Video: Breaking his silence after 25 years, the Housemartin who flew away

"I was oblivious to everything else, holding Katy's hand, telling her to push, looking at the army of medical people and then all of a sudden listening to The Beautiful bloody South," Ted recalled.

"It was Song for Whoever. Their first hit. And it got me thinking – if I had kept my mouth shut, stayed with The Housemartins, gone on Top of the Pops. We would have been in clover.

"I just remember some of the special occasions in my life being haunted by the songs of The Housemartins and The Beautiful South. I guess it's the Pete Best syndrome – the one who was left behind."

Twenty five years on it may be water under the Humber Bridge, but from late 1985 The Housemartins hit the big time. Their songs were bright and bouncy, sugar-coating lyrics that urged people to challenge the political status quo. The sleeve notes on their 1986 debut album, London 0 Hull 4, urged listeners to "Take Jesus – Take Marx – Take Hope."

But the fifth Housemartin rarely gave any indication that he regretted leaving. Only now, inspired by a retrospective approach to his current output, has Ted spoken openly about walking out on a group that would first top the UK charts and ultimately go global.

Ted returned to The Gargoyles, a madcap rockabilly outfit who had earlier lost both Ted and drummer Hugh Whitaker to Paul Heaton's band.

"From the start The Gargoyles were what you might call eccentric," Ted recalled.

"I was a bit more ambitious. I'd seen Paul Heaton and Stan Cullimore as the two-piece Housemartins, I could see their potential and I could also see that with The Gargoyles it was just a gang of mates having a laugh."

So when Paul Heaton decided to expand Ted lied and said he could play bass. He also knew where they could find a drummer.

"I poached myself and Hugh from The Gargoyles and we started rehearsing in the kitchen at Paul's terraced house in Grafton Street."

Their earliest tours were on board National Express coaches – they couldn't afford a van and the company was offering discounts linked to wrappers from Mars bars.

"We ate a lot of Mars bars and saved the wrappers to get cheap tickets. We would take the guitars, the snare and the cymbals on the coach and try to borrow the rest of the gear."

Everything took off after a gig in Hammersmith with Billy Bragg, who passed a demo tape to the people at Go! Discs. The first record contract was signed at the Adelphi club in Hull.

The debut single, Flag Day, is still viewed by many as their best work, although it was the bouncy pop of Sheep and then Happy Hour that appealed to wider audiences before Caravan of Love took them to the top of the charts. But for Ted the wheels fell off early.

"There were tensions even before the first recordings," he revealed. "I think Stan felt threatened because I was a guitarist and songwriter more than a bass player.

"And there were personal problems – Paul had moved to Hull with his girlfriend. After they broke up I started going out with her, which was a bit silly.

"And I didn't fancy the rock star lifestyle. In the end I told the band I would record the album but wasn't sure what I wanted to do after that. The record company decided I should leave there and then."

After a gig in Carlisle in the autumn of 1985 Ted went home to Hull and The Housemartins headed to London for a TV date with new bass player Norman Cook.

Ted remembers the quirky stuff, like repairing their first tour van by applying an egg to seal a leaking radiator. He recalls trips to Cologne with Paul Heaton and a gig at an early WOMAD festival on Mersea Island, images of which appeared on the sleeve of London 0 Hull 4.

Evidence of serious chart success can be found in Ted's downstairs loo where, hanging on the wall, is a gold disc in recognition of his contribution to the album.

Ted's website, www.tedkey.co.uk, reveals a personal approach to his current work. Your Songs is a new venture, writing personalised material to order for special occasions. The latest CD, Madolescent Street, features Hugh Whitaker on drums and draws on Ted's observations of Hull – the floods of 2007, the decline of the fishing industry.

His live show mixes the new with the old: "I looked back at how much material I had from my time with The Housemartins, re-learned a few of the band's songs and added them to the more recent work.

"I wouldn't want to make it sound like Paul and Stan didn't start the band and didn't write most of the material. But I'm over the bitterness, and my wife says if I had become successful I might have put it all up my nose and been dead by now!"

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