Editing Michael Heseltine (section)

==Early life==
Michael Heseltine was born at Eaton Crescent, in [[Swansea]] in Wales on 21 March 1933.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p015q8dz | title=BBC One - Coming Home, Series 3, Michael Heseltine uncovers his Welsh ancestry | date=28 February 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Mr Michael Heseltine (Hansard)|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/people/mr-michael-heseltine/index.html|access-date=10 May 2021|website=api.parliament.uk}}</ref> He was the son of [[Army Reserve (United Kingdom)|Territorial Army]] Colonel Rupert Dibdin Heseltine (1902–1957), [[Territorial Decoration|TD]],<ref>Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage 2008, p. 698</ref> of the [[Royal Engineers]] during the [[Second World War]], a factory owner and South Wales local director of Dawnays Ltd, bridge and structural engineers,<ref>Michael Heseltine: A Biography, Michael Crick, 1997, pp. 10, 14, 21</ref><ref>The Foundry Trade Journal, Foundry Trades' Equipment & Supplies Association, Institute of British Foundrymen, Welsh Engineers' and Founders' Association, 1957, p. 462</ref> and Eileen Ray (''née'' Pridmore). The Heseltine family were in the tea trade: Michael Heseltine's great-grandfather, William Heseltine, was a clerk who worked his way up to being manager of [[Tetley]], later being involved in establishing a chain of grocers; he killed himself after suffering the loss of his fortune through debt and bad investments.<ref>Michael Heseltine: A Biography, Michael Crick, 1997, p. 80</ref> Michael Heseltine's grandfather, John William Dibdin Heseltine (whose mother was a great-granddaughter of the composer and songwriter [[Charles Dibdin]]),<ref>Michael Heseltine: A Biography, Michael Crick, 1997, p. 6</ref> became a tea salesman and relocated from [[Huntingdonshire]] to Swansea,<ref>Michael Heseltine: A Biography, Michael Crick, 1997, pp. 2, 8</ref> the docks being a major arrival point for tea shipments. Earlier generations had been farm labourers in [[Pembrey]].

Heseltine's mother originated in [[West Wales]], daughter of James Pridmore, a dock labourer who unloaded coal from ships, later hiring others to do so and founding West Glamorgan Collieries Ltd, a short-lived company that briefly worked two small mines on the outskirts of Swansea (1919–1921);<ref name=roots/> his father, also James, worked at the Swansea docks.<ref name=roots>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/3042772/Lord-Heseltine-traces-his-roots-to-poverty-in-Wales.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/3042772/Lord-Heseltine-traces-his-roots-to-poverty-in-Wales.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |location=London |work=The Daily Telegraph |first=Duncan |last=Gardham |title=Lord Heseltine traces his roots to poverty in Wales |date=21 September 2008}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Due to this heritage Heseltine was later made an honorary member of the Swansea Dockers Club.

Heseltine was brought up in relative luxury at No. 1, Eaton Crescent, Swansea (now No. 5).  He told ''[[Tatler]]'' interviewer Charlotte Edwardes in 2016: "At prep school, I started a birdwatching club called the Tit Club.  Every member was named after a member of the tit family: the Marsh Tit, the Blue Tit. I was the Great Tit".  He once feared the story might reach the press: "I just know if that had got out when I was in active politics, I would never have recovered".<ref name="Edwardes"/> Heseltine enjoyed [[angling]] in [[Brynmill Park]] and won a junior competition.<ref>BBC Wales ''Coming Home'' – 29 September 2008.</ref> He was educated at [[Broughton Hall, Staffordshire|Broughton Hall]] in [[Eccleshall]], Staffordshire, when it was briefly amalgamated with [[Brockhurst and Marlston House School|Brockhurst Preparatory school]], [[Bromsgrove School]], Worcestershire, and [[Shrewsbury School]], Shropshire.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Higgins|first=Interviews by Ria|title=Relative Values: Lord Heseltine and his wife, Anne|newspaper=[[The Times]]|language=en|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/relative-values-lord-heseltine-and-his-wife-anne-cznjdf3mg|access-date=5 May 2021|issn=0140-0460}}</ref><ref>Michael Heseltine, ''Life in the Jungle'', [[Hodder & Stoughton]], 2000, {{ISBN|0-340-73915-0}}, pp. 13–25.</ref>