A former racing driver from North Yorkshire has become one of the first openly transgender ballet students to pass a Royal Academy of Dance ballet exam.

Sophie Rebecca*, 35, trained for her "intermediate foundation" qualification, the dance equivalent of an AS level exam, for over a year after quitting dance for a number of years.

She began learning to dance as a man at 17, but was expelled after the teacher learnt of her struggle with gender identity, she told the Times.

She was a racing driver for nearly a decade before leaving motorsport behind and following her childhood dream of becoming a ballet dancer.

The RAD abandoned rules that only people born as women should be allowed to take its female dance courses in 2013.

The dance school, which was founded 95 years ago and is led by Darcey Bussell, also has its first male student who was born as a woman. in recent months the ballet student has undergone hormone treatment which has changed her body shape.

The physical changes made it harder to practise ballet, she said, because they rob her of her muscle strength. She claimed previously: "My muscle size will about halve, which I'm looking forward to.