British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his wife Cherie. Blair admitted on a television programme that he has never sent flowers to his wife Cherie and that he had a youthful crush on Hollywood beauty Grace Kelly (AFP)

British Prime Minister Tony Blair admitted on a television programme that he has never sent flowers to his wife Cherie and that he had a youthful crush on Hollywood beauty Grace Kelly.

Blair, who allowed Channel 4 interviewer June Sarpong to shadow him for two days last month, made other personal revelations when asked questions he rarely hears on the usual television political programs.

During the interviews for a program targeting 18-30 year olds, the prime minister admitted he sometimes has to "wing it" when making public appearances and that he yearns to go out for a drink without being recognised.

However, the most dramatic revelation was his reply to Sarpong's question whether he still sends his wife flowers, prompting his interviewer to shriek in disbelief.

"I've never sent her flowers. If I sent her flowers, she would get worried," Blair said.

But he added: "I am romantic. There are other ways of being romantic."

Blair needed a few moments to recall which posters he had on his bedroom wall as a youngster, then revealed: "I'll tell you. Actually, when I was younger, I loved Grace Kelly."

Born in 1929, Kelly starred in films like 'Dial M For Murder', 'Rear Window' and 'High Society' in the mid-1950s, but quit acting to marry Prince Rainier of Monaco in 1956, when Blair was just two years old.

Blair admitted he initially found it "odd" to be prime minister and to be rushed in motorcades from appointment to appointment, and worried that his lifestyle left him "a bit isolated" from ordinary people.

He admitted that he was constantly on the phone between public appearances, and rarely had time to prepare for his next event, telling Sarpong: "I wing it all the time."

And he revealed he has to check himself before he replies to hostile questions from the public. "The worst thing is when someone is giving you a real earful and you think 'I'm going to say something I will regret'," he said.

Asked what he would do if he could be invisible for a day, Blair yearned for a more ordinary life, saying he would "just walk down the street and go to the pub... just be absolutely normal".

(Agencies)