Early Life
Allen was born in the Miles Platting area of Manchester on 7 October 1926, the second child of Kitty and Jack Allen, Roman Catholics of Irish descent. At the outbreak of World War II in 1939, Allen left school at the age of 13 to work in a wire factory. He had various jobs during the war, before being called up into the Army in 1944. He joined the Seaforth Highlanders, and served with the British occupation forces in Germany. After leaving the army in 1947, he worked at a variety of jobs, including a builder's labourer, a fireman in the British Merchant Navy, and a miner at Bradford colliery in Manchester.
Read more about this topic: Jim Allen (playwright)
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