Editing Alan Beith (section)

== Early life ==
[[File:Oxford - Balliol College - geograph.org.uk - 1329613.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Balliol College]], Oxford]]
The son of John Beith, of [[Scottish people|Scottish extraction]], he was born in 1943 at [[Poynton]] in [[Cheshire]]. He was educated at [[The King's School, Macclesfield]] before going to [[Balliol College, Oxford]], where he read [[Philosophy, Politics and Economics]] graduating in 1964. He then pursued postgraduate studies at [[Nuffield College]], receiving a [[Degrees of the University of Oxford|Bachelor of Letters (BLitt) degree]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.debretts.com/people-of-today/profile/17987/Alan-James-BEITH |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160311171023/http://www.debretts.com/people-of-today/profile/17987/Alan-James-BEITH |url-status=dead |title=''Debrett's People of Today'' |archive-date=11 March 2016}}</ref>

In 1966, Beith began his career as a politics [[lecturer]] at the [[University of Newcastle upon Tyne]]. In 1969 he was elected as a [[Councillor]] on [[Hexham Rural]] [[Local government in the United Kingdom|District Council]] and, in 1970, he was also elected to [[Corbridge]] [[Parish council (England)|parish council]]. He contested Berwick-upon-Tweed as the [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal]] candidate at the [[1970 United Kingdom general election|1970 general election]] but was heavily defeated by the sitting [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] MP [[Antony Lambton]].