THE drama teacher who set the new James Bond on his way to acting stardom yesterday recalled his first eye-catching efforts on stage.

The young Daniel Craig made his mark at Hilbre High School, Newton, Wirral, in roles including the Undertaker in Oliver, Proctor in Arthur Miller's The Crucible - and, to the extreme amusement of his audience, one of the Ugly Sisters in Cinderella.

He also played locally in a production of Alan Bleasdale's No More Sitting on the Old School Bench, performed by the Heswall Woolgatherers, an amateur dramatic society.

His school drama teacher and mentor at the time, Hilary Green, said: "From the very first we knew we had something special. His good looks, voice, personality, and an indefinable something, combined to make him riveting on stage."

Hilary guided Daniel's acting for three years at the Wirral comprehensive, and was recently rewarded with his gift of a programme from one of his recent London performances. The dedication reads: "Thanks for setting me on the way, love Daniel."

The teacher, of Barnston, has now retired and this year became a published author with her first novel We'll Meet Again - coincidentally about female special agents working behind enemy lines in the Second World War.

But she still vividly remembers the first time Daniel turned up to an audition for a musical with a friend, not intending to take part. She and music teacher Philidda Milne - together with special needs teacher Brenda Davies who helped out with productions - persuaded him to have a go.

Hilary immediately spotted the potential of his commanding voice and his ability to assume a character, and gave him a part. "Daniel was a natural on the stage, and he showed it in his first role in Oliver," she said. "From then on I made sure we gave him every opportunity to develop. We worked together closely for three years, and he tried quite a few different things. He was always remarkably mature for his years, and he had a real edge.

"It was a sign of his acting talent that he was prepared to have a go at anything. He was good as Moon in Tom Stoppard's The Real Inspector Hound, and I made sure he got a part in the Bleasdale play being put on by the Woolgatherers.

"At school he excelled as Proctor in The Crucible, a highly serious role, but he could also be quite funny. As one of the Ugly Sisters in Cinderella, he reduced the audience and cast to helpless laughter. It brought the production to a standstill for a while. It was his natural sense of inflection and timing that made his performance so effective."

Richard Kelly, who played the other Ugly Sister, remembers that he and Daniel had a "real scream" choosing from a selection of five different outfits each for the parts. "Daniel was great in the show, playing it for laughs," he said. "One night he took a water pistol and trained it on the orchestra."

Daniel's mother, Carol Blond, of Hoylake, who first took her son to see a play at the age of five, revealed that his performance as an Ugly Sister at Hilbre High was not the first time he had played the role. "He also was an Ugly Sister at the age of eight at his primary school on Market Street, Hoylake," she said.

She added that he always wanted to be an actor right from the beginning. "He was theatre-orientated and I often took him to see plays at Chester Gateway and Liverpool Everyman. Daniel was always a natural mimic - I remember he enjoyed watching James Bond films as a child."

Chester-born Daniel was also musically inclined. Music teacher Mrs Milne remembers him playing guitar. "He was a nice, affable boy who never sought any glory," she said. "He had a good voice and a definite presence. We knew he was special - a good face, good bone structure and he could play lots of parts."

Daniel touched the lives of one family in Newton by his thoughtfulness. When his former schoolfriend and army medic Tim Stormes died in an accident, five years after they had gone their separate ways at the age of 16, the actor impressed Tim's mother by turning up out of the blue on the day of the funeral and putting a note through the door.

Jacqueline Stormes, aged 69, of Newton, said: "We thought it was a wonderful gesture. We still don't know to this day how Daniel found out about the funeral. We heard something being put through the door and then my daughter Samantha looked out of the window and saw him walking away.

"Daniel and Tim had been great friends, both members of Hoylake Rugby Club. I remember his rich deep voice, very melodic and smooth. It will really fit James Bond." Tim's sister Samantha, aged 35, said: "He had a voice as smooth as chocolate, and eyes like ice.

I remember he and Tim used to work in a restaurant in Hoylake doing the washing up to earn some cash."

Daniel's parents Tim, formerly a theatre stagehand and now a recruitment boss in Chester, and art teacher Carol split when he was young. His mother moved with him from Frodsham, where she and Tim briefly ran the Ring O' Bells pub, to the Wirral.

His dad revealed that Daniel is mad-keen on rugby, and would probably have carried on playing if he had not gone into acting.