Editing Richard Briers (section)

==Early life==
Briers was born on 14 January 1934 in [[Raynes Park]], [[Surrey]],<ref>{{cite news|last=Coveney|first=Michael|title=Richard Briers obituary|work=The Guardian|date=18 February 2013|accessdate=14 January 2023|url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2013/feb/18/richard-briers}}</ref> the son of Joseph Benjamin Briers (1901–1980) and his second wife{{sfn|Hogg|2018|pp= 12-13}} Morna Phyllis (1909–1992), daughter of Frederick Richardson, of the [[Indian Civil Service]].{{sfn|Hogg|2018|p= 10}}<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.filmreference.com/film/67/Richard-Briers.html | title = Richard Briers Biography | publisher = Filmreference.com | access-date = 18 February 2013}}</ref> He was the first cousin once removed of actor [[Terry-Thomas]] (Terry-Thomas was his father's cousin).<ref name="Tel o"/> He spent his childhood at Raynes Park in a flat, Number 2 Pepys Court, behind the now demolished Rialto cinema, and later at [[Guildford]].<ref name="The Good Life">{{cite news|title=A Celebration of The Good Life|publisher=Orion Books|year=2000}}</ref> His father, Joseph Briers, was the son of a [[stockbroker]], of a family of Middlesex [[tenant farmer]]s; a gregarious and popular man, he contended with a nervous disposition, and drifted between jobs, spending most of his life as a bookmaker but also working as, amongst other things, an [[estate agent]]'s clerk and a factory worker for an [[air filter]] manufacturer, as well as being a gifted amateur singer who attended classes at the [[Guildhall School of Music and Drama]].{{sfn|Hogg|2018|pp= 13-15}} His mother, Morna Briers, was a concert pianist and a drama and music teacher, and a member of [[Equity (British trade union)|Equity]], who wished for a showbusiness career, having acted in her youth. The couple had met when Joseph Briers asked Morna to stand in for his regular pianist for a performance; by this time his first marriage had collapsed and six months later they had entered a relationship.{{sfn|Hogg|2018|pp= 12-13}} The family occasionally received money from a wealthy relation, and Briers's maternal grandparents paid for his education, despite not being particularly well-off, and having lived in slightly reduced circumstances in India before returning to England and coming to live at Wimbledon.{{sfn|Hogg|2018|pp= 13-15}}<ref name="Tel o"/>

Briers attended [[Rokeby Preparatory School|Rokeby School]] in [[Kingston-upon-Thames]], Surrey, and, having failed the examination for [[King's College School]], the Ridgeway School in [[Wimbledon, London|Wimbledon]],<ref name="Tel o">{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/9877607/Richard-Briers.html|title=Richard Briers Obituary |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |access-date=23 February 2013 |date=18 February 2013}}</ref> which he left at the age of 16 without any formal qualifications.<ref name="The Good Life"/>