Editing Eric Idle (section)

==Early life and education==
Eric Idle was born on 29 March 1943 in [[South Tyneside District Hospital|Harton Hospital]], in [[South Shields]].<ref name=mylife>{{cite web |title=My Life |website=Eric Idle  |url=https://ericidle.com/my-life/ |access-date=17 October 2024}}</ref>  His mother,  Norah Barron Sanderson,<ref name="Tel170207"/> was a nurse,<ref name=mylife/> and his father, Ernest Idle,<ref name="Tel170207">Barratt, Nick; [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/features/3631569/Family-detective.html "Family detective"] ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'', 17 February 2007 (Retrieved: 19 August 2009)</ref><ref>[http://www.filmreference.com/film/25/Eric-Idle.html Eric Idle Biography (1943–)], Theatre, Film, and Television Biographies</ref> served in the [[Royal Air Force]] during the Second World War, only to be killed in a road accident while hitchhiking home for Christmas in December 1945.<ref name="CWGC">{{CWGC|id=2414186|name=Idle, Ernest|access-date=27 November 2024}} Idle's father, who was 36 years old at the time of his death, was buried in the cemetery at [[Thornaby-on-Tees]] - the inscription chosen for his gravestone was: "SAY NOT GOODNIGHT, BUT IN SOME FAIRER CLIME GOOD MORNING".</ref><ref>see also p. 4 of Idle's autobiography.</ref> Idle said his mother "disappeared for a while into depression" and consequently he was brought up by his grandmother in [[Swinton, Lancashire]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Read an Excerpt from Eric Idle's Always Look on the Bright Side of Life |url=https://crownpublishing.com/archives/feature/read-excerpt-eric-idles-always-look-bright-side-life |website=The Crown Publishing Group |access-date=28 January 2024}}</ref> Idle spent part of his childhood in [[Wallasey]] in [[Cheshire]],<ref>{{cite news |title=Eric Idle on Twitter |url=https://twitter.com/ericidle/status/650759410449518594 |publisher=Twitter |date=4 October 2015 |access-date=10 July 2018}}</ref> and attended St George's Primary School.<ref>{{cite news |title=65 famous people Wirral has given to the world |url=https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/65-famous-people-wirral-given-14061848 |work=liverpoolecho |date=26 December 2017 |access-date=10 July 2018}}</ref> 

His mother had difficulty coping with a full-time job and bringing up a child, so when Idle was seven, she enrolled him in the [[Royal Wolverhampton School]] as a [[Boarding school|boarder]]. At that time the school was a charitable foundation dedicated to the education and maintenance of children who had lost one or both parents.<ref name="McCabe">{{cite book |last=McCabe |first=Bob |title=The Pythons' Autobiography by the Pythons |publisher=[[Orion Publishing Group]] |location=London |date=2005 |isbn=978-0-7528-6425-9}}</ref> Idle said: "It was a [[physically abusive]], [[bullying]], harsh environment for a kid to grow up in. I got used to dealing with groups of boys and getting on with life in unpleasant circumstances and being smart and funny and subversive at the expense of authority. Perfect training for Python."<ref name=McCabe/>

Idle has stated that the two things that made his life at school bearable were listening to [[Radio Luxembourg (English)|Radio Luxembourg]] under the bedclothes and watching the local football team, [[Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.|Wolverhampton Wanderers]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Holy grail of Eric Idle story |url=https://www.expressandstar.com/editors-picks/2014/10/01/holy-grail-of-eric-idle-story/ |website=www.expressandstar.com |date=1 October 2014}}</ref> He disliked other sports, and would sneak out of school every Thursday afternoon to the local cinema. He was eventually caught watching the film ''[[BUtterfield 8]]''<!--capital 'U' not a mistake!--> (rated as suitable for audiences of age 16 and over under the [[History of British Film Certificates#1951–1970|contemporary film certificates]]) and stripped of his [[Prefect#Academic|prefecture]], though by that time he was [[head boy]]. Idle had already refused to be senior boy in the school cadet force, as he supported the [[Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament]] and had participated in the yearly [[Aldermaston March]].<ref name=McCabe/> He says there was little to do at the school, and boredom drove him to study hard and consequently win a place at [[Cambridge University]].<ref name=McCabe/>