Footballer turned Hollywood hard man Vinnie Jones has spoken exclusively to the Guardian about his upcoming visit to London and Essex.  

In a telephone interview from his LA home, reporter Natalie Glanvill finds out about the charitable side to the former midfielder ahead of the 'Experience with Vinnie Jones' nine-day UK tour in spring. 

Two of the black-tie evenings will be hosted by luxury event promoters Simply Prestige on May 8 at Old Billingsgate in London and on May 9 at an unconfirmed West Essex Location. 

The "family" trip to England with his wife, Tanya, and daughter Kaley, will start with a stopover in Dubai for its horse-racing World Cup Carnival and will coincide with filming for the lead role in an independent British film.

But he is most excited about raising awareness of the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and spending time with his four-month old grandson Harry.

Tanya had an emergency heart transplant 28 years ago at the age of 21

In 2012, he became the face of BHF's Hands-Only CPR campaign with his training video to the Bee Gee's 'Staying Alive'.  

He said: "Working with Simply Prestige is another way of raising money for the British Heart Foundation and Harefield Hospital.

"Many people know my wife has had a heart transplant and I want to raise awareness of CPR. 

"When you save 30 or 40 people's lives with a really funny commercial, it’s great. 

"I really underestimated it at the beginning and didn’t realise how big it was going to become. I’ve got some fantastic letters in my office from people that have been saved by the commercial. 

"It’s really heart warming." 

East London and West Essex Guardian Series:

Vinnie as frontman of the hard-fast hands-only CPR campaign

He became today's Hollywood actor after capitalising on his hard man image on the pitch, making his film debut in Guy Ritchie's Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch.  

When asked about his LA lifestyle and the public respecting his charity work, he added: "I think people that want to take note of my charity work, do, and people that don’t want to or do not like me, turn a blind eye. 

"I’m not trying to force it down peoples’ throats. I’ve been doing it for a long time now and a lot of it goes unnoticed.

"You can do one hundred good things and you do one bad thing and that gets all the publicity. I’ve learnt to live with that over the last 20 years.

"LA is my workplace and when I’m not working I’m playing golf. The sun shines from 7 o’clock to 7 at night. You wake up and its 70 degrees and perfect golfing weather.

"I will be coming over to see my three-month old grandson Harry and I’m more excited about this than anything else. Aaron (son) has named him after Prince Harry which is fantastic.

"That is the greatest thing about coming over." 

The exact location for the West Essex event will be released next week