He put his sister Elisabeth’s nose out of joint by getting more assignments from a modelling agency than she did.

And he is also the star of a television advertisement that the Department for Education and Employment claims has touched a nerve among viewers.

In the disability awareness advert, he comes on as a substitute in an important football game - to the alarm of parents on the sideline. But they have to think again when Danny, who has Down’s syndrome, scores the winning goal.

Danny, 15, attended a mainstream London primary, but was turned down by the secondary which took his classmates.

“It was very hard for Danny to understand that he was taken away from the children he had grown up with and who accepted him,” says his mum Mandy.

He now attends mainstream classes at Langdon school, a comprehensive in east London.

But the family are aware it will take more than an advert to change attitudes. On holiday last summer Danny was refused access to a swimming pool unless supervised by an adult.

“They didn’t even ask if he could swim,” says Mrs Joscelyne.