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Robert Peter Williams was born on the 13th February 1974, at the North Staffordshire Maternity Hospital in Newcastle-under-Lyme. Robbie lived with his mum, Teresa Jeanette Farrell who became a Williams when she married Robbie's father-Pete Williams. When the pair got together, Jan had another baby from a previous marriage, 18th month old Sally who is 10 years older than Robbie.The couple became the landlords of the Red Lion pub in Burslem. While Jan prepared the food, Pete took charge of pulling the pints and found this lifestyle boring, he wanted to be a star. He left the pub on Saturday May 21st 1977 to go to the FA Cup Final at Wembley.He didn't go back home. He stayed in London for 3 months with a friend while Jan took care of teenage Sally and young Robbie. He became Pete Conway-the entertainer at holiday camps. Pete and Jan had split up, but Robbie was too young to understand what was going on. Robbie wanted to make it big at a young age- at three years old he won his first talent contest at the Pontinental Hotel in Spain, strutting and preening as John Travolta singing "Summer Nights." While on holiday with his mum and sister when he was four, he wanderd off. Jan found him singing and dancing for fellow holidaymakers with a hat placed on the ground for tips. When he was eight, he went to Zimbabwe with Jan where they stayed at the Victoria Falls Hotel. One day in the lobby, Robbie spotted a group of machine-gun toting security guards surrounding the country's future vice-president Joshua Nkomo. Bold as brass, Rob strolled up, eyed the politician and declared: "Hello, l'm Robert Williams from England and l can do impressions of black men." He then did Lenny Henry and Nkomo burst out laughing at the kid who wasn't scared of the guns and the minders. The pair sat down for a chat and Nkomo gave Robbie his autograph. Back home, Jan arranged for Rob to model children's wear for fashion and bridal shows. Summers were spent with his father at Perran Sands, Cornwall, or the east coast resort of Scarborough. At Dolly's Lane Infants School, then Mill Hill Primary in Tunstall, Rob learned quickly how to win over his classmates, particulary the girls. He was chubby and the other children teased him about his weight, but he soon discovered a joke or impression defused the ribbing and "Fatboy" jibes. When Jan took him to school for the first time there were no tears-unlike the other kids. By the age of eight Rob had become a member of all five major operatic societies in Staffordshire. He also busied with dance lessons, including tap. When Rob told his dep. head he was going to be famous the teacher told him not to waste time on silly dreams. "l bet l end up driving a fast car before you do" was the youngster's instant reply. Rob won his first professional acting part at the age of nine, taking the leading children's role in a production of Hans Christian Andersen, followed by the part of Jeremy in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the Theatre Royal, Hanley. Rob then went on to play one of the children in The King and l and by the age of eleven he played the fiddler in the Theatre Royal production of the musical Fiddler On The Roof. His puppy fat came in handy again when, at 13, he landed the role of "Fat Boy" in a stage production of Charles Dicken's The Pickwick Papers. When Rob was 14 he stole the show as the Artful Dodger in the North Staffordshire Amateur Operatic Society's production of Oliver! , after beating 150 others to the role. Pete had spotted his son's talent during a performance of Oliver! His son absent-mindedly picked up two oranges from a passing fruit seller and expertly juggled them one-handed as he sang "Consider Yourself." His first kiss was at the age of 10 and had been with a girl a year older than him. He took her to the cinema to see "Three Men And A Baby" but the evening ended in disaster. They missed the bus home and had to walk through the red light district where two men threatened to beat Rob up. His date had to ring her mum to come and rescue them. The first woman to break his heart was a girl called Tanya, who let 14 year old Rob put his hand done her knickers while he was staying with his dad in Scarborough. He went to see her in her caravan the next morning and she had gone. The year after that, when Robbie was 15 he lost his virginity, the girl was a red headed Liverpudlian called Anne Marie Lawson. Although Rob fancied her, he was too terrified! He wasn't going to go through with it until he realised the stick he would get from his mates back at school. Rob hated school and couldn't scrape up the enthusiasm to be bothered. But what teachers failed to spot was the fact he was suffering from dyslexia. It was mild, but made reading and wrtiting difficult for Rob. One of Sally's boyfriends found Rob a job selling double glazing door-to-door when he was 15...but it only lasted 3 months, he would tell people they were over priced and crap.When Pete asked his son how the new job was going, Rob told him whow he was being told to "Eff off!" all over Staffordshire. The job was only for the holidays..his dream was to make it into Showbiz. |
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