Editing Julie Andrews (section)

== Early life and vocal training ==
Julia Elizabeth Wells<ref>{{Cite web |title=Julie Andrews |url=http://www.reelclassics.com/Actresses/Julie_Andrews/juliea-bio.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071201172710/http://www.reelclassics.com/Actresses/Julie_Andrews/juliea-bio.htm |archive-date=1 December 2007 |publisher=Reel Classics}}</ref> was born on 1 October 1935 in [[Walton-on-Thames]], [[Surrey]], England.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Julie Andrews Biography and Interview |url=https://www.achievement.org/achiever/julie-andrews/#interview |website=achievement.org |publisher=[[American Academy of Achievement]]}}</ref><ref>[[General Register Office]] (GRO) Register of Births: DEC 1935 2a 435 Surrey NW – Julia E Wells, mmn = Morris {{Verify source|date=June 2017}}</ref> Her mother, Barbara Ward Wells (née Morris; 25 July 1910<ref>{{Cite book |last=Andrews |first=Julie |url=http://archive.org/details/homememoirofmyea00andr |title=Home : a memoir of my early years |date=2008 |publisher=New York, NY : Doubleday |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-7394-9451-6}}</ref>–1984) was born in [[Chertsey]]<ref>GRO Register of Births: SEP 1910 2a 51 Chertsey – Barbara W Morris, mmn = not given {{Verify source|date=June 2017}}</ref> and married Edward Charles "Ted" Wells (1908–1990), a teacher of [[metalwork]] and [[woodwork]], in 1932.<ref>GRO Register of Marriages: DEC 1932 2a 190 Chertsey – Edward C. Wells = Barbara W. Morris {{Verify source|date=June 2017}}</ref> Andrews was conceived as a result of an affair her mother had with a family friend. Andrews learned of her true parentage from her mother in 1950,<ref name="spindle1" /><ref name="windeler20" /> although it was not publicly disclosed until her 2008 autobiography.<ref name="Brockes2008-03-30">{{Cite news |last=Brockes |first=Emma |date=30 March 2008 |title=Books About Julie Andrews&nbsp;— Memoir&nbsp;— Biography |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/30/books/review/Brockes-t.html |url-status=live |access-date=3 August 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110406192121/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/30/books/review/Brockes-t.html |archive-date=6 April 2011 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

With the outbreak of [[World War II]], her parents went their separate ways and were soon divorced. Each remarried: Barbara to Ted Andrews, in 1943,<ref>GRO Register of Marriages: DEC 1943 1a 888 Westminster – Edward V Andrews = Barbara W Morris or Wells</ref> and Ted Wells in 1944<ref>{{Cite book |last=Andrews |first=Julie |title=Home: a memoir of my early years |publisher=Doubleday |year=2008 |page= 43 }}</ref> to Winifred Maud (Hyde) Birkhead, a war widow and former hairstylist at a war work factory that employed them both in [[Hinchley Wood]], Surrey.<ref name="spindle1">{{Cite book |last=Spindle |first=Les |title=Julie Andrews: A Bio-Bibliography |publisher=Greenwood Press |year=1989 |isbn=0-313-26223-3 |pages=1–2}}</ref><ref name="windeler20">Windeler (1970), pp 20–21</ref><ref>GRO Register of Marriages: JUN 1944 2a 316 Surrey NE – Edward C Wells = Winifred M Birkhead</ref> Wells assisted with evacuating children to [[Surrey]] during [[the Blitz]], while Andrews's mother joined her husband in entertaining the troops through the [[Entertainments National Service Association]]. Andrews lived briefly with Wells and her brother, John,<ref>GRO Register of Births: JUN 1938 2a 564 Surrey NW – John D. Wells, mmn = Morris</ref> in Surrey. 

In 1940, Wells sent her to live with her mother and stepfather, who Wells thought would be better able to provide for his talented daughter's artistic training. While Andrews had been used to calling her stepfather "Uncle Ted", her mother suggested it would be more appropriate to refer to her stepfather as "Pop", while her father remained "Dad" or "Daddy" to her, a change which she disliked.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Andrews |first=Julie |title=Home: A Memoir of My Early Years |publisher=Hyperion |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-7868-8475-9 |location=New York, New York |pages=39}}</ref> The Andrews family was "very poor" and "lived in a bad [[slum]] area of London" at the time, stating that the war "was a very black period in my life". According to Andrews, her stepfather was violent and an alcoholic.<ref name="Brockes2008-03-30" /> He twice tried to get into bed with his stepdaughter while drunk, resulting in Andrews fitting a lock on her door.<ref name="Brockes2008-03-30" />

As the stage career of her mother and stepfather improved, they were able to afford better surroundings, first to [[Beckenham]] and then, as the war ended, back to the Andrews' hometown of [[Hersham]]. The family took up residence at the Old Meuse, in West Grove, Hersham, a house (since demolished) where Andrews's maternal grandmother had served as a maid.<ref name="windeler20" /> Andrews's stepfather sponsored lessons for her, first at the independent arts educational school Cone-Ripman School (previously [[Arts Educational Schools, London|ArtsEd]], now [[Tring Park School for the Performing Arts]]) and thereafter with concert soprano and voice instructor Madame [[Lilian Stiles-Allen]]. 

Andrews said of Stiles-Allen, "She had an enormous influence on me", adding, "She was my third mother&nbsp;– I've got more mothers and fathers than anyone in the world". In her memoir ''Julie Andrews – My Star Pupil'', Stiles-Allen records, "The range, accuracy and tone of Julie's voice amazed me&nbsp;... she had possessed the rare gift of [[absolute pitch]]",<ref name="Stirling">{{Cite book |last=Stirling |first=Richard |title=Julie Andrews: An Intimate Biography |publisher=Portrait |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-7499-5135-1}}</ref> though Andrews herself refutes this in her 2008 autobiography ''Home''.<ref name="spindle1" /><ref name="windeler22">Windeler (1970), pp. 22–23</ref> According to Andrews, "Madame was sure that I could do [[Mozart]] and [[Rossini]], but, to be honest, I never was".<ref name="Stirling" />{{rp|24}} Of her own voice, she says, "I had a very pure, white, thin voice, a four-octave range – dogs would come from miles around."<ref name="Stirling" />{{rp|24}} After Cone-Ripman School, Andrews continued her academic education at the nearby Woodbrook School, a local state school in Beckenham.<ref>{{Cite book |last=White |first=Timothy |title=The Entertainers |publisher=[[Billboard Books]] |year=1998 |page=111}}</ref>