WW L L INTERVIEW
AN INTERVIEW WITH SIR TONY ROBINSON
Sir Tony Robinson actor , comedian , author , presenter , historian and political activist talks to Wirral Life in an exclusive interview .
Sir Tony Robinson is probably best known for his portrayal of Baldrick , featured in the long running BBC historic comedy TV series Blackadder . In recent years , he has emerged as the face of popular history presenting Time Team , made numerous documentaries and is an award-winning writer of children ’ s books and television . He spoke to Clare Barber about his cunning plans and his love of the Wirral …
You ’ ve travelled the world and worked on some fantastic projects , but what ’ s your connection to this neck of the woods ? My wife is from here , so the Hillbark Hotel is our second home . We stay there about half a dozen times a year visiting family . We spend quite a bit of time zig-zagging around the area visiting Louise ’ s old friends and stuff .
I have a soft spot for the place . It ’ s really beautiful . My favourite part is the Wirral coast . I hugely enjoy walking along it – it ’ s one of my guilty pleasures ( they are always the simple ones , like sneaking a cheese and onion pasty in the car ). New Brighton is a lovely spot . In fact I ’ ve got a great photo of New Brighton by the photographer Martin Parr at home .
I have worked in Liverpool lots of times over the years but not the Wirral . It ’ s more of a destination really , you must have a reason to go there .
You made 20 series of Time Team and many more historical documentaries including the award-winning “ Tony Robinson ’ s Time Walks ”, and “ Tony Robinson ’ s Tour of Duty ” about World War One . You ’ ve even made one about the Wild West ! So , what impresses you about the Wirral ? I particularly like the Viking place names : Tranmere , Thingwall , Meols , West Kirby , Heswall etc . A lot of southerners know about the Scottish coast and Cornwall , but the Vikings also came to the North West . There are so many village names in Wirral relating to the Vikings and I ’ m fascinated by that .
I ’ ve spent 20 years in archaeology and I don ’ t think you can ever be finished with the subject even though I ’ m not making that kind of programme now . It ’ s a special way of looking at the landscape . You can never lose interest in archaeology when you see the world through those eyes .
I think a lot of the Wirral is under-dug and under-explored , so if anyone finds a Viking mast in their back garden then be sure to give me a call – don ’ t just dig it up it by yourself !
Were you always interested in history as a child ? I have always been fascinated by history even before I knew what the word meant . The interest came from my Mum and Dad . I mean , I was an only child growing up in London after the war . I was born in 1946 so WW2 wasn ’ t a distant memory , and they both had lots of stories about their wartime experiences .
My mum was in the WAAF and my Dad was and RAF fitter in Scotland . They met loads of people that they would never have met if they hadn ’ t been mobilised . I started to realise that there was a time when I didn ’ t exist , and I was part of human history . When I realised you could actually get marks at school for this thing called history , I was amazed !
What was your childhood like ? Being an only child meant that my mum and dad had time to focus on me . There was always a showbiz aspect in the house because Dad had learned to play boogie piano in the war , and Mum had immersed herself in amateur dramatics . This was an enormous advantage to me .
I became a child actor . My first professional appearance was at the age of 13 in the original version of the stage musical “ Oliver !”. Then I went on to drama school at the Central School of Speech and Drama . I spent a number of years in repertory theatre after that .
Do you prefer TV or the stage ? I have a bit of a butterfly mind and I love moving from thing to thing and getting engrossed in whatever my current project is . That ’ s always the most interesting thing to me . Due to the fact that I work across a number of mediums and genres I ’ m always finding out interesting things and learning interesting new skills . I ’ ve been lucky enough to do a wide variety of things outside of acting too and not a lot of my contemporaries get to do that .
Would you consider yourself lucky ? I ’ m incredibly lucky to have been able to do the things I ’ ve done ! In fact , I think I ’ m the luckiest person I know ! The other day I got
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