Editing Tam Dalyell (section)

==Early life and career==

Dalyell was born in [[Edinburgh]],<ref>Loch, Percy Gordon (1934) The Family Loch, privately printed, p. 202.</ref> and raised in the family home of his mother [[Eleanor Dalyell]], [[the Binns]], near [[Linlithgow]], West Lothian; his father [[Gordon Dalyell of the Binns|Gordon Loch]] [[Order of the Indian Empire|CIE]] (1887–1953) was a [[British Empire|colonial]] civil servant and a scion of the [[Loch (surname)|Loch family]]. [[Highland Clearances]] facilitator [[James Loch]] (1780–1855) was an ancestral uncle. Loch (and his son) took his wife's surname in 1938, and through his mother Dalyell inherited the [[Dalyell baronets|baronetcy of Dalyell]],<ref name="Guardian obituary">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jan/26/tam-dalyell-obituary |title=Tam Dalyell obituary |first=Brian |last=Wilson |work=The Guardian |date=26 January 2017 |access-date=27 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170126232415/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jan/26/tam-dalyell-obituary |archive-date=26 January 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref> but he never used the title.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-29367988 |title=Obituary: Tam Dalyell |publisher=BBC News |date=26 January 2017 |access-date=26 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170126202455/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-29367988 |archive-date=26 January 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Dalyell was educated at the [[Edinburgh Academy]] and [[Eton College]].<ref name="Independent obituary">{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/tam-dalyell-dies-obituary-campaigning-scottish-labour-mp-who-was-far-too-inquisitive-for-his-own-a7548241.html |title=Tam Dalyell obituary: Campaigning Scottish Labour MP who was 'far too inquisitive for his own good' |first=James |last=Fergusson |work=The Independent |date=26 January 2017 |access-date=27 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170126195621/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/tam-dalyell-dies-obituary-campaigning-scottish-labour-mp-who-was-far-too-inquisitive-for-his-own-a7548241.html |archive-date=26 January 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref> He did his [[national service]] with the [[Royal Scots Greys]] from 1950 to 1952, as an ordinary [[Trooper (rank)|trooper]], after failing his officer training. He then went to [[King's College, Cambridge]], to study mathematics, but switched to history. He became chairman of the [[Cambridge University Conservative Association]] and vice-president of the [[Cambridge Union Society]].<ref name="BBC 13Jan2004">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3391737.stm |title=Dalyell to step down at election |publisher=BBC News |date=13 January 2004 |access-date=13 January 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040303125709/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3391737.stm |archive-date=3 March 2004 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=autobio/>{{rp|63}} Cambridge economist [[Joan Robinson]] encouraged him to stay for a year after completing his history degree to take an additional degree in economics, which he did and later described as "the hardest work I ever did, much harder than being a [[Parliamentary private secretary|PPS]]".<ref name=Guardian_20020413>{{cite web | url = https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/apr/13/foreignpolicy.politics | title = Heckling for Britain | author = Andrew Brown | date = 13 April 2002 | newspaper = [[theguardian.com|Guardian online]] | access-date = 26 January 2017 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170127155045/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/apr/13/foreignpolicy.politics | archive-date = 27 January 2017 | url-status = live }}</ref> He then trained as a teacher at [[Moray House College]] in Edinburgh and taught at [[Bo'ness Academy]] for three years,<ref name="Independent obituary"/> and was Director of Studies on the ship school ''[[Dunera]]'' from 1961 to 1962.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.lrb.co.uk/v04/n09/tam-dalyell/a-falklands-polemic |title=A Falklands Polemic |first=Tam |last=Dalyell |journal=[[London Review of Books]] |volume=4 |issue=9 |date=20 May 1982 |page=17 |access-date=27 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150910221542/http://www.lrb.co.uk/v04/n09/tam-dalyell/a-falklands-polemic |archive-date=10 September 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/news/the-way-i-was-master-of-the-ship-school-dorm-tam-dalyell-1556569.html |title=The Way I Was: Master of the ship school dorm: Tam Dalyell |first=Nicholas |last=Roe |work=The Independent |date=9 October 1992 |access-date=27 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202084620/http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/news/the-way-i-was-master-of-the-ship-school-dorm-tam-dalyell-1556569.html |archive-date=2 February 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1969 Dalyell became a columnist for ''[[New Scientist]]'' magazine,<ref>{{cite news | magazine = [[New Scientist]] | url = https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg18625002.200-tam-dalyell-the-end-of-an-era-at-new-scientist.html | date = 21 May 2005 | author = Tam Dalyell | title = The End of an Era at ''New Scientist'' | issue = 2500 | access-date = 15 September 2017 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150705013254/http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg18625002.200-tam-dalyell-the-end-of-an-era-at-new-scientist.html | archive-date = 5 July 2015 | url-status = live }}</ref> contributing ''Westminster Scene'' (later ''Westminster Diary'') until his retirement in 2005. This provided "a conduit for researchers to speak to Parliament and ''vice versa''", covering many subjects of public concern including industrial diseases, data protection, chemical weapons and the environment.<ref>{{cite news | magazine= [[New Scientist]] | url= https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg18625004.000-editorial-columnist-tam-dalyell-retires.html | date= 21 May 2005 | title= Editorial: Columnist Tam Dalyell retires | issue= 2500 | access-date= 15 September 2017 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150705003828/http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg18625004.000-editorial-columnist-tam-dalyell-retires.html | archive-date= 5 July 2015 | url-status= live }}</ref>