a lumber business.
"Because I was not good at science or English or spelling or reading they said I was stupid. My parents had a very special term for me when I was growing up, they said I was "dormant".
"In English that means "dumb dog."
Henry went to university in Boston, but his big break came when he successfully auditioned for Yale University's school of drama.
At the end of his university he joined a repertory theatre in Washington and saved up enough money to travel to Hollywood in California.
He landed the part of The Fonz at his first audition and was determined to make the character his own.
He said: "I made a deal with myself, I will never comb my hair. Every actor who has played a role like this has to comb their hair, I will not do that.
"So I walked to the mirror, I pulled out my comb and I said 'hey I don't have to because it's perfect'. That's where this moment came alive."
Henry has now written 19 Hank Zipzer books, as well as the Here's Hank books and the Ghost Buddy series with Lin Oliver.
Becoming an author was a big surprise for him, and for those with dyslexia he has one piece of advice: just because you learn differently doesn't mean you're not brilliant.
He said: "I didn't read a novel until I was 31-years-old and now I feel so sad that it took me so long because reading is such a wonderful adventure and it doesn't matter what you read.
"You can go to the depths of outer space, you can go backwards and forwards in time, and I never that pleasure of adventure.
"How you learn has nothing to do with how brilliant you are. How you learn has nothing to do with how wonderful your imagination is."
During a question and answer session Henry spoke to Matthew Batstone, from Bath, who had to face his dyslexia head on after his son Sam began asking him to read to him.
He asked for help from Waterstones in Bath and first picked up a book by children's author Andy Stanton.
Mr Batstone said: "I never read a book until he was born and then when he wanted dad to read to him I was almost embarrassed really.
"Next thing I knew, I was reading Roald Dahl on my own. Just listening to Henry has been absolutely fantastic. It was nice it wasn't just for kids, it was for all of us.
"I found it quite inspiring really."
