Sir Patrick Stewart told how the challenge of becoming Chancellor at Huddersfield University lured him back from a glitzy life in Hollywood.
He said then university vice-chancellor Prof John Tarrant made him an “irresistible” offer in the years after he found fame in Star Trek.
Sir Patrick, who attended Mirfield Secondary Modern School, said: “No one was more astonished than me when Paramount Pictures cast me as the captain of the Enterprise in 1987.
“What would they want with a bald, middle-aged, British Shakespearean at the helm of the Enterprise?
“It would seem a lot actually. They had rather been waiting for him for quite a long time, with no disrespect to the great Bill Shatner (alias Captain Kirk).
“And Los Angeles became my home for 17 years. In fact I came to believe I would probably finish my career, retire and eventually die in Los Angeles.
“And then I got this call from Huddersfield University. John Tarrant would like to have lunch and he said: ‘If you were invited how would you feel about becoming Chancellor?’
Pictures: Sir Patrick Stewart bows out after 11 years as Chancellor
“The idea of a boy who had walked out of those secondary modern school gates, experienced no further higher education returning to the West Riding as Chancellor of the university was one of those challenges that was irresistible.
“Also it re-rooted me in my past which after 17 years in Hollywood I really needed to do.”
Sir Patrick also made mention of the Mirfield English teacher Cecil Dormand, the man who first introduced him to Shakespeare and suggested he could make a career from acting.
He said he had spoken to him only a few weeks ago on his 90th birthday.
