These four are not your average Joes – they are TV celebrities, pop stars, movie icons, sporting heroes … and they’ve all worked in construction! Aged 14, Ian dreamed of being a footballer but was rejected by every club so, after leaving school at 16, he trained as a bricklayer and plasterer. One of Scotland’s biggest movie stars, Robert‘s father was a painter and decorator, and the man who would be Begbie landed his first job as a bricklayer. The man the nation affectionately know as The Royle Family’s slobby dad Jim is in real life quite a grafter – Ricky, who grew up in Liverpool, got a City & Guilds qualification in plastering after he left school. Justine went to University College London’s Bartlett School of Architecture and became friends with Suede’s Brett Anderson and did an 18-month stint in the band as guitarist. But she got fed up of being the girl and left to form her own successful indie band, Elastica. When Elastica finally broke up in 2000, Justine launched a new career as a TV presenter. Her latest show is Dreamspaces, a series of programmes about architecture on BBC3. And her university training is coming in handy in other ways– she is to judge top architecture award the Stirling Prize this October.
Ian Wright, Top footballer and TV presenter
Robert Carlyle, Scottish movie star
Ricky Tomlinson, TV icon
Justine Frischmann, Indie chick and architectural TV presenter
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