Hollywood actor Gabriel Byrne, best known for starring in hit 1995 film The Usual Suspects, spent four years training to be a priest in Droitwich.

In the early 1960s, an 11-year-old Byrne travelled from Ireland to attend St Richard’s College, a Catholic seminary which was based at Hadzor Hall, in the hamlet of Hadzor, but was eventually expelled for smoking in a graveyard.

Speaking to the Droitwich Spa Advertiser from his home in New York in 2003, he said: “I have such pleasant memories of that time. I remember the people with great affection. I am so grateful to the people in the area and how I was treated. Ever since I left there I have tried to keep in some form of contact with the other students.”

He recalled the thrill of popping into Droitwich. “It was the most exciting thing that one could do. There was a cafe on the corner called Bullocks and we would go to have tea and scones. Then we went to the cinema and the swimming baths. For me, it was really exotic.”

Byrne, who has won a Golden Globe, an Emmy and a Tony award, was introduced to the magic of the theatre while a student in Hadzor. He said: “We put on Oliver. I just had a small part but it was my first time on stage. My love of drama started there but I never thought that one day I would be an actor.”

However, there was a darker side to Byrne’s time in Droitwich. He later alleged that he was once abused by one of the priests at St Richard’s College.