Whenever I've been asked to be in a film, directors only want me to play myself... I'm fascinated by the thought of being an actor, but it's too hard. And I think Shakespeare-which has been suggested to me-might be a bit of a stretch.

My real name was Thomas Jones Woodward, so I dropped the Woodward.

When you first start off, I know singers who have only been in the business just a short amount of time, and they've already written their autobiography. I didn't want to write it too soon. I wanted to live a while and write about things that I felt were important to me - growing up in Wales, and the characters that I met and listened to.

Oh yeah, I would have been a coal miner, I would think, if I hadn't had tuberculosis when I was 12.

When I started off in Wales, I sang and accompanied myself with guitar in the '50s. And then I got a band together, which is a rhythm section, really. I used to do a lot of blues, and rhythm and blues, and '50s rock 'n' roll and country, and all kinds of stuff.

First of all, I love singing. I mean, I get out of bed and I sing. I can't help it.

I think it's good that I had some experience of the real world before I became successful. You know, having to get up in the morning and going to work in construction.