Rock icon, animal rights activist and friend of the McCartneys,Jade Wright meets the force of nature that is Chrissie Hynde

THE passing of the years is a mellowing influence for most people. Their rough edges get knocked off over time, and life cools their raging fire to a lukewarm glow.

Not Chrissie Hynde. More than 30 years since The Pretenders’ first success, she remains ever youthful and unfeasibly cool, now an inspiration to a whole new generation of bands.

The Pretenders’ name has become a cultural marker, a shorthand for a sound which has generated a thousand imitations.

That they were led by a hard-rocking woman was no small factor in their early breakthrough. With her trademark dark fringe, dark eyeliner, and dark jeans, Hynde appealed to both genders and was able to escape many of the clichéd roles of women in rock music.

“Over the years we’ve been to Liverpool a lot,” says Chrissie, 57, in her hypnotic Anglo-American drawl.

“I used to love staying in the Adelphi, imagining all the bands who’ve stayed there before me.

“I liked to open up the closets to see if there were any groupies still in there.”

Despite – or maybe because of – being a former journalist, she rarely gives interviews, but she’s a fund of – sadly mostly unprintable – anecdotes, and I don’t want the time to end.

Formed during the tail end of the original punk movement, in 1978, The Pretenders’ first line-up comprised a set of acquaintances from Hereford, near the Welsh border – young players with a pop aesthetic who had missed out on the punk explosion of 1976, but were eager to catch up.

Now fractured by drug-related deaths and numerous subsequent personnel changes, Chrissie is the only continuous original member, but the spirit is still there.