Ricky Tomlinson

Ricky Tomlinson
Tomlinson in 2011
Born	Eric Tomlinson (1939-09-26) 26 September 1939 (age 77) Bispham, Lancashire, England
Occupation	Actor, comedian, author, political activist
Years active	1981–present
Spouse(s)	Marlene Tomlinson (m. 1962; div. 1986) Rita Cumiskey (m. 2003)
Children	3

Eric "Ricky" Tomlinson (born 26 September 1939) is an English actor, comedian, author, and political activist. He is best known for his roles as Bobby Grant in Brookside, DCI Charlie Wise in Cracker, and Jim Royle in The Royle Family.

Tomlinson was born in Bispham, Lancashire, and has lived in Liverpool nearly all his life. His father was a baker and he was born in Bispham because his mother, Peggy, was evacuated there due to the Liverpool Blitz in World War II. He attended a technical school after passing an exam when he was 13, but his favourite subject was English. He had three children with his first wife.

A qualified plasterer by trade, he worked on various building sites for many years becoming actively involved in politics (firstly with the far-right, then more predominantly with the far-left). In 1968, he joined the far-right National Front in support of less immigration after Enoch Powell's Rivers of Blood speech. His political views shifted strongly to the left in the early 1970s, and in 1972 he joined the flying pickets in a building workers' dispute in Shrewsbury.

In 1973, Tomlinson was sentenced to two years in prison after being found guilty of "conspiracy to intimidate" as one of the so-called Shrewsbury Two. After his release in 1975, he disrupted the TUC conference by shouting from the wings after he had been prevented from speaking from the stage. In 2012 Tomlinson and others sought to have the convictions overturned by the Criminal Cases Review Commission. In 2013 a paper petition was launched, alongside the existing e-petition, for an Early Day Motion by MP John McDonnell to be brought. In July 2013, at the Durham Miners' Gala, he again campaigned against the convictions.