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===Early life: 1899β1919=== ====Early childhood and education==== <!--look for images of St Ignatius and Henley's--> [[File:William Hitchcock with boy and pony, c. 1900.jpg|thumb|upright|William Hitchcock, probably with his first son, William, outside the family shop in London, {{circa}} 1900; the sign above the store says "W. Hitchcock's". The Hitchcocks used the pony to deliver groceries.]] Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was born on 13 August 1899 in the flat above his parents' leased [[greengrocer]]'s shop at 517 High Road in [[Leytonstone]], which was then part of [[Essex]] (now part of the [[London Borough of Waltham Forest]]). He was the son of greengrocer and poulterer, William Edgar Hitchcock (1862β1914) and Emma Jane (nΓ©e Whelan; 1863β1942). The household was "characterised by an atmosphere of discipline".<ref>{{cite ODNB|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-31239|title=Hitchcock, Sir Alfred Joseph (1899β1980), film director|accessdate=2 July 2024|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/3123 }}</ref> He had an older brother named William John (1888β1943) and an older sister named Ellen Kathleen (1892β1979) who used the nickname "Nellie". His parents were both [[Roman Catholic]]s with English and Irish ancestry.{{sfn|Adair|2002|pp=11β12}}<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.irishecho.com/2011/02/st-patricks-day-2005-the-master-of-suspense-2/ |title=St. Patrick's Day 2005: The Master of Suspense |work=Irish Echo |date=17 February 2011 |access-date=14 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180215023358/https://www.irishecho.com/2011/02/st-patricks-day-2005-the-master-of-suspense-2/|archive-date=15 February 2018}}</ref> His father was a greengrocer, as his grandfather had been.<ref>{{harvnb|Taylor|1996|pp=21β22}}; {{harvnb|Spoto|1999|pp=14β15}}</ref> There was a large extended family, including uncle John Hitchcock with his five-bedroom Victorian house on Campion Road in [[Putney]], complete with a maid, cook, chauffeur, and gardener. Every summer, his uncle rented a seaside house for the family in [[Cliftonville]], Kent. Hitchcock said that he first became class-conscious there, noticing the differences between tourists and locals.<ref>{{harvnb|McGilligan|2003|p=6}}</ref> [[File:Site of 517 High Road Leytonstone London E11 3EE (Birthplace of Alfred Hitchcock).jpg|thumb|left|Petrol station at the site of 517 High Road, [[Leytonstone]], where Hitchcock was born; commemorative mural at nos. 527β533 ''(right)''<ref>{{cite news |last1=Glanvill |first1=Natalie |title=Mateusz Odrobny speaks of pride after working on Hitchcock mural |url=http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/11240741.Hitchcock_mural_a__real_honour__says_painter/ |work=East London and West Essex Guardian |date=28 May 2014|access-date=5 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180106063930/http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/11240741.Hitchcock_mural_a__real_honour__says_painter/|archive-date=6 January 2018}}</ref>]] Describing himself as a well-behaved boy{{snd}}his father called him his "little lamb without a spot"{{snd}}Hitchcock said he could not remember ever having had a playmate.{{sfn|Truffaut|1983|p=25}} One of his favourite stories for interviewers was about his father sending him to the local police station with a note when he was five; the policeman looked at the note and locked him in a cell for a few minutes, saying, "This is what we do to naughty boys." The experience left him with a lifelong phobia of law enforcement, and he told [[Tom Snyder]] in 1973 that he was "scared stiff of anything ... to do with the law" and that he would refuse to even drive a car in case he got a parking ticket.