Paul Butterworth

Paul was born in the UK in Epsom Surrey, within sight of the racecourse, in 1956 but was moved north while still a few months old, transported in the bottom draw of a chest of draws to Lancashire, where his father, who was a C of E vicar, took up a new post in his first parish, Walsden. Previously he had been minister of a children's home. There he spent seven happy years running wild in the woods (mainly to escape his two elder brothers and sister) before being dragged away to the urban parish of Gildersome just south of Leeds. His mother, who had an early interest in speech and drama, trained at Alexandra palace in the 1930's traveling down every week from Blackpool. She was the youngest ever gold medal winner for the poetry society and about to take up her first West End roles when she fell in love with one of her pupils, a poor curate.