Editing Pete McCarthy (section)

===Early life : 1951–1974===
McCarthy was born on 9 November 1951 in [[Warrington]], Lancashire.<ref name="Telegraph 2004">[[#Tel14|''The Telegraph'' 2004]].</ref> His Irish mother had moved to England during the [[Second World War]] to work as a nurse<ref name="McCB"/> and met her future husband at a dance. They had four children, of whom Peter was the first.<ref name="Stevens 2004">[[#Tel14|Stevens 2004]].</ref> McCarthy was educated at [[De La Salle School, St Helens|West Park Grammar School]] in [[St Helens, Merseyside|St Helens]], a [[Roman Catholicism|Roman Catholic]] institution run by the [[Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools|Christian Brothers]]. He later described this experience as "a mixture of [[Fire and brimstone|hellfire and brimstone]], [[corporal punishment]] and [[Adolescent sexuality|awakening sexuality]]". The Christian Brothers' authoritarian education methods, which included "a fair bit of random brutality",<ref name="McCB"/> he described as "[[carrot and stick]] without the carrot".<ref name="Telegraph 2004"/><ref name="Stevens 2004"/>

As a child, he spent his school holidays in [[Drimoleague]] in [[West Cork]], Ireland, and stayed with relatives on the farm called "Butlersgift" where his mother had grown up,<ref name="McCB"/> a place that he later described as "straight from a story book".<ref name="Telegraph 2004"/><ref name="Stevens 2004"/> This time spent in Ireland inspired a fascination with the country that was evident later in his travel writing.<ref name="Telegraph 2004"/><ref name="Stevens 2004"/> In his teenage years he considered becoming a member of the Roman Catholic clergy, but was dissuaded by his local priest.<ref name="Stevens 2004"/> After reading [[James Joyce]]'s ''[[A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man|Portrait of the Artist]]'' at the age of 14, he decided instead to be a writer.<ref name="Telegraph 2004"/>

McCarthy attended [[Leicester University]] and earned a first-class degree in [[English literature]]. He studied at a [[teacher training college]]<ref name="Telegraph 2004"/><ref name="Stevens 2004"/> and taught English and Drama at a [[comprehensive school]] on the coast of [[Suffolk]].<ref name="Stevens 2004"/>