<ref>For the police story: {{harvnb|Truffaut|1983|p=25}}; {{harvnb|Taylor|1996|p=25}}; [[Dick Cavett|Cavett, Dick]] (8 June 1972). "Interview with Alfred Hitchcock", ''[[The Dick Cavett Show]]'', ABC, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYTx6N24tHk&t=6m52s 00:06:52] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191225115833/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYTx6N24tHk&t=6m52s |date=25 December 2019 }}.{{pb}} For the Snyder interview: [[Snyder, Tom]] (1973). "Alfred Hitchcock interview", ''[[Tomorrow Coast to Coast|Tomorrow]]'', NBC, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHhe2zTkeRQ&t=1m55s 00:01:55] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200103162126/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHhe2zTkeRQ&t=1m55s |date=3 January 2020 }}.</ref> When he was six, the family moved to [[Limehouse]] and leased two stores at 130 and 175 Salmon Lane, which they ran as a [[fish-and-chip]] shop and fishmongers' respectively; they lived above the former.<ref name=McG2003p13>{{harvnb|McGilligan|2003|p=13}}</ref> Hitchcock attended his first school, the Howrah House Convent in [[Poplar, London|Poplar]], which he entered in 1907, at age 7.<ref>{{harvnb|Spoto|1999|pp=20, 23}}</ref> According to biographer [[Patrick McGilligan (biographer)|Patrick McGilligan]], he stayed at Howrah House for at most two years. He also attended a convent school, the Wode Street School "for the daughters of gentlemen and little boys" run by the [[Faithful Companions of Jesus]]. He then attended a primary school near his home and was for a short time a boarder at [[Salesian College, Battersea|Salesian College]] in [[Battersea]].<ref>{{harvnb|Taylor|1996|p=29}}; {{harvnb|McGilligan|2003|p=18}}</ref> The family moved again when Hitchcock was eleven, this time to [[Stepney]], and on 5 October 1910 he was sent to [[St Ignatius' College|St Ignatius College]] in [[Stamford Hill]], a [[Jesuit]] grammar school with a reputation for discipline.<ref>{{harvnb|Truffaut|1983|p=25}}; {{harvnb|Spoto|1999|p=23}}</ref> As corporal punishment, the priests used a flat, hard, springy tool made of [[gutta-percha]] and known as a "ferula" which struck the whole palm; punishment was always at the end of the day, so the boys had to sit through classes anticipating the punishment if they had been written up for it. He later said that this is where he developed his sense of fear.<ref>{{harvnb|Truffaut|1983|p=26}}; {{harvnb|Fallaci|1963}}</ref> The school register lists his year of birth as 1900 rather than 1899; biographer [[Donald Spoto]] says he was deliberately enrolled as a ten-year-old because he was a year behind with his schooling.{{sfn|Spoto|1999|pp=23β24}} While biographer Gene Adair reports that Hitchcock was "an average, or slightly above-average, pupil",{{sfn|Adair|2002|p=15}} Hitchcock said that he was "usually among the four or five at the top of the class";{{sfn|Truffaut|1983|p=26}} at the end of his first year, his work in Latin, English, French and [[religious education]] was noted.<ref>{{harvnb|Adair|2002|p=15}}; {{harvnb|Truffaut|1983|p=26}}</ref> He told [[Peter Bogdanovich]]: "The Jesuits taught me organisation, control and, to some degree, analysis."{{sfn|Adair|2002|p=15}}<!--replace source--> Hitchcock's favourite subject was [[geography]] and he became interested in maps and the timetables of trains, trams and buses; according to [[John Russell Taylor]], he could recite all the stops on the ''[[Orient Express]]''.{{sfn|Taylor|1996|p=31}} He had a particular interest in [[Trams in London|London trams]]. An overwhelming majority of his films include rail or tram scenes, in particular ''[[The Lady Vanishes]]'', ''[[Strangers on a Train (film)|Strangers on a Train]]'' and ''[[Number Seventeen]]''. A [[clapperboard]] shows the number of the scene and the number of takes, and Hitchcock would often take the two numbers on the clapperboard and whisper the London tram route names. For example, if the clapperboard showed "Scene 23; Take 3", he would whisper "[[Woodford, London|Woodford]], [[Hampstead]]"{{emdash}}Woodford being the terminus of the route 23 tram, and Hampstead the end of route 3.