On tour with Jacqui Abbott and riding high in the charts with his new compilation, The Last King Of Pop, Paul Heaton is one of Britain’s finest songwriters. Here, the renowned football fanatic and former Housemartins and Beautiful South tunesmith shares a few secrets of the trade…

I realised I could write songs when…

“I was about 14 or 15. I would write [lyrics] down in a book and I started thinking I should try and complete that process and ...