Early Life
Tomlinson was born Eric Tomlinson in Bispham, Blackpool, Lancashire, but has lived in Liverpool nearly all his life. Tomlinson was born in Bispham because his mother, Peggy, was evacuated there due to the Liverpool Blitz in World War II. On 22 March 1962 he married first wife Marlene; they had three children.
A gifted and qualified plasterer by trade, he worked on various building sites for many years becoming actively involved in politics (firstly with the far-right, then more predominantly with the far-left). In 1968 he joined the National Front in support of less immigration after Enoch Powell's Rivers of Blood speech. His views gradually changed over time and in 1972 he joined the flying pickets in a building workers' dispute in Shrewsbury. In 1973, Tomlinson was sentenced to two years in prison after being found guilty of 'conspiracy to intimidate' as one of the so-called Shrewsbury Two. After his release in 1975, he disrupted the TUC conference by shouting from the wings after he had been prevented from speaking from the stage. It was revealed in 2002 that MI5 had monitored him during the 1970s.
Read more about this topic: Ricky Tomlinson
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