[1] Henry McAleavy was born to an Irish Roman Catholic working-class family in Manchester.
His father died when he was a child, and his mother brought him up while working in a cotton mill.
After leaving school he worked as a clerk in a solicitor's office before getting a place at Manchester University to read classics.
[1] After the war he joined the School of Oriental and African Studies.
[2] McAleavy recommended paying attention to the 'unofficial history' of attitudes revealed in popular novels and newspapers.