Editing Emlyn Williams (section)

==Early life==
Williams was born into a [[Welsh language|Welsh]]-speaking, [[working class]] family at 1 Jones Terrace, [[Pen-y-ffordd]], Ffynnongroyw, [[Flintshire (historic)|Flintshire]]. He was the eldest of the three surviving sons of Mary (née Williams) a former maid-servant and Richard Williams, a greengrocer.<ref>{{Cite ODNB|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-39950|title=Williams, (George) Emlyn (1905–1987), actor and playwright|date=2004-09-23|volume=1|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/39950}}</ref> He spoke only Welsh until the age of eight. Later, he said he would probably have begun working in the mines at age 12 if he had not caught the attention of Sarah Grace Cooke, the model for Miss Moffat in ''[[The Corn Is Green]]''. She was a teacher of French at the grammar school in [[Holywell, Flintshire]] in 1915, where Williams had gone on a scholarship. Over the next seven years she encouraged him in his studies and helped pay for him to stay with a French friend of hers in Haute-Savoie in France, where he spent three months perfecting his French. When he was 17 she helped him win a scholarship to [[Christ Church, Oxford]], where he studied French and Italian.<ref>{{cite news |last=Krebs |first=Albin |date=26 September 1987 |title=Emlyn Williams, Welsh Actor and Writer, Dies |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/09/26/obituaries/emlyn-williams-welsh-actor-and-writer-dies.html |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=2016-10-18 }}</ref>

In 1926, during his studies at university, Williams had a [[Mental disorder|nervous breakdown]], which was blamed largely on a failed emotional friendship with another undergraduate. As a means of recovery Miss Cooke encouraged him to write.<ref>{{cite news |last=Folkart |first=Burt A. |date=26 September 1987 |title=Welsh Dramatist and Actor Emlyn Williams Dies at 81 |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-09-26-mn-2513-story.html |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |access-date=2016-10-18 }}</ref> However, Williams intended to enter the theatrical world too and joined the [[Oxford University Dramatic Society]] (OUDS).<ref>[[Humphrey Carpenter|Carpenter, Humphrey]], ''O.U.D.S.: A Centenary History of the Oxford University Dramatic Society 1885–1985'', [[Oxford University Press]], 1985 ({{ISBN|0-19-212241-X}})</ref>