Sir Tom Jones has form in self-isolation, having spent a significant chunk of his childhood cooped up at home.
The 79-year-old singer spent two years confined to a terraced house in Wales after testing positive for tuberculosis.
Taking part in the One World: Together At Home gig last week, the It’s Not Unusual crooner and The Voice UK judge grew emotional as he reflected on the years spent in quarantine.
He said: “I’ve lived a long time, I’ve seen a lot of things, I’ve experienced a lot of things.
“Like this house, for instance, right here, that’s 44 Laura Street, where I was born and brought up. I was isolated there for two years with tuberculosis in that house, and I thought that was bad then.
Sir Tom Jones opened up about his two-year quarantine during a recent charity gig (Image: Getty Images for Bauer Media)
“But the National Health Service helped me then like they’re helping all of us right now. Stick with it, be together and we’ll survive. God bless you.”
Back in 1952, at the age of 12, Tom started to complain of exhaustion, with his mum Freda ushering him to the doctors for a check-up.
Experts found a spot of tuberculosis on his left lung, with docs urging his mother to send him away to a sanatorium in the Highlands.
Freda refused, instead receiving permission from local authorities to aid Tom’s recovery from home.
At the age of 12, doctors diagnosed Tom with a case of tuberculosis
The schoolboy spent the next two years confined to the back parlour, watching his pals and neighbours from behind a pane of glass.
Speaking of the quarantine in his autobiography, Over the Top and Back, he said: “I learned a lesson there, not to take health for granted.
“I knew I was going to get well, but it was hard. I used to look outside and see the other kids playing and I couldn’t go out there.
The world-famous crooner grew up in a terraced house in Pontypridd, Wales (Image: Mirrorpix)
“I always thought to myself, ‘Once I am well, I’ll never complain about anything again.’ Any time anything gets tough, I always think of that.”
He later remarked: “For nine months I didn’t get dressed. I wore nothing but flannel pyjamas and a dressing gown and was at home only to the doctor, who called weekly for my check-up.”
Before adding: “Inevitably, within weeks of my solitary existence beginning, the novelty had largely evaporated and given way to feelings of isolation, frustration and raking boredom – a cabin fever set to last for months.
Tom’s love for music grew during the years spent cooped up indoors (Image: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)
“I’d get glimpses of the life going on without me. Terrible to be disconnected from them, to be the boy who couldn’t come out.”
Thankfully, the period of isolation taught The Voice coach one valuable lesson – the power of music.
Spending day after day indoors, he turned to the music filtering out from the radio for company – kickstarting a career of international stardom.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
