How agreeable are you?
I’m very, very agreeable. It’s hard for me to say that, but I think if you were to ask my wife and my kids they’d say, ‘My da just gets on with it’. I’d be very easy-going. As [my wife] Caroline says, I’d eat anything.
What’s your middle name and what do you think of it?
Anthony. I think it’s great because I’m a great believer in St Anthony. We’d go to novenas down in St Anthony’s on Merchant’s Quay. He’s very important to me. He’s the go-to man. Especially when you lose stuff. And we’re always losing stuff.
Where is your favourite place in Ireland?
Achill Island. There’s a beautiful cottage in Dugort on Achill Island. My favourite place on the planet.
Describe yourself in three words.
Off the wall.
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When did you last get angry?
I can’t remember the last time I got angry. What makes me angry for starters? Not sport anyway. I wouldn’t get angry over sport. I’d get frustrated and that. Angry to me would be a severe emotion.
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What have you lost that you would like to have back?
My dad. He’s 42 years dead in three weeks’ time. And it still feels like 42 minutes. He was the best. He dropped dead jogging. Forty-nine years of age, fit as a fiddle. If I could have him back. Do you know what, if I could have him back for one hour. I never hugged him. I hugged him once in my life, and that’s my regret.
What’s your strongest childhood memory?
My father bringing us to the seaside – coming home from work, telling my ma to get everything ready. He worked shifts, so he could come home early in the day. He’d say to my ma ‘get everything ready’, he’d come in, pack the car, and we’d all head to Donabate. And we used to run up and down the sand dunes all day and we’d be exhausted. My ma would have loads of sandwiches made, and they’d have a big flask. And we’d sit there and it was the happiest time ever.
Where do you come in your family’s birth order, and has this defined you?
I’m the second eldest. My older brother Mick, he’s the talented one in the family. He’s the poet, the storyteller, the singer, a powerful-looking fella. There was six of us altogether. There was seven. I lost a brother when I was only young; I don’t remember. I remember coming home from the hospital where he had died young.
Coming second defined me in a way because I had a brother who was really good-looking, a fabulous singer, a great personality and everyone loved him. And I wanted to be him when I was younger. But he wouldn’t even let me hang around with him!
What do you expect to happen when you die?
I’m going straight to heaven. There’s only one problem – I won’t know anyone up there. All my mates are in hell. I believe 100 per cent, that there is somewhere else. I believe I’m going to link up with my da, all my uncles, everyone. I believe that. And I hope it. Because I’m getting to the stage now where I’m in the waiting room. There has to be something at the end of this. Defo.
When were you happiest?
When I’m with the family. When I’m with Caroline and the kids. We’d a Sunday dinner there, just gone. There was 10 of us sitting around the table. It was just brilliant. I love it.
And I love Christmas. I absolutely idolise Christmas. Christmas dinner every year, maybe 18 people. I just absolutely love it.
Which actor would play you in a biopic about your life?
Vinny Jones. He’s one of my best friends.
What’s your biggest career/personal regret?
Telling Johnny Giles when I was 18 years of age to stuff the international team. I was in the Ireland international youth team. We were in the hotel before the game. And I was convinced I was playing. And when he named the team, I wasn’t playing. So, I got up and walked out. That was currency back then. If you’d international caps, you get a club in England.
I said “F your team. I’m out of here”. And I regret it. I spoke to Johnny years afterwards and he said, ‘You were full of yourself, son’. And I said, ‘You got that right, Johnny’. But there you go.
Have you any psychological quirks?
I’m claustrophobic and I won’t go in a lift. I’ll walk up a 20-storey building, 100 per cent, rather than get in a lift.
Roddy Collins will appear at the Ambassador Theatre in Dublin in conversation with Paul Howard on Saturday, November 30th
