Halliwell reveals school bully threat

Geri Halliwell has claimed that a classmate once threatened to throw her onto a railway track.

The singer said she based her new children's book Ugenia Lavender - which features the adventures of a nine-year-old, ginger-haired misfit - on her own problems growing up in Watford.

She told The Sun: "Ugenia is definitely a part of me. She's like my inner brat."

Talking about her experience of bullying, she said: "There was a girl at school who threatened to throw me over the railway tracks. I remember telling my dad about this girl's threats and him talking to the headmistress. It all came flashing back when I visited my old school a few weeks ago."

The former Spice Girl insisted that the book is all her own work, saying: "I know there is prejudice against celebrity authors but if you read my stories you'll know they're not ghostwritten - only I could be that bonkers!"

Ugenia Lavender is published on May 2.