I Swear: Scot with Tourettes whose life inspired hit film visits cinema for first time in 40 years

John Davidson, from Galashiels, told an audience at Wigtown Book Festival that the premiere of I Swear, which is on general release later this month, was his first cinema visit since he was diagnosed with Tourettes as a child.

He also recounted his time at school in Galashiels, where he says teachers did not understand his condition - and forced him to work in cupboards or outside the classroom.

From acclaimed director Kirk Jones, I Swear stars Robert Aramayo as Mr Davidson, with an cast which includes Peter Mullan, Maxine Peake and Shirley Henderson.

Mr Davidson, a Tourettes campaigner, said: “I’ve been at the cinema for the first time in 40 years, just in the past two weeks. It’s been a lovely experience, doing that, because the last time I experienced that was when I was ten years old, watching ET.

“I’ve never been in a cinema since because of the disruption my condition could cause.”

He added: “I want people [with Tourettes] to feel like they can go along to these things and not feel like they are a burden.”

Mr Davidson, who grew up in Galashiels, was 10 when his tics began. His condition progressed from blinks and jerks to involuntary rude and obscene shouting. He told how his compulsive behaviours included having to walk back 13 paces if he stepped on a crack in the pavement and having to kiss every 15th lamppost as he passed.

At 16, he came to national attention for the first time when the BBC made a documentary about him, John's Not Mad.

His book, also called I Swear, details his experience of being bullied then expelled from school, the disintegration of his family, leaving home at 17, a series of arrests, his quest to find work, and the campaign he launched to support and educate others.

He told the audience at Wigtown how teachers at his school in Galashiels did not deal well with his condition.

In one class, Mr Davidson was forced to sit in a cupboard to do his work, while other teachers repeatedly sent him to sit outside the classroom.

“It is a time in my life I felt picked on,” he said. “I didn’t want to be out in public. I think some teachers at school were told that I had a condition called Tourettes, but some had made up their minds that there is no such thing.

“[The feeling was] Of course you can control it, you don’t need to disrupt the class.”

He said: “One teacher put me in a cupboard. Every time I walked into the classroom - it was English - she would say to me, ‘Mr Davidson, you know where to go’.”

He also recounted one incident where a teacher made him stand on a stool in front of the class.

He said: “He told me ‘I’d like you to tell the rest of the classroom why you’re making these silly animal-like noises, because it’s really grating on my nerves.”