Malcolm Lowry - famous worldwide, forgotten in his Wirral home
THE Bluecoat is currently running an exhibition about the Wirral-born author Malcolm Lowry, who is celebrated worldwide despite barely being remembered here in Merseyside.
His life-story is really fascinating - he drank too much and lived as a hermit for a while in Canada as well as spending some time in Mexico, where his one successful book Under the Volcano is set. It also includes references to Wirral.
While I was writing a feature about the exhibition and the Bluecoat's new book about Lowry, I discovered a local blogger who has become an unofficial expert on the author.
Colin Dilnot, a writer, artist and soul music blogger, has spent years researching Lowry's Wirral to resolve the discrepancies in different accounts of his childhood.
Here are some of the places he identified:
Lowry's birthplace: 13 North Drive, Wallasey
School: Braeside Preparatory School, 19 Kirby Park, West Kirby
The Taskersons' house (characters in Under the Volcano, based on real-life family the Furnesses): 103 Meols Drive, West Kirby
Other useful Lowry links:
Robert Sheppard recalls visiting Lowry's grave in Sussex.
Blog post on how the beauty of British Columbia inspired Lowry.
Account of Lowry leaving Liverpool docks as a 17-year-old boy.
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Laura Davis - Laura Davis is the Liverpool Daily Post's Arts Editor and 02 Digital Journalist of the Year 2009, which is in a large part due to this blog. She has a long-standing interest in local history and is keen to learn more about your own memories or discoveries about the history of Liverpool and the surrounding area.
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