Why The Prisoner can't escape from us

But this is the edge of Broomhill, not Fulwood, as the actor remembers. So has he, like a lot of other people, claimed to live in a posher part of Sheffield than he did?

Standing outside the house is his school friend Sid Grant, now 80, who sat next to him in class.

"I was the only one who would because he had perforated eardrums. That meant his ears ran," said Sid, a fellow pupil at St Vincent's School in Solly Street.

Sid is sure of the address because his father, haulage contractor William Grant, moved the family there from their previous home in Clarendon Street, now under a Sheffield University car park.

McGoohan's father Tom and his wife Rose are shown at Clarkehouse Road in the 1937-8 electoral roll.

Sid's mother was an Italian Catholic, so he knows the McGoohan family was brought over from Ireland by parish priest Father MacDonagh.

Like McGoohan, Sid took up acting at St Vincent's but gave it up when his father, who could not read nor write, said he wanted him to stick to the family business.

What do you think? Did a famous person live near you? Post your comments below.

"He said, never mind the bloody acting, get this work done."

Young Sid was called up towards the end of the war. He last saw his old school pal in the cinema, on film.

"I jumped up and made myself a right fool when I shouted 'I used to go to school with that kid!'"

Another reader, Roger Tagg, has placed the family at Clarkehouse Road. So was Patrick McGoohan so very wrong when he claimed to have lived at Fulwood?

Others say the family had a house in or near Notre Dame school, where father Tom worked as a gardener.

Pauline Maycock, now 75, of Walkley, remembers the cottage in "a gated area" by the school.

Rose McGoohan made dresses for Pauline and her sister. Pauline danced with Patrick at De La Salle College.

Then there's Dennis Oakes of Bradfield, who recalls working on at extension at Notre Dame when an old man walked by, pointed to a couple of old cottages, and told him Patrick McGoohan's father had lived there.

Patrick McGoohan on the web.

Patrick McGoohan information.

Patrick McGoohan interview.

Patrick McGoohan news and information.

They are now demolished.

Jean Bradley remembers a cottage through gates, while Audrey Birkhead says it was ‘at the side of Notre Dame.’

Barry Craven has a 1942 Kelly’s Directory which lists Rose McGoohan, dressmaker, at 352 Fulwood Road.

Gladys Reaney, now 79, remembers calling at that address, across the road from Notre Dame, for one of McGoohan’s sisters.

Another reader has a 1951 Kelly’s which has ‘Thomas McGhoon,’ at 373 Fulwood Road.

The family moved several times, but what are we to make of Peter Leonard from Richmond being told that Patrick lived at Wilson’s Snuff Mills, Sharrow Vale?

Could he have left home by then? It would account for him being placed in Sedan Street, Pitsmoor, by another reader, William Bembridge, or in nearby Rock Street (in 1945) by Constance Clarke.

n SHEFFIELD should commemorate Patrick McGoohan with one of the stars in the Hall of Fame outside the Town Hall, says publisher Bruce Sachs.

“There is a slight possibility if they were to do that he would come over from California,” says Bruce, of Tomahawk Press.

Next month he publishes Patrick McGoohan: Danger Man or Prisoner, by Roger Langley at 19.95: available on www.tomahawkpress.com.

The Six of One Prisoner Appreciation Society is thinking about putting up a plaque at an address associated with McGoohan.

Next week is the 40th anniversary of the first showing of The Prisoner, the iconic Sixties TV series.

Bruce says McGoohan is the most famous actor to come out of Sheffield. That will upset fans of Sean Bean.

Author Langley promises the new information will be added to later editions.

“Your readers certainly have come up trumps. I will be passing on to Patrick McGoohan the good wishes of all his old neighbours, classmates and work colleagues.”