The real Bobby and Jack Charlton – by their little brother Tom

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.