Editing David Jason (section)

==Early life==
Jason's father, Arthur Robert White, was a porter at [[Billingsgate Fish Market]], and his mother, Olwen Jones, was from [[Merthyr Tydfil]], [[Glamorgan]], Wales, and worked as a [[charwoman]]. She gave birth to twin boys at [[North Middlesex University Hospital|North Middlesex Hospital]] in [[Edmonton, London]], on 2 February 1940, but Jason's twin brother died during childbirth, and making him a [[twinless twin]]. He chose the stage name Jason because he liked ''[[Jason and the Argonauts (1963 film)|Jason and the Argonauts]]'', as the stage name "David White" was already taken, and not in tribute to his dead twin as has sometimes been claimed.<ref>{{cite web |last=Hughes |first=Heather |url=http://www.tv.com/people/david-jason/ |title=David Jason |publisher=TV.com |access-date=13 June 2012 |archive-date=30 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120930110436/http://www.tv.com/people/david-jason/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Jason lived at Lodge Lane, [[North Finchley]], and attended Northfield Secondary Modern school after failing the [[Eleven-plus|11-plus]] in 1951.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/3621779/The-return-of-the-secondary-modern.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/3621779/The-return-of-the-secondary-modern.html |archive-date=11 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=The return of the secondary modern|first=Cassandra|last=Jardine|date=4 August 2004|website=The Daily Telegraph}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Upon leaving school, Jason wanted to be an actor, influenced by his brother, but their father advised that he first learn a trade. He trained as an [[electrician]] for six years, before retiring and becoming a struggling actor.

Jason's elder brother is the actor [[Arthur White (actor)|Arthur White]], born in 1933. The two appeared together in the crime drama ''[[A Touch of Frost]]'', with Arthur playing police archivist Ernie Trigg; and again in 2008, in the [[Fantasy comedy|comic fantasy]] ''[[The Colour of Magic (TV film)|The Colour of Magic]]'', where Arthur played a character called "Rerpf". He also appeared briefly with his brother in two episodes of ''[[The Darling Buds of May (TV series)|The Darling Buds of May]]''.

When Jason was 15, he spent a year working as a mechanic's assistant. When he turned 16, he was eligible to register for an apprenticeship, but decided against it.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCaOVyW_d1I| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/XCaOVyW_d1I| archive-date=2023-01-26 | url-status=live|title=David Jason on TV-am in 1984| date=9 March 2010|via=www.youtube.com}}{{cbignore}}</ref>