The Repair Shop presenter reflects on growing up poor, discovering fashion, and why fame will never go to his head
. His childhood in Hackney was blighted by racism and fighting, until a career in community and social work changed the course of his life. It wasn’t until Blades was 40 and working for a charity which encouraged young people to repair furniture that he discovered he had a skill for crafting and fixing objects. Before finding fame on screen, he got a degree in criminology and philosophy from Buckinghamshire New University, where he is now chancellor.
Dressing up gives you a nice feeling. I get to do it all the time now, but I feel it still. From the age of 12 I really cared about the clothes I was wearing. There was a guy from the area who was like an uncle, and he’d come round and sell shoes and shirts to me and my friends. I bought a cashmere jumper that I loved, and Mum put it in a hot wash and it turned out like something an Action Man might wear.
Living in Hackney in the 80s, you could dress a certain way to command respect. My biggest inspiration was someone that my mum was with at the time, a man called Lloyd McFarlane. Lloyd held the room in a way that was different from the other men in my area. Before then, I had looked up to naughty people; they got the type of admiration I wanted.
All I really aspired to back then was to be happy, as there were a lot of people in my area who weren’t. I didn’t want to be rich because I never knew what that looked like – there was no example of success around me so I couldn’t aim for it. School was rough as well. I got kicked out at 15 for fighting. There was a lot of racism in my school and I would defend people who had been bullied or racially abused by students. Mum wasn’t really bothered. She wasn’t and isn’t that maternal.
I started going out to the West End when I was 16 and it totally opened up my horizons. I’d go to Limelight, Busby’s,
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