West Kirby: The coastal town that links Bill Ryder-Jones and Daniel Craig
On the face of it, the deep melancholy and fragile introspection soaring at the heart of Bill Ryder-Jones‘ sounds don’t quite paint the same picture as Daniel Craig’s steel-faced, sexy James Bond, flipping over oncoming vehicles and somehow keeping his shirt a crisp, pristine white in the process.
However, though born 15 years apart, very few know that both wandered the same streets of West Kirby, pulling from the same pool of influences confined to a few dozen corners in this quaint town in the northwest of England.
You might recognise the name from Ryder-Jones’ third solo acclaimed body of work, West Kirby County Primary, which was named after the local school he attended and translates those immutable, unfurling tinges of half-there feelings that only resurface in the most brazen of memories.
The landscape of the area, all deserted beaches and yawning stretches of water, makes West Kirby the perfect area to birth these stringy half-felt stomach pangs: “Where do you go when you don’t know you’ve done wrong? Slipping on, running from, waking alone,” The Corals’ guitarist sings on ‘Two Singles to Birkenhead’.
Though the town sits on the edge of the peninsula, it isn’t just the perfect breeding ground for this end-of-the-world emotionality. It’s also the perfect, quaint kind of place to drum up a classically informed British sensibility, all small family-run cafes and village shops. In this way, it seems suitable that Craig moved to the area following his parents’ divorce, where he grew into the man we all recognise from the big screen today.
The hidden Edwardian gem of a destination was the perfect place for Craig to uncover his acting ability; he attended Hilbre High School in West Kirby, where he began acting in school plays. His teacher, Hilary Green, has often recalled considering Craig a “natural talent” from the moment he stepped into the class.
Though Craig is not as tight-lipped as the younger swath of celebrities trying their hand at a life in the limelight these days, he has reflected on how his ambitions fizzled in the small-town mindset of the tucked-away location.
He once recounted, “My mum used to take me to the cinema, and I thought, ‘Hell yeah, it would be great to be up there on that huge screen’. Of course, as a working-class kid growing up in West Kirby, I had no idea how I’d get there. Maybe that’s part of the reason that it’s taken me 20 years.”
When the blinding iridescence of the headlights hits, it’s easy to shrug off your humble past and identify with the born-again celebrity stardom most doe-eyed fans offer up. You can be whoever you want and reinvent the wheel, but for both of these creatives, West Kirby wasn’t ever a place to shy away from, but was evidence of their grounded upbringing, proof that humble beginnings can lead to great things, or, as the English proverb says, “From little acorns mighty oaks do grow”.
