Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen: I REMEMBER…

Flamboyant British TV star Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen is best known for the home improvement hit, Changing Rooms. Here, he looks back on his childhood and career

- Nicola Venning

WHEN I WAS ABOUT EIGHT, I WAS DESPERATE to have a purple ceiling in my bedroom. I grew up in the Sixties and Seventies and the homes of my parents’ friends were very colourful: purple on purple; lilac on lilac; felt walls on suede, shag pile carpets, that kind of thing.

GOING BACK TO OUR HOME AND THINKING IT WAS VERY QUIET BY COMPARISON, with lots of antiques and a 1950s vibe. The only moments of exuberance were judicious bits of moss green William Morris on the sofa or the curtains. I remember feeling the design in the space I inhabited was extremely underpowered. However, as far as my mother was concerned there was something very, very wrong with purple and she refused point blank to let me have a purple ceiling. So eventually, we settled on a compromise and I was allowed a very pale blue one. I wonder whether I would have been a very different person if I had been allowed that purple ceiling.

MY FATHER’S MOTHER WAS A VERY TALENTED SEAMSTRESS and she used to make these incredible uniforms for me which I absolutely adored. There was something of the Prince Regent about me as a child and I definitely loved uniforms. I had a series of them which were all perfect. She did a complete Beau Brummell outfit for me as well which I absolutely loved, but I would take it a bit further and used to make my own combinations: so, I could wear the trousers of one uniform, the bearskin of another and then a little bit of Indian Brave in between. Any sartorial interest in the dressing up box started more or less from the year dot with me.