Editing David Lean (section)

==Early life and education==
David Lean was born on 25 March 1908 at 38 Blenheim Crescent, South Croydon, Surrey (now part of [[Greater London]]), to Francis William le Blount Lean and the former Helena Tangye (niece of [[Richard Tangye|Sir Richard Trevithick Tangye]]).<ref name="ODNB">{{Cite ODNB|id=49869|title=Lean, Sir David (1908–1991)}}</ref> His parents were [[Quaker]]s and he was a pupil at the Quaker-founded [[Leighton Park School]] in [[Reading, Berkshire|Reading]]. His younger brother, [[Edward Tangye Lean]] (1911–1974), founded the original [[Inklings]] literary club when a student at [[Oxford University]]. Lean was a half-hearted schoolboy with a dreamy nature who was labelled a "dud" of a student;<ref name=Smith /> he left school in the Christmas Term of 1926, at the age of 18,{{sfn|Brownlow|1996|p=39}} and entered his father's chartered accountancy firm as an apprentice.

A more formative event for his career than his formal education was an uncle's gift, when Lean was aged ten, of a [[Brownie (camera)|Brownie box camera]]. "You usually didn't give a boy a camera until he was 16 or 17 in those days. It was a huge compliment and I succeeded at it." Lean printed and developed his films, and it was his "great hobby".<ref>the Guardian, 17 April 1991</ref> In 1923,{{sfn|Phillips|2006|p={{page needed|date=December 2021}}}} his father deserted the family. Lean later followed a similar path after his own first marriage and child.<ref name=Smith />