Tom Hiddleston was a "total geek" at school.

Tom Hiddleston

Tom Hiddleston

The 'Night Manager' star - who is now dating Taylor Swift - didn't have as much luck with the ladies when he was growing up, according to a former classmate who was in the year above him at the prestigious Eton College.

He said: "Tom has had an incredible transformation. At school he was a total geek, he didn't have any girlfriends and was quite awkward. His parents were in teaching and he wasn't a cool kid. He was very into his studies and worked really hard. He was a class boff.

"The most rebellious he got was when he tried to grow his hair long and teachers pulled him up on it. He had a slightly odd fashion sense as well, he wore purple trousers, and his favourite T-shirt outside of school uniform was a tie dye T-shirt which changed colour when you breathed on it. He wasn't very cool."

But it was on stage where Tom, now 35, really shined.

The schoolmate added to the Daily Mirror newspaper: "The only time girls were allowed in the school was when they did the school play. Tom was always in the plays and came alive when he was on stage but he was very different off stage."

Meanwhile, Tom previously defended his time at the school, insisting it is not just "full of braying toffs".

He previously said: "People think it's just full of braying toffs, who are arrogant and chauvinistic, senseless and ambitious, who are destined to run the country and steal all our money. It isn't true. There are a few people like that but that's one or two in a school of 1,200. It's actually one of the most broadminded places I've ever been.

"The reason it's a good school is that it encourages people to find the thing they love and to go for it. They champion the talent of the individual and that's what's special about it."