Editing Jonathan Meades (section)

==Early life and education==
Jonathan Meades was born in [[Salisbury]], [[Wiltshire]], the only child of John William Meades, a biscuit company sales rep, and Margery Agnes Meades (''née'' Hogg), a primary school teacher.<ref name="Who's Who"/><ref name="FTTM">{{cite episode|first=Jonathan|last=Meades|title=Father to the Man|series=Abroad Again|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007hgf9|network=BBC Two|date=2007}}</ref><ref name="Radio 3 Interview">{{cite episode|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b041vfxn|first=Michael|last=Berkeley|title=Jonathan Meades|series=Private Passions|series-link=Private Passions|network=BBC Radio 3|date=27 April 2014|access-date=15 February 2018}}</ref> The family lived in an "unbelievably cramped" terraced, thatched cottage in the [[East Harnham]] area of the city. Meades was educated until the age of 13 at the nearby [[Salisbury Cathedral School]], within [[Salisbury Cathedral]] [[Cathedral close|Close]].<ref name="Radio 3 Interview"/><ref>Meades, Jonathan (2014). ''An Encyclopaedia of Myself''. p. 91. London: Fourth Estate. {{ISBN|978-1-85702-905-5}}.</ref>

He discovered a fascination for place and the built environment whilst accompanying his father on sales trips during school holidays; he would be left unattended and free to explore while the elder Meades conducted his business with the grocer. This later developed into a full-blown passion for architecture following a visit to [[Edwin Lutyens]]' [[Marshcourt|Marsh Court]] on a school cricket trip at the age of 13.<ref name="Little Atoms 1">{{cite episode|url=http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2007-05-11-jonathanmeades2.ogg|first=Neil|last=Denny|title=Jonathan Meades|series=Little Atoms|series-link=Little Atoms|network=Resonance FM|date=11 May 2007|access-date=16 January 2018}}</ref><ref name="FTTM"/><ref name="Radio 3 Interview"/> He also developed an early love of France on the frequent trips which his family took there, made possible by his [[Francophile]] mother's father, who worked for [[Southern Region of British Railways|Southern Railway]], the company which ran the [[Saint-Malo]] and [[Le Havre]] ferries.<ref name="FTTM"/>

In 1960 he was sent as a boarder to [[King's College, Taunton]], which he has described as "a dim, backward, [[Muscular Christianity|muscular Christian]] boot camp". He later "walked out" of the school and was sent instead to a crammer in London, where he lodged with the painter Vivien White, daughter of [[Augustus John]].<ref>Meades, Jonathan (2014). ''An Encyclopaedia of Myself''. pp. 297, 331–333. London: Fourth Estate. {{ISBN|978-1-85702-905-5}}.</ref><ref name="Radio 3 Interview"/>

After a year at the [[University of Bordeaux]]<ref name="Encyclopedia.com">{{cite web|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/meades-jonathan-turner-1947|title=Meades, Jonathan (Turner) 1947–|website=Encyclopedia.com|access-date=12 March 2018}}</ref> and unsure of what to do next, he decided to become an actor after a chance meeting with [[Charles Collingwood (actor)|Charles Collingwood]]<ref name="The Guardian">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/nov/10/jonathan-meades-architecture-television-fiction|first=Rachel|last=Cooke|work=The Guardian|title=Jonathan Meades: 'I find everything fascinating and that is a gift'|date=10 November 2013|access-date=27 November 2017}}</ref> and trained at the [[Royal Academy of Dramatic Art]] (RADA) from 1966 to 1969.<ref name="The Telegraph Interview">{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/architecture/9526048/Jonathan-Meades-interview.html|first=Angela|last=Wintle|work=The Daily Telegraph|title=Jonathan Meades interview|date=28 September 2012|access-date=28 November 2017}}</ref><ref>Meades, Jonathan (2014). ''An Encyclopaedia of Myself''. p. 341. London: Fourth Estate. {{ISBN|978-1-85702-905-5}}.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rada.ac.uk/profiles/jonathan-meades/|title=Jonathan Meades|publisher=RADA|access-date=31 May 2018}}</ref> His contemporaries there included [[Robert Lindsay (actor)|Robert Lindsay]], [[David Bradley (English actor)|David Bradley]], [[Stephanie Beacham]], [[Michael Kitchen]] and [[Richard Beckinsale]].<ref name="Mark Lawson Interview">{{cite AV media|first=Mark|last=Lawson|title=The Jonathan Meades Collection|chapter=Mark Lawson Talks To Jonathan Meades|publisher=BBC Worldwide Ltd|medium=DVD|date=2008}}</ref><ref name="The Telegraph Interview"/> He later described it as a "[[Royal Military Academy Sandhurst|Sandhurst]] for chorus boys"<ref name="Mark Lawson Interview"/> where students were "martially drilled",<ref>Meades, Jonathan (1989). ''Peter Knows What Dick Likes''. p. 12. London: Paladin. {{ISBN|0-586-08890-3}}.</ref> teaching them the value of discipline, craft and technique.<ref name="talking of food">{{cite web|url=http://www.talkingoffood.com/watch/184-jonathan-meades-and-matthew-fort.html|first=Matthew|last=Fort|title=Jonathan Meades and Matthew Fort|website=Talking of Food|date=2013|access-date=26 March 2018}}</ref>

Although he ultimately decided against joining the acting profession,<ref name="The Guardian"/> the training which he received would prove essential in his later television career,<ref name="Mark Lawson Interview"/> as would his extra-curricular interest in [[French New Wave]] cinema, in particular the work of [[Jean-Pierre Melville]] and [[Alain Robbe-Grillet]].<ref name="arts desk">{{cite web|url=https://www.theartsdesk.com/tv/interview-jonathan-meades-auteur-large|first=Adam|last=Sweeting|title=Interview: Jonathan Meades, Auteur-at-Large|website=The Arts Desk|date=26 January 2010|access-date=26 March 2018}}</ref><ref name="Radio 3 Interview"/> His regular Sunday pastime of exploring the capital with his ''[[Pevsner Architectural Guide]]'' would also benefit him later.<ref name="Pevsner Re">{{cite AV media|first=Jonathan|last=Meades|title=Pevsner Revisited|publisher=BBC Two|date=1998}}</ref> On leaving RADA, he was told by the Principal, [[Hugh Cruttwell]], that he might as well abandon acting until he reached middle age, at which point he might become an interesting character actor. When the two met again decades later, after Meades had established himself on television, Cruttwell joked that he had not realised that the character would be called "Jonathan Meades".<ref name="The Independent 2002">{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/you-ask-the-questions-jonathan-meades-9175419.html|title=You ask the questions: Jonathan Meades|work=The Independent|date=30 January 2002| access-date=5 January 2018}}</ref><ref name="The Telegraph Interview"/>