Sheen says late dad inspired desire to help others

Actor Michael Sheen said his late father inspired his philanthropic nature, as he paid tribute to him following his death.

Meyrick Sheen, who was well known in his home town of Port Talbot for working as a Jack Nicholson impersonator and for his contributions to the community, died last month at the age of 85.

Speaking about him for the first time since his death, his son described him as "an extraordinary character" and said he and his family had received "an outpouring of love and messages".

Sheen said his father's coffin was carried into church for his funeral earlier this week by six people, each from an organisation his dad was involved with and ionate about.

In Port Talbot, there is a mural of Michael Sheen and, the day after his dad died, his sister saw someone painting his dad's face on the wall too, next to his.

He said that for his 83-year-old mum Irene, who met his dad when she was 14, it was an "extraordinarily emotional moment", adding it was now somewhere he would take his children.

"It's quite difficult to talk about and process for young children, the ing of someone, the death of a grandparent," he said.

"But to be able to take them to see this picture of their grandfather on the wall, it's very moving."

Sheen has recently co-written his first book for children, called A Home for Spark the Dragon.

He said he jumped at the chance to create something his children would be able to read, and that could also be about issues he is ionate about.

In the story, Spark, who Sheen said "had to be a red dragon", has his nest destroyed in a storm.

The book treads the line of raising the difficult issue of homelessness - an issue extensively campaigned for by Sheen - while offering an entertaining, engaging tale.

"I thought this was a really great opportunity to be able to address issues around what a home is and homelessness in a way that creates, maybe a context for children to start having those conversations with the adults in their life," he said,

"Maybe start to understand it, and have a frame of reference to talk about it, and ultimately, to do something about it."

Sheen has a 26-year-old daughter Lily and two younger children - Lyra, five, and Mabli, aged three.

He has seen his children's shocked reaction to seeing homeless people living on the street and said we should all still feel that way.

"When my own children have seen someone who's in a tent or on the street, in a doorway or whatever, there's a kind of a sense of disbelief that they have.

"We as adults, have become numb to it. The appropriate response is to go, how on earth can that be possible?

"And so there's something about a child's reaction to it that I think we can actually learn from."

He recalled reading his girls the book for first time and said he gave it his all to win their favour, itting it was "probably the performance of my life".