PJ McKeown arrived in 1965 to Irish parents.
Like millions of others, they arrived in Lancashire for work in the 1940s. He claims to have created a new genre of writing called ‘Mirthsery’, a cross between humour and misery. A new philosophy for examining the concepts of migration, settlement, and home.
In the first volume of his autobiography – My Generation: The Memoirs of a Second-Generation Irish Wimpy Kid — McKeown familiarises us with the first decade of his life, having the craic on the mean streets of a multi-cultural inner city and in the green fields of mono-cultural Galway. Co-starring are his monolithic socialist father, his quasi-fascist mother, his extended family, various bands and his best pal JJ. Together they battle against corporal punishment, adult sectarianism and “slum” clearance
McKeown paints a truly colourful picture of a life full of laughter, anguish, comradeship and betrayal in equal measures. It’s a powerful recipe, with each enthralling slice of nostalgia served up with a dollop of irreverence and a sprinkling of sociology.
He arrived bright eyed, and bushy tailed in Aigburth in 1984. By understanding his story, you’ll likely discover something profound about your own.
In this hour, PJ McKeown will speak with the Liverpool Irish Festival Director, Emma Smith, about bringing his book in to public view.
Synopsis
‘Nobody’s Hero’, PJ McKeown. Volume 1 ‘My Generation. The memoirs of a second-generation Irish wimpy kid’
Born in Manchester 1965 to Irish parents, PJ McKeown describes himself as a failed footballer (amateur), a failed punk rocker, a nearly man alternative comedian, a failed radio presenter, a failed playwright and a nearly man social sciences lecturer. He claims that he can remember being born to the sounds of Walk Tall by Val Doonican.
In the introduction to ‘My Generation’ Volume 1 of his autobiography, he explains how — after being knocked down by a cyclist — he was off work for three months nursing a broken shoulder. He follows the orders of the young hospital doctor who prescribed that he should write his memoirs. Having read so many autobiographies of the rich and the famous, he is struck by what underwhelming, tepid and miserable exercises in trauma-dumping so many of them are. However, he is inspired by the few that he likes and this motivates him to pluck up the courage to pen his own memoirs. ‘Nobody’s Hero – the memoirs of a person of no importance or authority’ emerges. He legitimates how and why ordinary folk are entitled to document and share their tales.
In the earlier chapters he familiarises us with the first decade of his life, growing up as the youngest of six in a working-class Irish family in inner-city north Manchester. Co-starring are his parents: his monolithic, socialist father, his quasi-fascist mother and his extended family. We are given a whirlwind tour of north Manchester and the wide variety of multi cultural characters that live there.
Sociological snapshots
He offers a non-sentimental and semi-sociological snapshot of the daily lives of a large working-class family in the environment of the late 1960s and early 1970s. We are given an entertaining insight on slum clearance and overcrowding, and the up and downs of urban life at the time. This environment is in stark contrast to his experiences of holidays visiting grandparents and relatives in rural Ireland. He examines the great dichotomy of him having the craic on the mean streets of multi-cultural Cheetham and in the green fields of mono-cultural Galway, while being introduced to the sounds of the British invasion bands of the 1960s, Tamla Motown and The Dubliners and to many urban myths by his much older siblings. At a tender age he becomes a human juke box.
Through the eyes of a small boy, he devours and internalises the moon landings, the Troubles, The Eurovision Song Contest, the exploits of his favourite football teams, Top of The Pops and his favourite children’s and adults’ shows on the family’s black and white TV set. We are given an insightful yet scathing cultural tour of the times. From Babycham to football hooliganism.
Moving on, we meet his new neighbour turned best buddy/partner in crime (literally) JJ. Their continual scrapes with authority become well documented as they decide that they are the Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid of Cheetham.
Learning and punishment
At Catholic primary school they encounter some scary, lazy, violent, racist teachers and nuns (but some hardworking and agreeable ones, too). Corporal punishment at home and at school is the order of the day. Along with their languid friend ‘The Fish’, they regularly get the strap from ‘Sir’ but boy, often do they deserve it.
A young PJ is able to ride the slipstream of his much older siblings. He becomes engrossed in their music, friendships, phrases and fashion. By the age of 8, he is convinced he is Cheetham’s answer to Mick Jagger and would perform his soon-to-be legendary dance routines at the annual family weddings.
Tuning in to the black and white TV, he soon begins to understand football more and begins to fall even more in love with Manchester United, regardless of the fact that they are by now a poor shadow of their former selves. He begins to fantasise about wearing football kits that he will never be allowed to own, regardless of how many times he requests them for Christmas/birthday presents.
Fibs
By the middle of the book, half of his older siblings have got married and moved away. At the age of 9, he becomes an uncle for the first of many times. With hindsight he realises how many fibs his older siblings told him to keep him cooperative, and to keep themselves entertained. From Jimmy Page getting inspiration for Stairway to Heaven from visiting the local gas tower, to Marc Bolan writing Metal Guru on the local tip. When not winding him up, they spin him their discs and — ironically — these second-generation Irish boys love the British Invasions bands. In 1973 The Who released the album Quadrophenia, and the 8-year-old PJ decides that he is a mod and stages a one-man (one-boy) mod revival in his fishtail parka and navy-blue two-tone suit, but he can’t understand why he can’t attend The Who’s visits to Manchester in 1973 and 1975.
