WRITER · BORN 1958
Irvine Welsh
- Born
- 27 September 1958, Leith, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
- Known for
- The Acid House (1998), Trainspotting (1996)
20 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Nov 2026
Irvine Welsh (born 27 September 1958) is an actor best known for The Acid House and Trainspotting.
20 Interesting Facts About Irvine Welsh
Interesting Facts (12)
- #001
Welsh vowed that if any producer was brave enough to film Filth (2013), he'd get the book's cover image, a pig dressed as a policeman, tattooed on his body. The film took 15 years to get made, and halfway through the shoot Welsh kept his word and had the pig inked on his arm.
Irvine Welsh: a sceneImage: Wikimedia Commons · TimDuncan, CC BY-SA 4.0 - #002
He didn't start writing until his early thirties.
- #003
He greatly admires Hubert Selby Jr. and believes Selby's Last Exit to Brooklyn shaped the way he writes about his surroundings.
- #004
My Chemical Romance named themselves after his short story collection Ecstasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance.
- #005
Some of his books have been banned in a number of countries, notably Russia and Greece, and Senator Bob Dole attacked Trainspotting during his presidential campaign. In the English cities of York and Southampton, police raided High Street bookshops to take down huge posters for Filth showing a pig's head, which officers deemed offensive.
- #006
He was often in trouble with the law as a young man, with a string of arrests for petty crimes culminating in a suspended sentence for wrecking a community centre in North London, which convinced him to change his ways.
- #007
He came to writing through music, as ideas for songs turned into short stories.
- #008
He gives readings of his work around the world, and one in Australia landed him in controversy.
- #009
He once thought about becoming a TV repairman, until a socket gave him an electric shock.
- #010
Irvine Welsh splits most of his time between Edinburgh and London.
- #011
When he lived in Dublin, Ireland, Irvine Welsh was a regular at Bohemian FC matches.
- #012
Since 2018 Irvine Welsh has lived in Miami, Florida.
Behind the Scenes (4)
- #013
He completed the writing of 'Skagboys', the prequel to 'Trainspotting' and 'Porno'.
- #014
He is a supporter of Hibernian Football Club in Edinburgh, Scotland.
- #015
He is a great fan of house music and features it prominently in his novels.
- #016
His first play written in this form, "You'll Have Had Your Hole", premiered in February 1998 at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds, with Kirsty Mitchell taking the role of "Laney".
Easter Eggs & References (1)
- #017
Irvine Welsh played guitar and sang in bands called The Pubic Lice and Stairway 13, the latter a reference to the 1971 Ibrox disaster.
Life & Family (3)
- #018
He based the character Freddy Royle in his 1996 story Lorraine Goes to Livingston on Sir Jimmy Savile: a children's TV presenter billed as the nation's "favourite caring, laconic uncle" who turns out to be a child abuser and necrophile, having raised millions for the very hospital where he committed his crimes. After Savile died in 2011, it emerged that the children's TV host and tireless charity fundraiser had been a prolific sexual abuser who committed most of his crimes in hospitals.
- #019
He wrote the introduction to Last Exit to Brooklyn, which he says is one of his favourite books.
- #020
Irvine Welsh quit school at 16.
Related pages
- Robert Carlyle — Irvine Welsh comes up in the facts on that page
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
- Wikipedia
- IMDb
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