We asked the singer and songwriter, 45, what his younger self would make of him today...

I was the baby of the family - Noel's five years older than me, Paul's seven - but my mam treated us all the same. Burnage was a great place to grow up. It's not as moody as people make out. It's in between Didsbury, which is a nice area, and Heaton Moor, which is posh as p---. In Manchester, everyone aspires to be there.

If I was always out playing football, load of energy, never depressed, not a loner, just rounding up the troops let's go and have a bit of mischief. Always chasing the girls - but once you got 'em, I was like, "I'd rather go out with the lads".

I was about seven when my mam left my dad. He was out all the time, fighting, beating my mam up, beating Noel and Paul up. Never touched me, though. Then, one night, while he was out, my mam got her brothers round, got all our gear in a truck, left him a mattress, and we went off to our new house.