He became a rock icon by standing on one leg while playing the flute. Ian Anderson tells of his love/hate relationship with his home town of Blackpool, as his band prepare to play there on March 5.

Interviewing Ian Anderson of rock band Jethro Tull is nerve-wracking business.

Before the phone interview his publicity people e-mailed over a huge document titled "all too frequently asked questions" in which Anderson had answered at length every conceivable question about his life, ambitions and music career spanning four decades.

"The following is an imaginary interview of the sort which I do several times a day at the peak of promotional activity," he wearily explained at the top of the piece.

"The most common topics eat up valuable time, thereby reducing the number of interesting and original questions and answers which might have been fitted in."

Nuggets of information he helpfully imparted include how the band got its name (their agent came up with different name every week to get re-booked in clubs and that was the one they were using when offered residency at London's famous Marquee Club); why they disbanded in 1973 (they didn't it was a publicity stunt); his views of pop and rock over the last three decades (nothing is really new but each new generation of young musicians rediscovers the wheel); and his family set-up (lives with wife of 23 years Shona, two children James and Gael, five cats, two dogs, horses and chickens in an 18th century English country house but also owns a salmon farm in Scotland).

So, the pressure was on to come up with well-researched original questions.

I'd decided to focus on the new album (Aqualung Live a live version of their Grammy award-winning classic album with royalties donated to the homeless ) and how he felt about returning to Blackpool after his childhood there.

In actual fact, I could have picked up on the phone and not uttered a word for Anderson is one man who can talk.

And talk he did. It felt rather like he opened his mouth and his soul came spilling out.

In 40 minutes we covered everything from his first crush to feelings of guilt that wild cats are hunted for their skins.

A delightfully grumpy old man, Anderson doesn't own a fast car, never having taken a driving test, and admits to having a wardrobe of "singularly uninspiring and drab leisurewear."

He decided to donate the royalties from the new CD to homeless charities because the title track Aqualung tells the story of a homeless person.

"It's about an old, dishevelled homeless man," he said.

"It's suggested he might be a little bit predatory, a little too fond of little girls.

"There's a dark side to it all and it's about the feelings and the mixed emotions we all have about homeless people.

"We feel revulsion and compassion and these mixed feelings gives us a sense of guilt."

Anderson was born in Scotland but spent his formative years in Blackpool, of which his memories are not particularly happy.

He says the town put him off holidays for good and he hasn't been back to visit since his parents died some years ago.

"I suppose it was a good place to grow up in," he admits.

"When the holidaymakers weren't there it had a different side to it and it was OK then, but sharing your town with thousands of noisy, badly-behaved people... I have a love hate relationship with it."

Catch Jethro Tull at Blackpool Opera House on Sunday, March 5 (call 01253 292 029).