<ref>Patrick McGilligan, 2003. Buckley, R. J. 1984. ''Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light'' ({{ISBN|0-470-86973-9}}). Chichester, UK, John Wiley & Sons Ltd.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://writebetter.io/examples/film+rail/extended/ |title=How to use "film rail" in a sentence β WriteBetter |access-date=7 November 2021 |archive-date=7 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211107064550/https://writebetter.io/examples/film+rail/extended/}}</ref> ====Henley's==== Hitchcock told his parents that he wanted to be an engineer,{{sfn|Truffaut|1983|p=26}} and on 25 July 1913,<ref name=Spoto1999p23>{{harvnb|Spoto|1999|p=23}}</ref> he left St Ignatius and enrolled in night classes at the London County Council School of Engineering and Navigation in Poplar. In a [[Hitchcock/Truffaut|book-length interview]] in 1962, he told [[FranΓ§ois Truffaut]] that he had studied "mechanics, electricity, acoustics, and navigation".{{sfn|Truffaut|1983|p=26}} Then, on 12 December 1914, his father, who had been suffering from [[Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease|emphysema]] and kidney disease, died at the age of 52.<ref>{{harvnb|McGilligan|2003|p=25}}</ref> To support himself and his mother{{snd}}his older siblings had left home by then{{snd}}Hitchcock took a job, for 15 [[Shilling (British coin)|shillings]] a week (Β£{{formatnum:{{inflation|UK|0.75|1914}}}} in {{Inflation/year|UK}}),{{inflation-fn|UK}} as a technical clerk at the [[William Thomas Henley|Henley Telegraph and Cable Company]] in Blomfield Street, near [[London Wall]].<ref>{{harvnb|Adair|2002|p=15}}; {{harvnb|Spoto|1999|p=37}}</ref> He continued night classes, this time in art history, painting, economics and political science.<ref>{{harvnb|Spoto|1999|p=37}}</ref> His older brother ran the family shops, while he and his mother continued to live in Salmon Lane.{{sfn|Ackroyd|2015|p=11}} Hitchcock was too young to enlist when the [[First World War]] started in July 1914, and when he reached the required age of 18 in 1917, he received a C3 classification ("free from serious organic disease, able to stand service conditions in garrisons at home ... only suitable for sedentary work").<ref>{{harvnb|Taylor|1996|pp=27β28}};<!--check page--> [https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1918-06-20/debates/3ec12ba9-4d13-4c03-880a-226006f28d83/MilitaryService(MedicalGrading) "Military service (medical grading")] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190224062439/https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1918-06-20/debates/3ec12ba9-4d13-4c03-880a-226006f28d83/MilitaryService(MedicalGrading) |date=24 February 2019 }}, ''Hansard'', vol. 107, 20 June 1918, 607β642.</ref> He joined a cadet regiment of the [[Royal Engineers]] and took part in theoretical briefings, weekend drills and exercises. John Russell Taylor wrote that, in one session of practical exercises in [[Hyde Park, London|Hyde Park]], Hitchcock was required to wear [[puttees]]. He could never master wrapping them around his legs, and they repeatedly fell down around his ankles.{{sfn|Taylor|1996|p=28}} After the war, Hitchcock took an interest in creative writing. In June 1919, he became a founding editor and business manager of Henley's in-house publication, ''The Henley Telegraph'' (sixpence a copy), to which he submitted several short stories.{{sfn|McGilligan|2003|p=30}}{{efn|In his first story, "Gas" (June 1919), published in the first issue, a young woman is being assaulted by a mob of men in Paris, only to find she has been hallucinating in the dentist's chair.