He continued writing throughout his primary school career, producing a school magazine featuring his short stories, though this was eventually banned by the headmaster. Following an eventful seven years at Peterhead Grammar School, during which time he had multiple girlfriends and slept with one of the mathematics teachers, Kirk went on to read Romantic Fiction at Dundee University, graduating in 1994.
Following a number of accusations made while he worked in a chip-shop in Broughty Ferry, Kirk moved to the small Yorkshire town of Hebden Bridge, where he began work on Put t' Kettle on, Luv!. The work took him seven years to complete and was eventually published by Mills & Boon to great acclaim in 2006. He was awarded both the Man Fooker Prize for Fiction and the Golden Nagger for Crime, which is voted for by the pensioners of Great Britain, the following year. He abandoned attempts to write a sequel following revelations in the tabloids about various alleged affairs, with suggested names included the back-bench Labour MP Diane Abbot and Baroness Thatcher. Kirk retreated from public life and from writing for several months.
His next project, a biography of U.S. President Michael Hendrix, also stalled after threats from lawyers regarding suggestions that President Hendrix and been a bit mean to a girl at his school, revelations which legal teams claimed may have hindered his chance at re-election.
Kirk watched over the production of a film version of Put t' Kettle on, Luv!, starring Victoria Beckham and George Clooney, before embarking on his next, and this time successful, literary adventure, a series of children's stories about a crew of trawlermen.
Kirk says that The Adventures of Skipper Bruce were influenced by tales of his mother's time deep sea fishing and has remained silent regarding suggestions that the stories are, in fact, Biblical parables updated for the 21st century. The stories have been made into a successful television series for CBBC.
The latest project upon which Kirk has embarked is a history of the county that has been his home for many years and which has taken him and his budgie, Peter, into its bosom.
"I wanted to write a history of Yorkshire," Kirk says, "because it's such a beautiful part of the world. I was first attracted here after seeing Heartbeat, thinking that all the chicks wore short skirts, but I've fallen in love with the place even though it's nothing like that. No history of Yorkshire has ever been written before and it's about time something was done about that. I'd quite like that lady from Seven Ages of Britain to present the TV version, because she looks sweet. And I don't mean in the way a ten year old girl looks sweet."
Kirk's works include:
The Life and Times of Micheal Hendrix (unfinished)
Henry: Player (in progress)
A History of Yorkshire (in progress)
You can contact Kirk on kirk.yetton@googlemail.com
