‘Living on the streets is performance all day long’

SCENE ONE: FROM THE FACTORY TO THE STREET

Christopher Eccleston: What would you like to talk about today? Are you happy to talk about what initially led to you being homeless?

Clive: I’m happy to talk about anything you like. When I was 16 or 17 I went into factories. You start off as the lad making the tea and eventually, by the time I was 26, I started my own factory.

It was doing all right for about three years and then in 1991 there was a recession across the UK. That was a massive hit. One company owed me £28,000 for work when they went bankrupt.

I did everything I could to survive but it was a downward spiral. Sometimes I was working three days without stopping, trying to work my way out of it. But I couldn’t. Eventually I went bankrupt and the business went under. I ended up on the streets in 1993. I had a mental breakdown at the same time and I became a street alcoholic. It was only five years ago that I got off the streets.

CE: That’s interesting, because you were very successful…

C: Reasonably, not very.

CE: But you ran a business. I think the received wisdom about people who sell The Big Issue is that they’ve never had a successful life. But

I discovered that when I had a severe clinical depression and I was hospitalised… I