Editing Derek Jacobi (section)

== Early life and education ==
Derek George Jacobi was born on 22 October 1938 in [[Leytonstone]], Essex<!-- Do not change to London, Leytonstone was in Essex in 1938-->, England, the only child of Daisy Gertrude (née Masters; 1910–1980), a secretary who worked in a [[drapery]] store in Leyton High Road, and Alfred George Jacobi (1910–1993), who ran a sweet shop<ref name="Grdn2022"/> and was a [[tobacconist]] in [[Chingford]].<ref>{{cite web| title=Derek Jacobi Biography (1938–)| url=http://www.filmreference.com/film/93/Derek-Jacobi.html| work=filmreference| year=2008| access-date=4 April 2008}}</ref> His patrilineal great-grandfather had emigrated from Germany to England during the 19th century. He also has a distant [[Huguenot]] ancestor.<ref>{{cite news| title=Trace your French émigré ancestors like Sir Derek Jacobi| url=http://www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com/trace-your-french-%C3%A9migr%C3%A9-ancestors-sir-derek-jacobi| work=[[Who Do You Think You Are Magazine]]| date=27 August 2015| access-date=7 November 2017| archive-date=7 November 2017| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107233724/http://www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com/trace-your-french-%C3%A9migr%C3%A9-ancestors-sir-derek-jacobi| url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| first=Jasper| last=Rees| title=Crown him with many crowns| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2002/07/16/btjaco14.xml&sSheet=/arts/2002/07/20/ixstagetop.html| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071102174711/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2002/07/16/btjaco14.xml&sSheet=/arts/2002/07/20/ixstagetop.html| url-status=dead| archive-date=2 November 2007| work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]| location=London| date=15 July 2002| access-date=4 April 2008}}</ref> His family was working-class,<ref>{{cite news| first=Sally| last=Vincent| title=I already knew I was a tetchy beast| url=http://arts.guardian.co.uk/features/story/0,,1875816,00.htm| work=[[The Guardian]]| location=London| date=19 September 2006| access-date=4 April 2008 }}</ref> and Jacobi describes his childhood as happy. In his teens he went to Leyton County High School for Boys, now known as the [[Leyton Sixth Form College]], and became an integral part of the drama club, The Players of [[Leyton]].

While in the [[sixth form]], he starred in a production of ''[[Hamlet]],'' which was taken to the [[Edinburgh Festival Fringe]] and very well regarded.<ref name="Grdn2022"/><ref name="Wheatley" /> At 18 he won a scholarship to the [[University of Cambridge]], where he read history at [[St John's College, Cambridge|St John's College]] and earned his degree. Younger members of the university at the time included [[Ian McKellen]]<ref name="Grdn2022"/> (who had a crush on him—"a passion that was undeclared and unrequited", as McKellen relates it)<ref name="advocate-2001">{{cite news| last=Steele| first=Bruce C.| title=The Knight's Crusade: playing the wizard Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings may make Sir Ian McKellen the world's best-known gay man. And he's armed and ready to carry the fight for equality along with him| url=https://www.questia.com/magazine/1G1-83451265/the-knight-s-crusade-playing-the-wizard-gandalf-in| work=[[The Advocate (LGBT magazine)|The Advocate]]| date=11 December 2001| pages=36–38, 40–45}}</ref> and [[Trevor Nunn]]. During his studies at Cambridge, Jacobi played many parts including ''[[Hamlet]]'', which was taken on a tour to Switzerland, where he met [[Richard Burton]]. As a result of his performance of ''[[Edward II (play)|Edward II]]'' at Cambridge, Jacobi was invited to become a member of the [[Birmingham Repertory Theatre]] immediately upon his graduation in 1960.