Editing Denholm Elliott (section)

==Early life==
Elliott was born 31 May 1922, in [[Kensington]], [[London]],<ref name=":0" /> the son of Nina ([[married and maiden names|''née'']] Mitchell; 1893–1966) and Myles Layman Farr Elliott, [[Order of the British Empire|MBE]] (1890–1933),<ref name=":0">{{cite ODNB | doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/51023|title = The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|year = 2004}}</ref> a [[barrister]] who had read [[law]] and [[Arabic language|Arabic]] at [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge]] before fighting with the [[Gloucestershire Regiment]] on [[Gallipoli]] and in [[Mesopotamia]]. In 1930, Myles Elliott was appointed solicitor-general to the [[Mandatory Palestine|Mandatory Government in Palestine]]. Three years later, following a series of controversial government prosecutions, he was assassinated outside the [[King David Hotel]] and buried in the [[Mount Zion Cemetery, Jerusalem|Protestant Cemetery on Mount Zion]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Obituary Neil Elliott|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1427451/Neil-Elliott.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1427451/Neil-Elliott.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=5 September 2016|newspaper=Daily Telegraph|date=14 April 2003}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
Elliott's elder brother Neil Emerson Elliott (1920–2003) was a [[land agent]] to [[Lady Anne Cavendish-Bentinck]].

Elliott attended [[Malvern College]] and joined the [[Royal Academy of Dramatic Art]] (RADA) in London.<ref name="rada">{{cite web |url= https://www.rada.ac.uk/profiles/denholm-elliott/ |title= RADA Student & graduate profiles: Denholm Elliott |work= rada.ac.uk |access-date=11 August 2022}}</ref> He was asked to leave after one term. As Elliott later recalled, "They wrote to my mother and said, 'Much as we like the little fellow, he's wasting your money and our time. Take him away!'"<ref>BBC Radio. ''[[Desert Island Discs]]'', 14 September 1974.</ref>

In the [[Second World War]], he joined the [[Royal Air Force]], training as a wireless operator/air gunner and serving with [[No. 76 Squadron RAF]] under the command of [[Leonard Cheshire]].<ref>{{cite web| title=Encyclopædia Britannica| url=https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9000778/Denholm-Elliott|access-date=24 September 2007}}</ref> On the night of 23/24 September 1942, his [[Handley Page Halifax]] DT508<ref name="lost360">[http://www.lostaircraft.com/database.php?mode=viewentry&e=360 Record for Halifax DT508], LostAircraft.com</ref> bomber took part in an air raid on the [[U-boat]] pens at [[Flensburg]], [[Germany]]. The aircraft was hit by [[Anti-aircraft warfare|flak]] and subsequently ditched in the [[North Sea]] near [[Sylt]], Germany. Elliott and four of his crewmen survived, and he spent the rest of the war in [[Stalag VIII-B|Stalag Luft VIIIb]], a [[prisoner-of-war]] camp in Lamsdorf (now [[Łambinowice]]), [[Silesia]]. While imprisoned, he became involved in amateur dramatics. He formed a theatre group that was so successful it toured other POW camps playing ''[[Twelfth Night]]''.<ref name="Handbook">{{cite book|last= Falconer| first= Jonathon| title=The Bomber Command Handbook 1939–1945|year=1998|publisher=Sutton Publishing|location=[[Stroud]]|isbn=978-0-7509-1819-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Rolfe|first=Mel|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rNEcEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT54|title=Flying into Hell: The Bomber Command Offensive as Seen Through the Experiences of Twenty Crews|date=15 July 2008|publisher=Casemate Publishers|isbn=978-1-909166-32-5}}</ref>