Bernard MacLaverty
School and Play
For years, the Rossi family have brought the great taste of Italian ice-cream to generations of Belfast people. MacLaverty and his friends hung out on the Antrim Road, drinking coffee, shooting the breeze and watching the comings and goings of Belfast life.
MacLaverty attended St Malachy's College, the favoured place for the education of bright, young Catholic boys who passed the 11-Plus. However, in his most recent book, The Anatomy School, MacLaverty is scathing about his time at St Malachy's. He criticises the quality of the teaching, the oppressive atmosphere and the staff's attitudes towards the pupils.
But in the late Fifties, MacLaverty and his friends had other distractions from school and study. Skiffle music was the big beat that the kids were going for, and they would head down to the record shops in Smithfield market to get their hands on the latest releases. 
MacLaverty's love of Ireland still persists - though when asked what his idea of earthly paradise would be, his answer encompassed both Ireland and Scotland:
'Layde Graveyard in the Glens of Antrim on a hot summer's day looking out over the sea towards Scotland. It's the place where my friends and I spent long, lazy teenage days, chewing stems of grass.'
