Editing Colin Dexter (section)

==Early life and career==
Dexter was born in [[Stamford, Lincolnshire]], to Alfred and Dorothy Dexter.<ref name="B&MC 165">{{cite journal|last1=Howard|first1=David|title=The ''Inspector Morse'' Books of Colin Dexter|journal=The Book and Magazine Collector|date=December 1997|issue=165|page=13}}</ref> He had an elder brother, John,<ref name="Guardian Obituary">{{cite news|last1=Barker|first1=Dennis|title=Colin Dexter obituary|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/mar/21/colin-dexter-obituary|access-date=22 March 2017|work=The Guardian|date=21 March 2017}}</ref> a fellow classicist, who taught [[Classics]] at [[The King's (The Cathedral) School|The King's School, Peterborough]], and a sister, Avril.<ref name="Memorial Address">{{cite web|last=Percy|first=Martyn|author-link=Martyn Percy|title=Memorial Address for Colin Dexter|url=https://www.chch.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Memorial%20Service%20for%20Colin%20Dexter%20Address.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221010/https://www.chch.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Memorial%20Service%20for%20Colin%20Dexter%20Address.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-10 |url-status=live|page=2|access-date=1 April 2020|work=[[Christ Church, Oxford]]|date=26 April 2018}}</ref> Alfred ran a small garage and taxi company from premises in Scotgate, Stamford.<ref>{{cite web|title=Obituary: John Boon|url=http://www.stamfordmercury.co.uk/news/obituary-john-boon-1-3811082|access-date=22 March 2017|date=4 May 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170322015336/http://www.stamfordmercury.co.uk/news/obituary-john-boon-1-3811082|archive-date=22 March 2017|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Dexter was educated at St John's Infants School and Bluecoat Junior School, from which he gained a scholarship to [[Stamford School]], a boys' [[grammar school]], where a younger contemporary was England cricket captain and England rugby player, [[M. J. K. Smith]].<ref name="Guardian Obituary" /><ref name="B&MC 187">{{cite journal|last1=Howard|first1=David|title=The ''Inspector Morse'' Books of Colin Dexter|journal=The Book and Magazine Collector|date=October 1999|issue=187|page=5}}</ref>

After leaving school, Dexter completed his [[national service]] with the [[Royal Corps of Signals]] and then read classics at [[Christ's College, Cambridge]], graduating in 1953 and receiving a [[Master of Arts (Oxbridge and Dublin)|master's degree]] in 1958.<ref name="B&MC 187" />

In 1954, Dexter began his teaching career as assistant Classics master at [[Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys]] in [[Leicester]]. There he helped the school's [[Christian unions (student groups)|Christian Union]].<ref>{{cite magazine |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> 
|title=Mr. N. C. Dexter
|magazine=The Wyggestonian |volume=57 |issue=3 |page=80 |location=Leicester |publisher=Wyggeston Boys' School
|date=July 1957}}</ref> However, in 2000 he stated that he shared the same views on politics and religion as Inspector Morse,<ref>{{cite news |title=You ask the questions |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/you-ask-the-questions-709477.html |work=[[The Independent]]
|location=London |date=18 July 2000 |access-date=26 March 2017}}</ref> who was portrayed in the final Morse novel, ''[[The Remorseful Day]]'', as an atheist. A post at [[Loughborough Grammar School]] followed in 1957, then he took up the position of senior Classics teacher at [[Tresham College of Further and Higher Education|Corby Grammar School]], [[Northamptonshire]], in 1959.

In 1966, he was forced by the onset of deafness to retire from teaching and took up the post of senior assistant secretary at the [[University of Oxford]] Delegacy of Local Examinations (UODLE) in [[Oxford]], a job he held until his retirement in 1988.<ref name="strandmag.com">{{cite magazine |url=http://www.strandmag.com/htm/colin_dexter.htm |title=Interview with Colin Dexter, excerpts |magazine=Strand Magazine |year=2009 |author=AFG |access-date=21 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150511135856/http://www.strandmag.com/htm/colin_dexter.htm|archive-date=11 May 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In November 2008, Dexter featured prominently in the [[BBC Four]] programme "How to Solve a Cryptic Crossword", as part of the [[Timeshift (TV series)|''Timeshift'' series]], in which he recounted some of the crossword clues solved by Morse.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00fh2bh|title=How to Solve a Cryptic Crossword, Series 8, Timeshift - BBC Four|publisher=BBC|access-date=21 September 2016}}</ref>