[1] He left school at 14 and became a crane operator in the iron and steel industry, becoming active in forerunners of the ISTC.
He remained in north-east England until he moved south with his two children and his wife Joan.
[3] During the action, Sirs came into conflict with Ian MacGregor, the man appointed by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to slim down British Steel Corporation, then a nationalised industry.
[4] Sirs subsequently incurred the wrath of other trade unionists by his intervention in the miners' strike of 1984.
[5] Sirs was a member of the St Ermin's group, an organised group of right-wing trade unionists meeting at the St Ermin's Hotel with the aim of preventing the Bennite left taking over the Labour Party.