Harry Styles has paid tribute to his first school teacher at a homecoming gig in Manchester.

Fan footage of the moment saw Styles ask the crowd to help him find his school teacher who he’d heard was in the audience at the gig.

“I’d like to try and find someone in the audience,” Styles said on stage. “So, we’re going to get really quiet, and I’m going to see if I can locate this person, if you don’t mind helping me.”

“My first-ever school teacher is here tonight,” he went on. “Her name’s Mrs. Vernon, and I believe she is in the crowd. We’re going to try and find her. If Mrs. Vernon is here. Are you here?”

Styles eventually spotted his his former teacher and shouted “Mrs. Vernon!” before falling to his knees while smiling. “How are you? I heard you’re retiring. I’d just like to thank you for everything in those formative years. Thank you so much. It means a lot to me that you’re here tonight.”

Styles went on to thank all of his “truly wonderful” teachers from Hermitage Primary School in Holmes Chapel, Cheshire before dedicating a song to all of his teachers and thanking them “from the bottom of my heart”.

Styles’ teacher Mrs Ann Vernon later responded to the moment, saying: “It meant an awful lot.”

Speaking to BBC Radio Manchester, Mrs Vernon said: “As a teacher, you remember all of the children that you’ve taught, all of them are amazing in their own way.

“Harry obviously has gone on to mega, mega things – everybody at Hermitage is just so, so proud of him.”

She also said Styles was “a delight” to teach, adding: “He had a cheeky sparkle in his eye, he was a little bit of a tinker some of the time but he was a character so that’s for sure, we all remember him.”

Vernon continued: “…It’s very emotional, I was very, very touched by it, all of the teachers who he spoke about are. It is incredible what he’s done and the fact that he did that message for me last night as I retire, it means so, so much.”

Styles’ latest record, ‘Harry’s House‘, has been a global success.

The record has garnered a series of chart accolades and broken numerous records across the world. In addition to having 2022’s fastest-selling album in the UK, Styles achieved the rare feat of simultaneously holding the number one album and number one track with ‘As It Was’ in multiple countries.

In a four-star review of ‘Harry’s House’ NME wrote, “The musician’s third album feels like a magical thing – a record that you want to take up residence in until you know its every nook and cranny in minute detail.”