Relief from these crushing disappointments comes from trips to London to team up with his London-Irish first cousins as they search Wimbledon Common for evidence of The Wombles.
The second half
In the second half of the book, he becomes obsessed with the new Man United signing, Gerry Daly, and attempts to copy all his moves as he flies down the wing in the school’s Celtic-style kit. He has had plenty of practice weaving and running at speed, as he dodges his mum’s wildly flailing attacks with wet dish cloths and fists. This book could have easily been entitled ‘My Mother and Other Psychopaths’
He is a mother of invention, and he paints an extra white stripe onto each side of his M&S football boots in a sorry attempt to make them look like the real deal, as worn on TV’s The Kick-Off Match by Gerry Daly and Mick Martin. Unsurprisingly, this ends badly.
The times they are a-changing, and his older brother Seamus goes off to college, but before he goes, he takes the young PJ to his first match: Man United take on the Republic of Ireland in a testimonial game. This further fuels his passion for both teams. With a bedroom to himself but missing his older brother, he takes to making solo visits to the public library and writing his own music and film reviews. The librarians think he is bonkers. He thinks the library is nice and warm. But he isn’t just a book worm, and, like most young lads, he also enjoys risking his life and limbs playing “dare” with JJ and the newly formed ‘Cheetham Boyz’.
Fire fire!
In the later sections we find out how Bonfire Night of 1975 is an eye-opener for the boys, as it brings home and intensifies their experiences of sectarianism and social injustice when they have the wood they have gathered to build a new den stolen by adults who then racially abuse them.
Unlike his peers, PJ fails to grow. He has permanent stomach problems, but this doesn’t save him from the physical and psychological assaults of his rampaging mother, who even uses her children’s own toys to beat them with. While out on the streets, he and JJ are forced to flee the gangs of crazy boys from the neighbouring badlands of Collyhurst and Broughton. PJ also has to avoid a neighbouring teenager and a local shopkeeper, who both have an extremely unhealthy interest in small boys.
More, more, more
So escapism becomes the order of the day. PJ, his sisters, and their friends hold group appreciation sessions of the music charts, tuning into the Top 30 radio show on a Sunday evening, armed with a communal loaf of bread, a tin of hot chocolate and some new dance steps. PJ particularly appreciates Andrea True Connection’s More, More, More and Candi Staton’s (still one of his favourites) Young Hearts Run Free.
The springs and summers of the mid-1970s are red hot and so it proves perfect when the council inadvertently build the Cheetham boys their own football stadium, by making embankments around a local patch of grass to stop travellers from setting up their caravans there. Known simply as “The Field” it becomes the epicentre of their football, fashion and status competitions.
In the 1974-5 season, and the fall and rise of Manchester United under ‘The Doc’ is enough to give you ulcers. A doctor is also needed for PJ’s recurring stomach problems, but none is sought while he and JJ worry about getting caught after their trips to Woolworths to “liberate” consumer desirables.
Holidays
Holidays to Ireland are supposed to be relaxing and soothing. The trip of 1975 deteriorates into trouble as simmering family feuds spill over into full-blown verbal and physical violence that no child should ever have to witness. Returning from the tour of terror and back in the relative peacefulness of inner-city north Manchester, PJ and his peers have another hurdle to face. Tutored by a terrier nun from Belfast, they have to prepare for, and sit, the dreaded 11+ exam. This feat of social engineering will determine which type of secondary school each one of them will attend and will ration their life chances.
Light relief from such pressures and anxieties should come in the shape of Christmas and New Year, but yuletide can be far from a happy time for working-class families with a father who has a love of overtime rates and a burning hatred for the Queen’s speech.
In January 1976 PJ somewhat surprisingly strolls successfully through the 11+ exam, which he sits on his actual 11th birthday. His parents are delighted, but PJ is distraught that this means that he will not be going to the same secondary school as JJ and ‘The Fish’. And the inverted snobbery and resentment of local parents further spoils the atmosphere.
Closing chapters
Towards the end of the book we see how the joy of the hot summer of 1976 is offset by a dodgy offside goal in the FA Cup Final which results in an extremely painful and traumatic day for PJ. The realisation that the lads are now destined for different schools, along with the rise of Margaret Thatcher and the decline of Harold Wilson, mean that things will never the same again. Rome has fallen. Thatcher’s diatribes lead to the Notting Hill riot and the emergence of The Sex Pistols. And after watching both social explosions on TV, PJ’s attitude to life is irreparably altered.
As life in Britain heads towards anarchy and rebellion, PJ is delivered to the confines of an all-boys’ Catholic grammar school institution. On his first day at secondary school, he discovers that he has entered a madhouse. It’s a major emotional and cultural crossroad in his life, which his father later claims to have no memory of. PJ soon finds that he cannot slot into the middle-class pretentions of the school, and in parallel he is rejected by many of his working-class friends. How will he cope with this insanity? (All will be explained in Volume 2) but, just like his new school ruler, he is “Shatter Resistant – Made in England”.
Spiro Biro Poet and Literary Editor Bifocal magazine, November 2024.
