Simon Cowell says he found school so dull, he considered suicide.

‘I was like so bored,’ he says. ‘I don’t like rules or discipline. So when someone said, “These are the best days of your life” I actually thought about jumping off a bridge.’

The X Factor guru, 48, says he particularly hates the way school life seemed so fake.

‘I learnt more when people criticised me than when they lied and said I was doing all right,’ he tells US mag Parade.

‘So I would feel guilty about giving people fake hope when they have no hope.’