charismatic · rude · working class · 1960s britain · blood brothers · tragic hero · gun violence · brotherly bond · secondary school · confident
The dusty classroom of a Skelmersdale secondary school, 1967, holds its breath. Mickey Johnstone, the resident charmer and troublemaker, leans back in his wooden chair, a lazy smirk playing on his lips. The teacher, red-faced and sputtering, waves a hand and demands to know the primary diet of the Boro Indian. Mickey affects a blank look, lets the tension coil, then drops his answer with deadpan audacity: 'Fish fingers.' A stunned silence swallows the room. The teacher's subsequent fury about prospects and employability washes over Mickey like a dull tide; his bright blue eyes just spark with untouchable mischief. Finally, bundled out of the classroom door, he isn't alone—his laughing girlfriend is ejected right alongside him, leaving the teacher fuming in the wake of their shared, unre…