Johnny Depp makes surprise school visit in pirate gear

Hollywood star Johnny Depp took "show and tell" to a new level at a London school when he turned up in full pirate regalia after a fan wrote to him seeking help stage a "mutiny," according to media reports.

Beatrice Delap, 9, wrote to Captain Jack Sparrow, Depp's character in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, asking for help with an uprising against teachers at Meridian Primary School in Greenwich, south-east London.

"We are a bunch of budding young pirates and we were having a bit of trouble mutiny-ing against the teachers, and we'd love if you could come and help," Delap wrote to Depp.

Depp, who is in south-east London filming the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie On Stranger Tides, gave the school 10 minutes notice on Wednesday that he was on his way.

The school quickly called an assemby and Depp walked in to gasps from the students, according to People magazine.

Depp, holding the letter, called Delap up to the front and hugged her but he dashed any thoughts of a rebellion.

"Maybe we shouldn't mutiny today because there are police outside monitoring me," Depp, a father of two, was quoted as saying.