Breakfast show presenter for BBC Radio Newcastle Alfie Joey is a man of many talents... including being a cartoonist and painter. As new works by him go on show in the region, he tells Ed Waugh he could so easily have followed his father down the pit

ALFIE JOEY is a man of many talents. Not only is he the jovial presenter of the BBC Radio Newcastle Breakfast Show, he's an internationally renowned stand-up comedian, a television actor, impressionist, singer and artist/cartoonist.

It's with the latter discipline that Alfie is currently celebrating another in his long line of successes.

A keen cartoonist and artist, the Thornley Colliery-born son of a miner has an exhibition of his work on in Newcastle. Presented by the North East Art Collective in the Eldon Square, Alfie's wide ranging cartoons, caricatures and nostalgic scenes from his coal mining background has garnering so many accolades from visitors that he's been asked to display his work there permanently.

"I'm absolutely overwhelmed with the response," says the 50-year-old. "My dad worked at Vane Tempest pit in Seaham and several uncles were miners in the East Durham Coal Field, so I have an affinity with mines, pitmen and their families.

"The first picture I sold was of miners eating their bait. My Uncle Terry said jam sandwiches were the most popular choice because it was the only thing you could taste down the pit. The sugar in the jam gave them moisture and energy. Some ate them with cheese or fruit cake. I drew this scene in chalks, popped it on a few online mining forums and the response was phenomenal. "

Alfie's other work comprises caricatures around Newcastle and Sunderland football clubs. A life-long Sunderland fan, Alfie is quick to praise the North-East. "I like to think my work depicts the proud traditions of the whole region; an industrial area with loyalty to their particular football clubs and an era when solidarity, unity and community were the watchwords.

"I had quite a political upbringing. My dad occasionally brought home the Morning Star and we were always encouraged to watch the news, read newspapers and discuss things. All the miners in my family were on strike in 1984/85, of course, and I remember being very proud seeing my dad march by the Vane Tempest banner at Durham Big Meeting."

Alfie, whose first home was Thornley Working Men’s Club, near Peterlee, admits his dad never wanted Alfie or his brother to follow him, and his father before him, down the pit.

A former pupil at St Bede's Comprehensive in Peterlee, Alfie trained to be a Catholic priest and then joined a religious order. During his drama degree at Middlesex University he gave up religious life to follow another calling - stand-up comedy. He has performed in Seoul, Shanghai, Dubai and Singapore, and has featured in radio and television shows such as Mitch Benn's Crimes Against Music on BBC Radio 4, ITV's Coronation Street, and BBC sitcoms Ideal and Hebburn.

Alfie is currently painting a series of North-East mines called Sunsetting on the Pits and is taking requests/commissions via #Icanpaintyourpit. "I'd love to draw all the pits in the region. It’s a tall order but what a satisfying challenge," he says.

In August, Alfie will have an exhibition at Spennymoor Town Hall with paintings displayed next to those of his hero Norman Cornish. And for good measure, he had also finished drawing a children’s picture book about a coal miner who mysteriously returns years after the last pit closed.

Given he's up every weekday at 5am to present the BBC Radio Newcastle Breakfast Show and is an in-demand comedy impressionist – in 2016 he appeared with fellow Mimic Man Cal Halbert on Britain’s Got Talent (the YouTube clip has had well over 2 million views) – how does he get the time to draw?

"I have to make time. I draw before and after the radio show," says the father of two young children. "I've drawn all my life but I'm finally giving it a real push and I'm enjoying it more than ever. One day, when radio no longer wants me, I'd like to do it on a full-time basis."

Alfie's success would be another feather in the cap of the region's art world alongside the established pitmen painters Norman Cornish, Tom Lamb, Bob Olley and Tom McGuinness.

Alfie's paintings are on display with other top artists from the region at the North-East Art Collective in Eldon Garden, Eldon Square, between 9am and 5.30pm except Thursday (until 7pm) and Sunday 11am to 5pm. Entry is free.

  • For more information visit ‘Alfie Joey Art’ on facebook and www.instagram.com/alfiejoey.art