Editing Kenneth Branagh (section)

== Early life and education ==
Kenneth Charles Branagh was born in [[Belfast]] on 10 December 1960,<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Monitor|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|date=14 December 2012|issue=1237|page=26}}</ref> the son of working-class [[Ulster Protestants|Protestant]] parents Frances ({{nee}} Harper) and William Branagh. His father was a plumber and [[Joinery|joiner]] who ran a company that specialised in fitting partitions and suspended ceilings.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tiscali.co.uk/entertainment/film/biographies/kenneth_branagh_biog.html |title=Kenneth Branagh Biography |publisher=Tiscali.co.uk |access-date=7 March 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120927054756/http://www.talktalk.co.uk/entertainment/film/biography/artist/kenneth-branagh/biography/71 |archive-date=27 September 2012}}</ref><ref>Claire O'Boyle, ''Our Belfast with Branagh'', Daily Mirror, London, 22 January 2022, pages 34-35.</ref> He is the middle of three children, with an older brother and a younger sister, and lived in the [[Tigers Bay]] area of Belfast. He was educated at Grove Primary School.<ref>{{cite news|url= https://belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/kenneth-branagh-i-left-belfast-but-its-still-my-home-and-id-love-to-shoot-a-movie-here-34753092.html|title=Kenneth Branagh: I left Belfast but it's still my home and I'd love to shoot a movie here |publisher=Belfast Telegraph |access-date=16 July 2018|newspaper=Belfasttelegraph.co.uk }}</ref><ref>White, p. 2</ref> In early 1970, at the age of nine, Branagh moved with his family to England to escape [[the Troubles]]; they settled in [[Berkshire]], where Branagh grew up in [[Reading, Berkshire|Reading]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.branaghcompendium.com/conspiracy.html |title=The Kenneth Branagh Compendium: Conspiracy |publisher=Branaghcompendium.com |access-date=7 March 2010}}</ref><ref>White p. 3</ref> and attended Whiteknights Primary School and Meadway School in [[Tilehurst]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tes.com/news/my-best-teacher-kenneth-branagh |title=My best teacher&nbsp;– Kenneth Branagh |publisher=TES Connect}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/berkshire/content/articles/2009/03/24/kenneth_branagh_2009_feature.shtml |title=Berkshire's BAFTA Branagh |publisher=BBC Berkshire}}</ref> He appeared in school productions such as ''[[Toad of Toad Hall]]''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thehunterfamily.co.uk/meadwayschoolreunion/memories.html#jimmorrison |title=Meadway School Reunion&nbsp;– Staff Memories (Jim Morrison) |access-date=13 July 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120404032536/http://www.thehunterfamily.co.uk/meadwayschoolreunion/memories.html#jimmorrison |archive-date=4 April 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and ''[[Oh, What a Lovely War!]]''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.qub.ac.uk/directorates/InformationServices/TheLibrary/FileStore/Filetoupload,51398,en.pdf |title=Kenneth Branagh Archive |publisher=Queen's University Belfast |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110612190125/http://www.qub.ac.uk/directorates/InformationServices/TheLibrary/FileStore/Filetoupload%2C51398%2Cen.pdf |archive-date=12 June 2011 }}</ref>

At school, Branagh learned to speak with an [[received pronunciation|RP accent]] to avoid bullying. Discussing his identity, he later said, "I feel Irish. I don't think you can take Belfast out of the boy."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.talktalk.co.uk/entertainment/film/biography/artist/kenneth-branagh/biography/71 |title=Kenneth Branagh – Biography |publisher=Talktalk.co.uk |access-date=24 August 2012}}</ref> He also attributes his "love of words" to his Irish heritage.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.culturenorthernireland.org/article/21/kenneth-branagh |title=Kenneth Branagh |publisher=Culturenorthernireland.org |date=27 February 2007 |access-date=24 August 2012 |archive-date=18 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180118190855/http://www.culturenorthernireland.org/article/21/kenneth-branagh |url-status=dead }}</ref> He attended the amateur Reading Cine & Video Society (now called Reading Film & Video Makers)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.readingfilmandvideomakers.org.uk |title=RFVM History 1957–2012|publisher=Reading Film & Video Makers}}</ref> and was a keen member of [[Progress Theatre]], of which he is now the patron. After disappointing [[A-level]] results in English, history, and sociology,<ref>{{Cite book|title=Beginning|last=Branagh|first=Kenneth|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|year=1990|isbn=9780393331165|pages=31, 49}}</ref> he went on to train at the [[Royal Academy of Dramatic Art]] in [[London]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://members.tripod.com/DailyTelegiraffe/branaghlondontimes.html |title=''The Times'', 20&nbsp;February&nbsp;2000 |publisher=Members.tripod.com |access-date=7 March 2010}}</ref> In 1980, RADA's principal [[Hugh Cruttwell]] asked Branagh to perform a [[soliloquy]] from ''[[Hamlet]]'' for [[Queen Elizabeth II]] during one of her visits to the academy.<ref>The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (1980) ''An Entertainment'', 19 November 1980 programme, GBS Theatre: London</ref>