The ‘Bob’ to whom Tom refers is Sir Bobby Charlton - England’s greatest footballer - and we are standing outside the back of 114 Beatrice Street. It is the terraced house among the parallel grid of mining homes in Ashington where Tom grew up sharing a bedroom - and just one big double bed - with older brothers Jack, Bobby and Gordon.

“What a privilege to come back and see the old place … oh my, this really takes me back,” says Tom Charlton, pointing at a nine-foot high row of bricks in which you can still see the outline of the coal holes through which a family’s fuel supply was once shovelled.

“That wall was where we would play. We’d be in the park all day and in the street at night. There weren’t a lot of cars and, when it got dark, the lights would come on with a 15-watt bulb. You’d select a door or a coal house to be the goals.

“Everybody played. Could be 20-a-side. It got pretty rough. Nine times out of 10 it was with a tennis ball.

Bob always had a tennis ball in his pocket. He’d walk to school kicking a tennis ball off the wall or the kerb, trapping it and playing keepy-uppy. That’s one of the reasons he was so skilful.”


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