We were so Happy (1975)

Bill Kenwright

 

Maybe Bill is somewhere in this school photograph with Paul?

While looking for reviews of the Wings 1975 tour, I discovered this interesting story about Bill Kenwright.  It was written in celebration of the Liverpool Institute for Boys 150th anniversary.  Bill was a will known playwrite who went to the Institute in the late 1950s -- the same time as Paul and George.  

Bill and Paul were working together several years ago on the stage musical version of "It's a Wonderful Life."  Sadly Bill passed away in 2023 and Paul is no longer involved in the musical project. 

And We Were So Happy

By John Price

Liverpool Echo

September 26, 1975

    Bill Kenwright, a Liverpool Institute boy, actor who has spanned stages from the Royal Shakespeare Company to Gordon Clegg in Coronation Street, impresario who has made, lost, and remade fortunes with stage shows around the world, sits grinning in his office high above London's Strand. 

    Did he remember his old school? "Yes". Did he like it? "Yes". Did it model him for his future career? "Not really". Was it some great academic launching pad? "Not for me." 

    What was it?  "You either wanted to be an Institute boy or you wanted to go to Quarry Bank. I always wanted it to be the Institute. It had an aura about it. 

    Bill, now 30, was an Institute boy for seven years from 1957. Looking back, he says he can recall almost every day. For a start, he was terrified of the headmaster. 

    "He was an imposing figure in a way. He was good. If you've got 1000 kids, it could turn into a Blackboard Jungle. For about a year, there were really heavy gang fights in the playground, so it needed a rock there.

     "The standard of teaching was fantastic, especially in the sixth form. The teachers broke down the barrier and would sit on the desks and talk to you, man to man. We'd get time off to study. And the marvelous thing about it was all the societies, dramatic society, debating society, everything you wanted was there. 

    "In my first six months, I was terrified. I wanted to leave. It was a big, black, doomy building, and I trembled when I walked in. It wasn't well-maintained, and some of the desks were like out of Dickens. I could remember sneaking in the morning, and there was this woman in the kitchen, and she'd scream out, 'You're late again, love,' and I'd hide.

    "Paul McCartney lived up the road from us, and we used to go in on the bus together. Now, when we meet, we always chat about school. We loved it. To the boys who were there, even the ones who didn't do well, the Institute has this incredible family feel about it. 

    "At the time I was there. Peter Sissons of News at 10 was there. The mccartneys were there. Harrison was there. I think it was the school that started the beat boom in Liverpool. It's a part of Liverpool's history.

     "The Institute seemed to build a type of person, perhaps not brilliant, but important. They gave you freedom. They didn't knuckle you under. They encouraged you to think and branch out a bit. It wasn't a posh school like Quarry Bank. We came from all over the city. We had toughies, yobs, the clever ones. I think it was this mix that mattered, and there was a great loyalty to the school."

     Would he send anyone else there? Kenwright burst out laughing. "I'd go back myself. I'd really take advantage of it. I'd love to see it again. Go up and see where I carved my initials next to McCartney and Arthur Askey. It must have been love in that school. Great memories."