Lewis says that he wants to use his experiences to help others

‘I have just walked into one of the stereotypes I have been fighting all of my life. Black people are this; black people are that. Whenever I’ve heard that, it does my head in and now I’ve gone and walked straight into it. It still does my head in every time I think about it.

“It goes deeper, and that’s why I don’t think about it too much. I internalise it and say to myself, ‘You’ve just disappointed a whole community. You’ve just reinforced a load of stuff that you’ve claimed for most of your life is complete bollocks.’ This word doesn’t describe it, but let’s just say it’s disappointing.”

Although I’ve known the man opposite me for 30 years, I realise at the end