<ref>{{harvnb|Duncan|2003|p=20}}; Hitchcock, Alfred (June 1919). [https://the.hitchcock.zone/wiki/Henley_Telegraph_(1919)_-_Gas "Gas"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171222220201/https://the.hitchcock.zone/wiki/Henley_Telegraph_(1919)_-_Gas |date=22 December 2017 }}, ''Henley Telegraph''.</ref> This was followed by "The Woman's Part" (September 1919), which describes a husband watching his wife, an actor, perform on stage.<ref>{{harvnb|Hitchcock|2014|p=19}}; Hitchcock, Alfred (September 1919). [https://the.hitchcock.zone/wiki/Henley_Telegraph_(1919)_-_The_Woman%27s_Part "The Women's Part"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171223042537/https://the.hitchcock.zone/wiki/Henley_Telegraph_(1919)_-_The_Woman%27s_Part |date=23 December 2017 }}, ''Henley Telegraph''; {{harvnb|McGilligan|2003|p=34}}</ref> "Sordid" (February 1920) concerns an attempt to buy a sword from an antiques dealer, with another twist ending.<ref>{{harvnb|Hitchcock|2014|p=20}}; Hitchcock, Alfred (February 1920). [https://the.hitchcock.zone/wiki/Henley_Telegraph_(1920)_-_Sordid "Sordid"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171223042506/https://the.hitchcock.zone/wiki/Henley_Telegraph_(1920)_-_Sordid |date=23 December 2017 }}, ''Henley Telegraph''.</ref> "And There Was No Rainbow" (September 1920) finds Bob caught ''[[in flagrante]]'' with a friend's wife.<ref>{{harvnb|Hitchcock|2014|p=22}}; Hitchcock, Alfred (September 1920). [https://the.hitchcock.zone/wiki/Henley_Telegraph_(1920)_-_And_There_Was_No_Rainbow "And There Was No Rainbow"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171223042508/https://the.hitchcock.zone/wiki/Henley_Telegraph_(1920)_-_And_There_Was_No_Rainbow |date=23 December 2017 }}, ''Henley Telegraph''.</ref> In "What's Who?" (December 1920), confusion reigns when a group of actors impersonate themselves.<ref>{{harvnb|Hitchcock|2014|p=23}}; Hitchcock, Alfred (December 1920). [https://the.hitchcock.zone/wiki/Henley_Telegraph_(1920)_-_What%27s_Who%3F "What's Who?"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191223145710/https://the.hitchcock.zone/wiki/Henley_Telegraph_(1920)_-_What%27s_Who%3F |date=23 December 2019 }}, ''Henley Telegraph''.</ref> "The History of Pea Eating" (December 1920) is a satire on the difficulty of eating peas.<ref>{{harvnb|Hitchcock|2014|p=24}}; Hitchcock, Alfred (December 1920). [https://the.hitchcock.zone/wiki/Henley_Telegraph_(1920)_-_The_History_of_Pea_Eating "The History of Pea Eating"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171003030654/https://the.hitchcock.zone/wiki/Henley_Telegraph_(1920)_-_The_History_of_Pea_Eating |date=3 October 2017 }}, ''Henley Telegraph''.</ref> His final piece, "Fedora" (March 1921) describes an unknown woman: "small, simple, unassuming, and noiseless, yet she commands profound attention on all sides".<ref>{{harvnb|Hitchcock|2014|p=26}}; {{harvnb|McGilligan|2003|pp=44β45}}; Hitchcock, Alfred (March 1921). [https://the.hitchcock.zone/wiki/Henley_Telegraph_(1921)_-_Fedora "Fedora"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171223042540/https://the.hitchcock.zone/wiki/Henley_Telegraph_(1921)_-_Fedora |date=23 December 2017 }}, ''Henley Telegraph''.</ref>}} Henley's promoted him to the advertising department, where he wrote copy and drew graphics for electric cable advertisements. He enjoyed the job and would stay late at the office to examine the proofs; he told Truffaut that this was his "first step toward cinema".{{sfn|Truffaut|1983|p=26}}{{sfn|Taylor|1996|p=21}} He enjoyed watching films, especially American cinema, and from the age of 16 read the trade papers; he watched [[Charlie Chaplin]], [[D. W. Griffith]] and [[Buster Keaton]], and particularly liked [[Fritz Lang]]'s ''[[Der mΓΌde Tod]]'' (released in Britain in 1921 as ''Destiny'').{{sfn|Truffaut|1983|p=26}}
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