His mother was a Jewish cleaner and his father was an Irish dustman.[1] He claimed to be the only O'Connor who ever had a bar mitzvah.[3][dead link] He had a brother, William O'Connor, and a sister, Patricia, one year his junior. He was evacuated to Northampton during the Second World War, where he worked in a shoe factory and was a schoolboy player with Northampton Town.[2][4][dead link]