The one lesson I’ve learned from life

WiLLiAm RoAcHe has played Ken Barlow in coronation Street since its first episode in 1960, making him the world’s longest-serving male TV actor in a continuous role. Predeceased by two of his five children, he lost his second wife, Sara, in 2009. He lives in cheshire.

ONE POSITIVE IDEA IS ALL IT TAKES

As I’ve grown older — and now I’m 86 — I like to think I’ve become more attentive and understanding. If you’re expressing your true nature, you’re happier and become a wiser, more knowing person.

That’s helped me through the bad times. I’ve lost a beloved wife and two children — little edwina, who died at 18 months from bronchial pneumonia, and vanya, who passed away this year at the age of 50.

After the inevitable grief, I’ve been able to remember the happy times. I’m a great believer in the power of positive thinking. One positive thought works like a dam in the tide of negativity.

To be negative is to give in, to surrender, to go down. We live in an increasingly stressful world — it’s the modern disease — which is why positivity is so important.

And I never indulge in bitterness. Do that and you end up bitter. People think that forgiveness lets off the person who has done whatever it is they’ve done. Not true.

Let it go. Their conscience will do your work for you. If you forgive someone, it certainly doesn’t mean they get off free. What it means is that you release yourself — while they are left with the problem.

I’m a big advocate of living in the present. Being here, now, in the moment is the only time you can actually do anything.

Too many people are wrapped up in the past or worried about the future, but it’s the present that you can influence.

Concentrate on that and you’ll feel a peacefulness and a calmness about your life.

That said, I do look to the future in one single respect — I would like to be the first person still playing the same role on television when I reach 100. n Life And Soul by William Roache is published by Hay House at £16.99.