For a borough of its size, Knowsley has produced a remarkable number of well-known names — in sport, on television and on the stage.
The most famous is probably Steven Gerrard, who grew up on the Bluebell estate in Huyton before going on to captain Liverpool and England, and is widely regarded as one of the finest midfielders the country has produced.
Kirkby gave the country a world champion of a different kind. John Conteh learned to box at a club in the town and went on to become Commonwealth gold medallist and world light-heavyweight champion in the 1970s — one of British boxing’s great figures.
Huyton’s Phil Redmond shaped decades of British television. The writer and producer created Grange Hill, Brookside and Hollyoaks, dramas that ran for years and put working-class life on prime-time screens.
The stage has its Knowsley names too. The Kirkby-born actor Andrew Schofield was the first narrator of the musical Blood Brothers when it opened in 1983, and has worked across screen and theatre since. Huyton, meanwhile, was home to the comedian Freddie Starr, who became a household name after Opportunity Knocks.
It is a roll call that says something about the borough: plenty of talent, and plenty of it that made its name far beyond Merseyside.
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