Peter O'Toole and the wild west of Ireland

As the actor’s family prepares to scatter his ashes in Connemara, Paul D’Alton on his colourful childhood with the O’Tooles

NOT so long ago, myself and Kate O’Toole, the ebullient daughter of the late actor Peter O’Toole, who died last December aged 81 after a long illness, were merrily enjoying a great drinking session in Tom King’s Bar in Clifden, Connemara.

We hadn’t caught up in a bit and as things do in these circumstances, as the booze flowed, so did the great war stories we had all shared from the not-so-long-ago old days.