This much I know: Russell Watson, The People’s Tenor

As a child growing up in Salford near Manchester I had no aspirations to sing or to be on stage.

I’m from a working class background, my dad was a welder and mum worked in Woolworths. I started out as a a bolt-cutter myself.

I was a mischievous kid, not particularly studious. I was always the class clown and a bit of a mimic, messing around and making friends laugh doing impersonations.