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I was one of the many kids in Northern Ireland who grew up in the countryside and had an idyllic childhood well away from the Troubles.

I was born in Northern Ireland in 1951. I lived most of my life there until 1986 or 1987.

I was brought up Irish, where there was room for my own private world.

I was raised in a very old fashioned Ireland where women were reared to be lovely.

I grew up in a world that was clannish - old Tasmanian-Irish families with big extended families.

I grew up in northwest London on a council estate. My parents are Irish immigrants who came over here when they were very young and worked in menial jobs all their lives, and I'm one of many siblings.

I'm Irish as hell: Kelly on one side, Shanley on the other. My father had been born on a farm in the Irish Midlands. He and his brothers had been shepherds there, cattle and sheep, back in the early 1920s. I grew up surrounded by brogues and Irish music, but stayed away from the old country till I was over 40. I just couldn't own being Irish.

Growing up, I was brought up around Irish music, Irish traditions.

I had quite a scattered childhood. I was Irish in London, because I had my secondary school education there. I never really fitted anywhere. I didn't feel it was a negative thing, and I was never made to feel different - I just knew I was.