Editing Tony Robinson (section)

==Early life==
Robinson was born on 15 August 1946 in [[Homerton]], [[London]], to Phyllis (1916–2005) and Leslie Robinson (1913–1989).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.readersdigest.co.uk/culture/celebrities/tony-robinson-i-remember|title=Tony Robinson "I remember..." - Reader's Digest|website=Readersdigest.co.uk}}</ref> His parents were from working-class [[Hackney, London|Hackney]] backgrounds; his father was a civil servant and council employee who served in the RAF, and his mother, an audio-typist, served in the [[Women's Auxiliary Air Force|WAAF]].<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/oct/14/tony-robinson-my-daughter-used-to-call-me-tony-now-she-calls-me-dad | title=Tony Robinson: 'My daughter used to call me Tony; now she calls me Dad' | newspaper=The Guardian | date=14 October 2016 }}</ref> He attended the private [[Woodford Green Preparatory School]] and [[Wanstead High School|Wanstead County High]] [[grammar school]].<ref>{{cite news|access-date=29 October 2016|title=86-year-old keep fit instructor recognised in Queen's Birthday Honours list|url=http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/10489430.86_year_old_keep_fit_instructor_recognised_in_Queen_s_Birthday_Honours_list/| publisher=East London and West Essex Guardian|date=17 June 2013 |first=Dominic |last=Sutton}}</ref><ref name=wansteadhigh>[http://www.wansteadhigh.co.uk/The-history-of-our-school/ Wanstead High, history of our school]. Wansteadhigh.co.uk, Retrieved 16 May 2015.</ref> He passed four [[O-levels]] (English language, English literature, history, and geography) and went on to study for [[A-levels]], but did not complete them and decided to study at a drama school instead.<ref name="unbio" /> Too young to attend the [[Royal Academy of Dramatic Art]], Robinson enrolled at the [[Central School of Speech and Drama]] in 1963, graduating in 1966.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.hamhigh.co.uk/education/sir-tony-robinson-digs-deep-for-royal-central-school-of-speech-and-drama-ground-breaking-ceremony-1-4884230|title=Sir Tony Robinson digs deep for Royal Central School of Speech and Drama ground-breaking ceremony|last=Scott|first=James|date=9 February 2017|work=Ham & High Education}}</ref>

Robinson had his first acting role at the age of 13, as a member of [[Fagin]]'s gang in the original production of the musical ''[[Oliver!]]'', including a stint as the [[Artful Dodger]] when the boy playing the role failed to turn up.<ref name="unbio">{{cite web|url=http://www.unofficialtonyrobinsonwebsite.co.uk/ |title=Biography |publisher=Unofficial Tony Robinson Website |access-date=21 April 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hackneygazette.co.uk/news/exclusive_interview_tony_robinson_on_his_hackney_past_1_1417392|title=Exclusive interview: Tony Robinson on his Hackney past|first=Chloë|last=Mayer|website=Hackneygazeete.co.uk|date=21 June 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://11oclocknumber.com/production/2881395/credits|title=Credits for Oliver! (Original London Production, 1960) - 11 O'Clock Number|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161221004548/http://11oclocknumber.com/production/2881395/credits|archive-date=21 December 2016}}</ref> Over the next five years, he appeared in a number of [[West End theatre]] shows, and in film, and television.

Through genealogical research, Robinson found that one of his great-great-great grandmothers, Julia Levy, was Jewish; his father, unaware of this ancestry, had been beaten by Fascists in the East End of London in the 1930s who assumed he was a Jew.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Coughlan |first1=Sean |title=The history bloke |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/5124114.stm |access-date=30 November 2020 |publisher=BBC News |date=29 June 2006}}</ref>