Editing Cliff Richard (section)

===1940–1958: Childhood and adolescence===
Cliff Richard was born Harry Rodger Webb on 14 October 1940 at King George's Hospital (now [[King George's Medical University]]), Victoria Street, in [[Lucknow]], which was then part of [[British India]]. His parents were Rodger Oscar Webb, a manager for a catering contractor that serviced the [[Indian Railways]], and the former Dorothy Marie Dazely. His parents also spent some years in [[Howrah|Howrah, West Bengal]]. After the violence of [[Direct Action Day]], they decided to relocate to Britain permanently.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Turner |first=Steve |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/174130052 |title=Cliff Richard : the biography |date=2008 |publisher=Lion |isbn=978-0-7459-5279-6 |edition=50th |location=Oxford |oclc=174130052}}</ref> Richard is primarily of English heritage, but he had one great-grandmother who was of half Welsh and half Spanish descent, born of a Spanish great-great-grandmother named Emiline Joseph Rebeiro.<ref>{{cite book |last=Turner |first=Steve |author-link=Steve Turner (writer) |title=Cliff Richard: The Biography |year=2008 |publisher=Lion |location=Oxford |isbn=9780745952796 |page=21 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=He0S6tFOGPUC&pg=PA21}}</ref>

The Webb family lived in a modest home in Maqbara, near the main shopping centre of [[Hazratganj]].<ref name="ReferenceA">Stark, Herbert Alick. Hostages To India: OR The Life Story of the Anglo Indian Race, London: The Simon Wallenberg Press: Vol 2: Anglo Indian Heritage Books</ref> Dorothy's mother served as the dormitory matron at the [[La Martiniere Lucknow|La Martiniere Girls' School]]. Richard had three sisters, Joan and Jacqui, plus Donna (1942–2016).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/celebrity-news/sir-cliff-richard-s-sister-donna-goulden-dies-age-73-after-long-illness-a3315451.html|title=Sir Cliff Richard's sister Donna Goulden dies age 73|access-date=13 April 2018|date=9 August 2016}}</ref><ref>''When Piers Met Sir Cliff'', [[ITV1]]</ref>

In 1948, following [[Partition of India|Indian independence]], the family embarked on a three-week sea voyage to [[Tilbury]], [[Essex]], England, aboard the {{SS|Ranchi}}. The Webbs moved from comparative wealth in India, where they lived in a company-supplied flat at [[Howrah]] near [[Calcutta]], to a [[semi-detached]] house in [[Carshalton]], north [[Surrey]]. Harry Webb attended a local primary school, Stanley Park Juniors, in Carshalton. 

In 1949, his father obtained employment in the credit control office of [[Thorn Electrical Industries]], [[Enfield,_London|Enfield]], and the family moved in with other relatives in [[Waltham Cross]], Hertfordshire, where he attended Kings Road Junior Mixed Infants School, until a three-bedroom council house in nearby [[Cheshunt]] was allocated to them in 1950, at 12 Hargreaves Close.

He then attended [[Goffs-Churchgate Academy|Cheshunt Secondary Modern School]] from 1952 to 1957. As a member of the top stream, he stayed on beyond the minimum leaving age to take [[GCE Ordinary Level]] examinations and gained a pass in [[English literature]]. He then started work as a filing clerk for Atlas Lamps.<ref name=MyLifeMyWay>{{Cite book |year=2008 |first1=Cliff |last1=Richard |first2=Penny |last2=Junor |isbn=978-0-7553-1588-8 |title=My Life, My Way |publisher=Headline Publishing Group |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/mylifemyway0000rich }}</ref> A development of retirement flats, Cliff Richard Court, has been named after him in Cheshunt.<ref>{{cite web|author=Cliff Richard Court |url=http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=cliff+richard+cheshunt&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=7.50299,28.256836&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Cliff+Richard+Court,+High+St,+Cheshunt,+Waltham+Cross,+Hertfordshire+EN8+0BE,+United+Kingdom&t=h&z=15 |title=Google maps |publisher=Google Maps |date=1 January 1970 |access-date=29 January 2012}}</ref>

Harry Webb became interested in [[skiffle]]. When he was 16, his father bought him a guitar, and in 1957, he formed the school vocal harmony group The Quintones,<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QQaEe66cmHYC&pg=PA35 |title=Cliff: An Intimate Portrait of a Living Legend |first1=Stafford |last1=Hildred |first2=Tim |last2=Ewbank |date=13 April 2010 |publisher=Random House |access-date=27 November 2018 |via=Google Books|isbn=9780753536100 }}</ref> before singing in the Dick Teague Skiffle Group.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/showbiz/news/a355023/ten-things-about-cliff-richard.html |title=Ten Things About... Cliff Richard |work=Digital Spy |first=Mayer |last=Nissim |date=8 December 2011 |access-date=10 November 2012}}</ref>