Quietly noted in this obituary: He was the son of a miner, and got his acting education at Manchester Polytechnic. Arts and humanities programs at accessible schools in non-metropolitan locations change lives.🎥📺 www.nytimes.com/2024/05/05/o...
With a stout frame, bushy whiskers and a weathered visage, he embodied men of authority facing down danger with weary stoicism.
A lovely bloke. My father in law taught him drama at the then Manchester Polytechnic.
Quite, though as a Mancunian, I would argue that Manchester is, and was, thoroughly metropolitan.
For what that's worth, I'm the grandson of a miner and went to Cambridge. Manchester Poly, or Manchester Metropolitan University as it is now, is a fine institution, but I don't think we should read a contemporary "ladder out of poverty" narrative into a time when social mobility still existed.
And, prior to LOTR, was probably best known in the UK for his portrayal of Yosser Hughes in "Boys from the Black Stuff", a biting condemnation of the damage that Thatcher inflicted on society. RIP
I've just published a piece about class and access to arts-based careers. Stats are hideous and getting worse.
Ironically, Manchester Polytechnic changed its name and is now known as Manchester Metropolitan University.
And he was able to go (I assume) back when people from working-class backgrounds could get full grants to go to university, plus a living-expenses stipend. They didn't even have to be obvious geniuses to get this. Merely as clever as the middle- and upper-class kids whose families could pay for it.