1. My parents, William and Hester Roache, pictured during the early years of their married life.
1. My parents, William and Hester Roache, pictured during the early years of their married life.
2. Rutland House, my birthplace in Ilkeston, Derbyshire.
3. With Beryl, 1934. My swimsuit was probably a hand-me-down from my sister!
4. A proud member of the First XV rugby team at Rydal Senior School, Colwyn Bay, in 1946. I am sitting on the far right.
5. Me, at sixteen, in the garden of Rutland House with Patch, the dog.
6. The Royal Welch Fusiliers cricket team in Kingston, Jamaica, 1953. I’m second from the right, with Major Tolhurst on my right.
7. At the fort in the Buriemi Oasis in Trucial Oman. Note the dashing moustache.
8. Aged twenty-six, and just embarking on a career in acting.
9. The cast of Coronation Street as of episode one, December 1960. Back row, left to right: Harry Hewitt (Ivan Beavis), Albert Tatlock (Jack Howarth), Ivan Cheveski (Ernst Walder), Dennis Tanner (Philip Lowrie), David Barlow (Alan Rothwell), Jack Walker (Arthur Leslie), an unnamed extra (William Croasdale), Frank Barlow (Frank Pemberton), Ida Barlow (Noel Dyson), Minnie Caldwell (Margot Bryant).
Front row: Annie Walker (Doris Speed), Florrie Lindley (Betty Alberge), Linda Cheveski (Anne Cunningham), Elsie Tanner (Patricia Phoenix), Ena Sharples (Violet Carson), Christine Hardman (Christine Hargreaves), Kenneth Barlow (William Roache), an extra (Patricia Shakesby), an extra (Penny Davies), Martha Longhurst (Lynne Carol).
10. The five longest-running cast members celebrate the Street’s eighteenth birthday in 1978. Jack Howarth, Doris Speed, Pat Phoenix, Violet Carson and I toast the future.
11. The turnout for Ken and Deirdre’s screen wedding in 1981.
12. Doorstep confrontation: Ken and Mike shape up for one of the most gripping half hours in British television.
13. Will it be happily ever after for Wendy Crozier (played by Roberta Kerr) and Ken? In the end it was Wendy, not Mike, who led to the Barlow marriage breakup.
14. The Street’s line-up in 1992, with the cast now well into three generations.
15. Coronation Street fan John Betjeman visits Granada Studios. Sadly, he never realised his ambition to appear in the programme.
16. The Queen and Prince Philip open Granada’s new purpose-built Street set. Her Majesty became so engrossed in chatting to us all that the visit overran by half an hour
17. Is Mike Baldwin about to clock Ken? Deadly rivals on-screen, in real life Johnny Briggs and I are the best of friends.
18. Dancing with Mary Healey in the play Lighthearted Intercourse at the Liverpool Playhouse, directed by Anthony Tuckey, 1971.
19. Another great golf day at Turnberry in 1983, with Gary Player, Peter Alliss, Terry Wogan and Tony Jacklyn. Sara was caddying for me in a matching outfit.
20. Me with our four Jack Russells – Cindy, Oliver, Harry and Poppy – in a photo taken by Lord LichField in 2003.
21. Margaret and Denis Thatcher welcome us to Downing Street shortly after the 1983 general election.
22. Sara and I were delighted when Betty Driver agreed to be our daughter Edwina’s godmother. Here we are at the christening, with Verity and her godmother, Eileen Derbyshire.
23. Me, Verity and Kinky, the kinkajou which our family sponsors at Chester Zoo.
24. Posing for a portrait by renowned artist John Bratby R.A.
25. As a second lieutenant during Her Majesty’s visit to Kingston, Jamaica, in 1953.
26. Captain Roache with a group of young trainees for the Trucial Oman Scouts, Sharjah, 1955.
27. With Sara, announcing our engagement in 1976 – as you can see from the prominent ring!
28. With Sara on our wedding day, 3rd July 1978, looking forward to being one of showbusiness’s most enduring marriages.
29. My parents celebrating their 75th birthdays in 1975, as they were both born in 1900.
30. Celebrating Coronation Street’s 30th anniversary with Les Dawson, his wife, Sara and Ivan Beavis.
31. With Sara, Verity and Edwina in 1983, not long before we were to lose her.
32. Peggy Kennard at her home in 2004, shortly before her death.
33. Selwyn Hughes on a brief visit to Granada in 1996, the last time I saw him.
34. With Sara at Buckingham Palace after receiving my MBE from the Queen in 2000.
35. Meeting Prince Charles at Highgrove in 1999 – I didn’t remind him that Ken and Deirdre had married on almost the same day he had married Princess Diana, as Camilla was standing nearby!
36. A bit of fun with Ian McKellan when he joined the cast in 2004, with Will and Sara.
37. On one of Linus’s visits from America, with Will, Christmas 2003.
38. A family group after doing Star Lives, with Verity, Sara and Will.