BEING AMAZED WHEN I REALISED NOT EVERYONE SUPPORTED ASTON VILLA.
I grew up very close to the ground and went to my first game with older brother, Jimmy, when I was about six. The away team scored and I couldn’t understand it when their fans cheered. How come they didn’t love Villa like I did? I found them very disrespectful.
WALKING TWO MILES TO HANDSWORTH PARK WITH MY DAD, JAMES.
He loved walking, and we didn’t have a car. He’d take me to the cinema to watch cartoons, too. Tom and Jerry bashing each other was my favourite.
SPENDING MY POCKET MONEY ON ROSARY BEADS AND CROSSES.
I was ultra-religious. It wasn’t surprising as my dad and mum, Mary, were strict Catholics and our house was covered in pictures of Jesus and Mary. At school, the nuns would tell us we were going to hell, if we didn’t behave. Terrifying. But when I was a teenager, I got into the occult. Magazines, horror films with Vincent Price and books like The Devil Rides Out by Dennis Wheatley. There were lots of immigrants with different religions coming into Birmingham, too—Muslims and Hindus. It was fascinating to see new perspectives.
A TWO-STRING GUITAR CHANGED MY LIFE.
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