Robbie Williams: Grade A success story?

I remember those dark days of school when the teachers would have you believe that failing your GCSEs spelled the end of the world.

Being a bit of a swot, I fell for their scare-stories hook, line and sinker. But looking back (it's incredible how much a recent birthday ending in -0 can make you contemplate your life thus far), I wish I'd rebelled.

I wish I'd fallen in with the wrong crowd, got trolleyed on cider and popped a few pills in an act of adolescent rebellion.

After all, it didn't do popstar Robbie Williams any harm.

For the Stoke-on-Trent born songman has revealed much about his teenage years in the Potteries. Granted multi-millionaire Robert will make you pay £30 to listen in full on his website, but my local paper, The Sentinel, has done its bit for the credit crunch and spilled some of the beans for free on http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/

Yep, the Robster has relived the moment his disappointing GCSE results were revealed to his mum Jan at their home in Tunstall.

Yet just hours later, this young Stokie was jumping for joy after bagging himself a place in Take That.

The rest, as they say, is history. And didn't he do well for himself?

OK, so he appears to have gone a bit bonkers of late, doing BBC radio documentaries about aliens and sporting a haircut to be ashamed of.

But he's rolling in it, living a life of luxury in LA, indulging his passion for all things Port Vale - and all after flunking his exams.

His Robcast, as his confessional podcast has been called, also includes details of him taking LSD at Shelley's nightclub in Longton; trying to summon spirits with a Ouija board at Chuch Lawton Hall; and buying his first pair of Versace jeans in Hanley.

Now all he needs to do is get himself back to Stoke-on-Trent, settle down with a good Potteries woman, and launch his own Fame Academy to put the city on the map.

That way he can really prove to others growing up in his neck of the woods that there is hope after all...

Robbie Williams won't give us the time of day

I'm going to have to have words with Robbie Williams.
Yes, he's the undisputed king of pop in my home city of Stoke-on-Trent and around the world.
He's got millions of adoring fans, so when he dropped in on the Potteries unannounced, you'd have thought he might have let said fans know about it.
They've bought his records, they've bought his merchandise, and they've bought tickets to see him in concert. Yep, they've helped him achieve the multi-millionaire status he now enjoys.
But he didn't want to see any of those fans whose hard-earned has gone his way. Or so says my local paper, The Sentinel. He crept inside Port Vale Football Club - where he's majority shareholder - and met staff and players. Then he crept out again and nobody else was any the wiser.
The next time he's in town - be it Burslem or Tunstall, where he grew up - I hope to see him. And if I do, I'll tell him that he ought to give those loyal fans the chance to see him.
Robbie Williams is like plenty of other celebs who talk about their heart belonging to their home city and all that. So perhaps he should remember the rhetoric when he's here.
A quick public appearance and a word or two with us ordinary folk would have done much to lift the current doom and gloom.
Come on, Rob. Sort it out.