Adele was overcome with emotion after being reunited with an unexpected face from her past.

The Easy on Me singer, 33, was asked by Dame Emma Thompson during her ITV An Audience With special if there was someone from her past who had supported and inspired her.

London-born Adele straight away named her old English teacher, Miss McDonald.

Addressing the audience at the London Palladium, she explained: “There was a teacher at Chesnut Grove who taught me English

She left when I was in year 8. It was just one year, but she like got me really into literature. I’ve always been obsessed with English and obviously now I write lyrics.

“But she also did street dance; I was too scared to join, but like, in the canteen they used to do these dances and stuff like that. She was so bloody cool, so engaging, and she really made us care and we knew that she cared about us and stuff like that.

“She used to have all these gold bracelets on and gold, like, sequins. I dunno, she was just so bloody cool and so relatable and likeable that I really looked forward to my English lessons”

There wasn’t a dry eye in the house following Adele’s reaction to being told that her old teacher was not only there, but heading on stage for a hug with her former pupil.

Clearly in shock, she called out to her mum in the crowd asking if she could believe that Miss McDonald was there.

Determined not to lose touch again, Adele asked if she could get her teacher’s number to which she replied “of course”.

The songstress was so moved she rushed off-stage to get her make-up fixed for the rest of the show, calling on horrifed friend Alan Carr to come and cover for her by leading a singalong of the opening bars of her hit Make You Feel My Love.

Returning to stage, Adele declared Alan a “true friend”.