I’ve swapped
Acting legend on why he’s ditched booze to take up painting and how he still misses the late Caroline Aherne
ROYLE Family star Ricky Tomlinson looks the picture of happiness at 80 — as he talks about his love of art.
The reformed boozer has swapped pints for paintbrushes and is never more content than when sitting down in front of a canvas.
He is also raising cash for charities and loves looking after his growing army of grandkids and great-grandchildren.
But his life is still tinged with regret over the untimely tragic deaths of his son, and his telly co-star Caroline Aherne.
At his home overlooking the Mersey in his beloved Liverpool, he chats away about how he has changed his lifestyle by ditching drink and losing himself in painting.
The one-time plasterer, famed for turning up at glitzy showbiz functions lugging bags full of cans of supermarket own-brand beer, says: “Maybe I’m getting old or maybe I’m getting wiser, I don’t know. I used to like a pint and chat, and I still love a natter with friends, but now I have a cup of tea instead. It’s so much better having a clear head and it’s great to be alive and well.
“I have had one or two shandies but I haven’t touched a drop of the sauce for nearly 18 months now.”
Ricky also reveals how he loves dressing up in traditional painter’s garb and is inspired by masters such as Picasso and Vincent van Gogh.
He jokes that he calls himself “Ricasso” and wants to cut off his ear. And he takes great delight in telling how he has sold some of his creations to raise money for the charities he supports, including Claire House children’s hospice, Human Mi lk Bank, Ronald McDonald House, Alder Hey Hospital and the Walking With Giants Foundation.
In a nod to the 1966 No1 by Liverpool legends The Beatles, he says: “Painting started as a bit of fun and a way to raise a few bob, but now I really do get hypnotised by it. I completely lose myself in painting. I love it. I painted a completely blue square on a blank canvas I bought from the pound shop. I called it ‘ Yellow Submarine’.
“Some soft sod paid £40 for it and then asked me where the submarine is. I told them it was under the bloody water.”
As Ricky holds court in the conservatory of his house filled with children’s toys and mementos from a colourful life, his devoted wife Rita hands out tea and toast.
The couple celebrated his 80th birthday last month with a Mediterranean cruise and a low-key party at The Florence Institute, a community centre where he is patron.
Despite undergoing a quadruple heart bypass in 2012, suffering from asthma and a skin disease called nodular prurigo, Ricky is in rude health and bubbling with fun.
But life has not always been so rosy for the man who grew up on the terraces of Everton. He has known his share of heartache and was once slung in jail after being branded a union troublemaker.
Now a household name after playing Jim Royle in The Royle