with motor racing and F1 Ferrari's driver Wolfgang von Trips. Rea was the lead actor in the 1999 comedy film Parting Shots, alongside Felicity Kendal, John Cleese, Bob Hoskins and Joanna Lumley. Rea, ironically, played a character who was told that cancer gave him six weeks to live and decided to kill those people who had badly affected his life. Afterwards, two feature-length films were made for the Santo Spirito Blues project, just "so that I could do the music". References in lyrics Rea has acknowledged that several of his songs were "born out of Middlesbrough", his hometown. The verse "I'm standing by a river, but the water doesn't flow / It boils with every poison you can think of" from "The Road to Hell", the songs "Steel River" which refers to a nickname for the River Tees, and "Windy Town, reflect Rea's feelings about the industrial decline of Middlesbrough and the re-development of the town centre while he was out of the country touring through the years: Personal life Health In 1994, Rea was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and underwent a life-saving operation to remove his pancreas, gallbladder, and a portion of his liver. As a result, he has type 1 diabetes. Family life Rea is married to Joan Lesley, with whom he has been in a relationship since they met as teenagers on 6 April 1968 in their native Middlesbrough. They have two daughters, Josephine, born 16 September 1983, and Julia Christina, born 18 March 1989. Josephine lectures on Renaissance art in Florence and Julia studied at the University of St Andrews. Rea used to live at Cookham, Berkshire, where he owned Sol Mill Recording Studios and produced some of his later albums. When he is not writing songs, other interests particularly include painting. Rea says that he likes to "read a lot and even though I chose music, journalism was my first passion. I wanted to be a journalist and write about car racing [...] somewhere deep down I believe I could have been a decent journalist". Cars and motor racing Rea is a fan of historic motor racing and races a Ferrari Dino, a Ferrari 328, and a 1955 Lotus 6. In 1993, he participated in the 1993 British Touring Car Championship ToCa shootout as a guest driver. He owned and raced the 1964 Lotus Elan 26R, and the well known Caterham 7 from the Auberge