I haven’t done that intentionally,” insists Rick Astley , gesturing at the Spartacus picture behind his head. The singer sits in his kitchen, backdropped by a giant poster of the Stanley Kubrick epic – his favourite film. It’s an imposing image, and, I suspect, a somewhat loaded one.
“ Spartacus is a massive underdog story,” Astley enthuses. “It’s one guy rousing people to fight off the greatest empire on earth. And it’s a very British thing to root for the underdog.
Of course, I am in no way comparing myself to Spartacus – but...
” He thrusts an arm upwards in imitation of Kirk Douglas , and grins. It may not have involved spear-swinging centurions but Astley , 58, has lived through his own underdog story – two of them, in fact. The first came as a youth, he the shy lad from Lancashire who high-tailed it to London, conquering the charts on both sides of the Atlantic with his smash hit “Never Gonna Give You Up” by the time he was 21.
The second came in middle age, when, with the help of a bizarre internet meme , Astley resurrected his dormant career into something new, authentic, and surprisingly popular. Last year, his two sets at Glastonbury – one performing his own music, the other a full set of The Smiths covers backed by indie band Blossoms – were nothing short of triumphant . From the moment he marched out onto the Pyramid Stage, to the incongruous blare of the Star Wars theme, he had the 60,000-strong crowd rapt.
Where once Astley was tra.