Editing Simon Pegg (section)

==Early life==
Simon John Pegg was born Simon John Beckingham<ref name=remarried1>{{cite magazine |last =  Pegg   |  first = Simon   |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1846732,00.html |title=10 Questions for Simon Pegg |magazine=Time |date=2 October 2008 |archive-date=9 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150709221128/http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1846732,00.html |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Guardian">{{cite news|url=http://film.guardian.co.uk/interview/interviewpages/0,,2005313,00.html|work=The Guardian|location=London|title=A fair cop|first=Carole|last=Cadwalladr|date=4 February 2007| archive-date = 16 December 2013 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131216120433/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2007/feb/04/media.features |access-date=11 June 2022}}</ref> on 14 February 1970<ref name=independent1>{{cite news|last=Norman|first=Neil|title=Simon Pegg: A geek made good|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/simon-pegg-a-geek-made-good-434933.html|work=The Independent|access-date=11 December 2013|date=4 February 2007 | archive-date=28 December 2014 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141228122853/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/simon-pegg-a-geek-made-good-434933.html | url-status=live}}</ref> in [[Brockworth, Gloucestershire]],<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2013/sep/17/lunch-with-simon-pegg | title=Simon Pegg: 'My daughter was a blank slate. This little life had never eaten an E-number'| first=Elizabeth |last=Day| work= [[The Guardian]] | date=17 September 2013 | access-date=22 June 2015 | quote=As a child growing up in the Gloucestershire village of Brockworth.... | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140801035850/http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2013/sep/17/lunch-with-simon-pegg | archive-date=1 August 2014 | url-status=live}}</ref><ref>[https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVWW-2NTS Simon Pegg] at FamilySearch.org.</ref> the son of Gillian Rosemary (née Smith), a former civil servant, and John Henry Beckingham, a [[jazz]] musician and keyboard salesman.<ref name="telegraph">{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/portal/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/portal/2007/06/02/nosplit/ftdetective102.xml|work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|location=London|title=Family detective|first=Nick|last=Barratt|date=2 June 2007|access-date=23 May 2010 | archive-date=23 January 2009 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090123120826/http://telegraph.co.uk/news/features/3632781/Family-detective.html | url-status=dead}}</ref> His parents divorced when he was seven, and he took on his stepfather's surname "Pegg" after his mother remarried.<ref name="remarried1"/><ref name="Guardian"/> His brother, Mike (who starred in the 2020 film [[The Host (2020 film)|''The Host'']]<ref>{{cite web|title=Mike Beckingham: My brother Simon Pegg is 'incredibly supportive' of my acting career |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/celebrity-news/mike-beckingham-brother-simon-pegg-advice-a4427611.html |website=standard.co.uk |date=29 April 2020 |access-date=14 December 2022}}</ref>), still uses Beckingham as his surname. He attended Castle Hill Primary School,<ref name="autobio">{{cite book|last=Pegg|first=Simon|year=2010|title=Nerd Do Well|location=London, UK|publisher=[[Random House]]|isbn=978-1-8460-5811-0}}</ref> [[Millbrook Academy|Brockworth Comprehensive Secondary School]],<ref name="autobio" /> and [[The King's School, Gloucester]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thekingsschool.co.uk/alumni/significant-former-pupils/ |title=Significant former pupils |publisher=[[The King's School, Gloucester]] |access-date=22 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150622174439/http://www.thekingsschool.co.uk/alumni/significant-former-pupils/ |archive-date=22 June 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Pegg moved to [[Stratford-upon-Avon|Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire]] when he was 16 and studied English literature and theatre at [[Stratford-upon-Avon College]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.stratford.ac.uk/AbouttheCollege/Alumni/SimonPegg.aspx|title=Simon Pegg profile|publisher=Stratford-upon-Avon College: About the College" Alumni|access-date=23 January 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120513125612/http://www.stratford.ac.uk/AbouttheCollege/Alumni/SimonPegg.aspx|archive-date=13 May 2012}}</ref> He graduated from the [[University of Bristol]] in 1991 with a BA in theatre, film, and television,<ref name=independent1 /> titling his undergraduate thesis "A [[Marxist literary criticism|Marxist overview]] of popular 1970s cinema and [[cultural hegemony|hegemonic]] discourses".<ref name="Guardian"/> While there, he performed as a member of a comedy troupe called "[[David Icke]] and the Orphans of Jesus", alongside [[David Walliams]], [[Dominik Diamond]], and [[Jason Bradbury]].<ref name="autobio"/>

<blockquote>"When I graduated from university where I studied theater, film and television, I went into stand-up because comedy was something I enjoyed but also because it offered me a certain autonomy that I wouldn't have if I was sitting and waiting for the phone to ring as an actor. Then, I drifted into comedy acting through doing stand-up, and that was something that I really enjoyed. But, it wasn't the only thing I ever wanted to do. There was a time when I was younger where I just wanted to be at The Royal Shakespeare Theatre."<ref>{{Cite web|title=Simon Pegg on Getting Dark in 'Inheritance' and 'Mission: Impossible' Updates|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/simon-pegg-inheritance-mission-impossible-7-arc-1295722|  last1 = Davids    | last2=  Pegg   | first1 = Brian | format = Interview | first2 = Simon | access-date=15 June 2022 |website=The Hollywood Reporter | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200606165219/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/simon-pegg-inheritance-mission-impossible-7-arc-1295722|  archive-date = 6 June 2020 | date=22 May 2020}}</ref></blockquote>