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Artist
Ricky Tomlinson
12+ albums
christmasmy arse
about
Ricky Tomlinson (born September 26, 1939) is an English actor, born in Blackpool but a long-time resident of Liverpool. Before turning to acting, he worked as a building site plasterer for many years, becoming involved in trade union politics and activism. In 1972, having joined the flying pickets in a building workers dispute in Shrewsbury he was sentenced to two years in prison after being found guilty of 'conspiracy to intimidate' as one of the so-called "Shrewsbury Two" (with Des Warren), and in 1975 disrupted the TUC conference by shouting from the wings after he had been prevented from speaking from the stage. It was revealed in 2002 that he had been monitored in the 1970s by MI5. He is a well-known supporter of left-wing politics. As an actor he has found considerable success in recent years, appearing as Bobby Grant, one of the original fiesty characters, in the popular soap opera Brookside; starring as Jim Royle in the sitcom The Royle Family. Despite his publicly espoused socialist principles, he has fronted a series of commercials for privatised former nationalised utility British Gas. He also played Robbie Coltrane's second boss in Cracker, his character replacing Christopher Eccleston's. He has also starred in several films, notably Mike Bassett: England Manager, Raining Stones and Hillsborough, a made-for-TV film about the families' of the victims of the Hillsborough stadium tragedy of 1989 attempt to get justice for their relatives' deaths. He has released an
