Editing Denis Healey (section)

== Early life ==
Denis Winston Healey was born in [[Mottingham]], Kent, son of William Healey (1886–1977) and Winifred Mary (1889–1988), née Powell. The family moved to [[Keighley]] in the [[West Riding of Yorkshire]] when he was five.<ref>{{cite news | url = http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/features/Denis-Healey-The-best-Prime.4755451.jp | title = Denis Healey: 'The best Prime Minister we never had' | author = Hookham, Mark | date = 3 December 2008 | work = [[Yorkshire Evening Post]] | access-date = 26 April 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081205164050/http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/features/Denis-Healey-The-best-Prime.4755451.jp | archive-date = 5 December 2008 | url-status = dead }}</ref> His middle name honoured [[Winston Churchill]].<ref>{{cite journal|last= Kaufman|first= Gerald|author-link= Gerald Kaufman|date= 13 March 2000|title= Debates for 13 Mar 2000 (pt 20)|journal= Hansard|publisher= [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]]|location= London, England, UK |url= https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199900/cmhansrd/vo000313/debtext/00313-20.htm|access-date= 31 January 2009}}</ref> His father, the son of a tailor from [[Glenfarne]], [[County Leitrim]], was an engineering mechanic who worked his way up from humble origins, winning an engineering scholarship to Leeds University and qualifying to teach engineering, eventually becoming head of Keighley Technical School.

Healey had one brother, Terence Blair Healey (1920–1998), known as Terry.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}} Healey's family often spent the summer in Scotland during his youth.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}}

===Education===
Healey received early education at [[Bradford Grammar School]]. In 1936 he won an [[exhibition (scholarship)|exhibition scholarship]] to [[Balliol College, Oxford]], to read [[Literae Humaniores|Greats]]. He there became involved in [[UK Labour party|Labour]] politics, although he was not active in the [[Oxford Union Society]]. Also while at Oxford, Healey joined the [[Communist Party of Great Britain|Communist Party]] in 1937 during the [[Great Purge]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Andrews |first1=Geoff |title=Agent Molière: The Life of John Cairncross, the Fifth Man of the Cambridge Spy Circle |date= 2020 |publisher=Bloomsbury |isbn=978-1838606763}}</ref> but left in 1940 after the [[Fall of France]].

At Oxford, Healey met future Prime Minister [[Edward Heath]] (then known as "Teddy"), whom he succeeded as president of Balliol College [[Junior Common Room]], and who became a lifelong friend and political rival.

Healey achieved a [[double first]] degree, awarded in 1940. He was a Harmsworth Senior Scholar at [[Merton College, Oxford]] in 1940.<ref name="MCreg">{{cite book|editor1-last=Levens|editor1-first=R.G.C.|title=Merton College Register 1900–1964|date=1964|publisher=Basil Blackwell|location=Oxford|page=312}}</ref>

=== Second World War ===
After graduation, Healey served in the [[Second World War]] as a [[Gunner (rank)|gunner]] in the [[Royal Artillery]] before being commissioned as a [[second lieutenant]] in April 1941.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue= 35163 |date= 13 May 1941 |page= 2801  |supp= y}}</ref>  Serving with the [[Royal Engineers]], he saw action in the [[North African campaign]], the [[Allied invasion of Sicily]] (1943) and the [[Italian Campaign (World War II)|Italian campaign]] (1943–1945) and was the military landing officer ("beach master") for the British assault brigade at [[Battle of Anzio|Anzio]] in 1944. He was twice mentioned in dispatches during this campaign.<ref>{{cite news | url = https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/oct/03/lord-healey | title = Lord Healey obituary | author = David McKie | date = 3 October 2015 | work = [[The Guardian]] | access-date = 16 February 2024}}</ref>

Healey became an [[Order of the British Empire|MBE]] in 1945.<ref>
{{London Gazette
|issue= 37386
|date= 13 December 1945
|page= 6064  |supp= y
}}
</ref>
He left the service with the rank of [[Major (United Kingdom)|Major]]. He declined an offer to remain in the army, with the rank of [[Lieutenant colonel (United Kingdom)|Lieutenant colonel]], as part of the team researching the [[History of the Second World War|history of the Italian campaign]] under [[David Hunt (diplomat)|Colonel David Hunt]]. He also decided against taking up a senior scholarship at Balliol, which might have led to an academic career.<ref>Healey 1989, p. 69.</ref>