Patrick Stewart

Patrick Stewart, OBE was born in Mirfield, Yorkshire on 13th July, 1940. Following a difficult and somewhat abusive childhood, he left school at fifteen and became a newspaper reporter. His real interest though was in theatre and after a year his boss told him to choose one of the professions - journalism or acting - and stick with it. He chose acting and joined the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. His principle work for many years was on the stage, working with the Library Theatre Company in Manchester, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre. However he played many parts on television too, appearing in series such as Fall of Eagles and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy but in the 1970s was probably best known for his appearances as Sejanus in three episodes of the 1976 adaptation of I, Claudius. In 1987 he reached international stardom for his starring role in the series Star Trek: The Next Generation, a role he played for seven years on television and recreated in four feature films of the series. He has gone on to play in the lucrative X Men franchise of films as well as appearing or starring in a diverse and successful series of films, stage plays and television programmes.

What is missing off almost all of Mr Stewart's cv's is that one of his very first roles on television was in Episode 638 of Coronation Street, transmitted on 25th January 1967 when he played the role of a Fire Officer who came with the brigade to put out a fire at No. 9 which was caused by Dennis Tanner when he was supposed to be decorating the house for Len Fairclough. Along with Ben Kingsley and Ian McKellen, it makes Stewart one of the most internationally famous names to appear in the programme.