'My granddad was a fisherman': John Lydon on Trump, MacGowan, and fishing in East Cork

In advance his Irish tour, John Lydon also recalls an eventful visit to Macroom in the 1970s when he met a frosty reception

John Lydon will do a spoken word tour of Ireland, and is also coming with PiL to perform in Cork and Dublin. Picture: Paul Heartfield

John Lydon never sits still. He turned 69 in January, but there’s no time to slow down. His band Public Image Ltd (PiL) is touring its eleventh studio album, End of World, across Europe this year. Later, in autumn, Lydon, aka Johnny Rotten, will take his spoken word show to theatres across Ireland and the UK for three months. He also paints. And the man who has homes in Malibu, California and London, loves to swim.

“The way I get myself fit and healthy is swimming every morning, rain, snow, whatever,” says Lydon. “Out there, testicle shrinkage, the lot. You gotta get the lungs going, and there's nothing better than a near-drowning experience to get your lungs working.”