Editing Alfred Hitchcock (section)

====Early childhood and education====
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[[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.&nbsp;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 (1862–1914) and Emma Jane (née Whelan; 1863–1942). 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 (1899–1980), film director|accessdate=2 July 2024|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/3123 }}</ref> He had an older brother named William John (1888–1943) and an older sister named Ellen Kathleen (1892–1979) who used the nickname "Nellie". His parents were both [[Roman Catholic]]s with English and Irish ancestry.{{sfn|Adair|2002|pp=11–12}}<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=21–22}}; {{harvnb|Spoto|1999|pp=14–15}}</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. 527–533 ''(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&nbsp;... 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=23–24}} 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 – 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>