Editing Bill Bailey (section)

==Early life==
Mark Robert Bailey<ref name="screenonline">{{cite web|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/1191391/|title=Bill Bailey|publisher=[[screenonline]]}}</ref> was born on 13 January 1965 in [[Bath, Somerset]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/oct/29/bill-bailey-comedian-q-and-a|title=Bill Bailey: 'The worst thing anyone's said to me? "You're that bloke off the Hairy Bikers"'|last=Greenstreet|first=Rosanna|date=2016-10-29|website=The Guardian|language=en|access-date=2018-06-04}}</ref> son of Christopher<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-radio/article/bill-bailey-i-wouldnt-dance-with-an-unvaccinated-partner-on-strictly-thvhw7f9g | title=Bill Bailey: 'I wouldn't dance with an unvaccinated partner on Strictly' | date=16 July 2023 | last1=Billen | first1=Andrew }}</ref> and Madryn<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2020/12/19/bill-bailey-strictly-success-people-thought-joke/ | title=Bill Bailey on his Strictly success: 'People thought I'd be a joke' | newspaper=The Telegraph | date=19 December 2020 | last1=Harvey | first1=Chris }}</ref> Bailey. His father was an NHS [[general practitioner]] "who ran a little surgery in the front of the house", and his mother a hospital ward nurse.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/aug/27/bill-bailey-my-family-values | title=Bill Bailey: My family values | newspaper=The Guardian | date=26 August 2011 | last1=McGrath | first1=Nick }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/healthcare/article/bill-bailey-interview-strictly-extraordinary-portraits-zb0qspxzw | title=Would you trust Bill Bailey as a doctor? | date=16 July 2023 | last1=Glass | first1=Katie }}</ref>  Until 2018, when he revealed the correct date, his birthday was wrongly recorded by the media as 24 February.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/BillBailey/status/967476430463479808|title=Thanks for all the lovely birthday messages. I accept them as belated wishes for my actual birthday which is in January, the 13th and it was in'65 so papers all wrong . Fake news! SAD! Anyway here's me celebratin'pic.twitter.com/QEyF4wlpjK|last=Bailey|first=Bill|date=24 February 2018|website=@BillBailey|language=en|access-date=17 March 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Bill Bailey: it's no time for a mid-life crisis |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/stage-and-theatre/84478852/bill-bailey-its-no-time-for-a-midlife-crisis |website=www.stuff.co.nz |date=22 September 2016 |last1=Donaldson |first1=Michael |access-date=14 July 2024}}</ref> He spent most of his childhood in [[Keynsham]],<ref name="SomersetLive">{{cite web |last1=Connolly |first1=Nancy |title=Bill Bailey recalls first 'shambolic' gig in Bath |url=https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/somerset-news/bill-bailey-recalls-first-shambolic-2747168 |website=SomersetLive |date=14 April 2019 |publisher=Local World |access-date=5 October 2021}}</ref> a town between Bath and [[Bristol]]. His maternal grandparents lived in an annexe built on the side of the house by his maternal grandfather, who was a stonemason and builder. Two rooms at the front of the family house were for his father's surgery.<ref name="DID BB">{{cite episode|title=Desert Island Discs featuring Bill Bailey|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/desertislanddiscs_20080608.shtml|series=Desert Island Discs|series-link=Desert Island Discs|network=[[BBC]]|station=[[BBC Radio 4|Radio 4]]|airdate=8 June 2008}}</ref>

Bailey was educated at [[King Edward's School, Bath|King Edward's School]],<ref>"[http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/11-bristol-celebrities-go-school-17024 Where did these 11 Bristol celebrities go to school?]", ''Bristol Post'', 2 April 2017 (Accessed 4 April 2017)</ref> an independent school in Bath,<ref name="KES">{{cite web|url=http://www.kesbath.com/cgi-local/artman/exec/search.cgi?cat=1&fields=art_num&keyword=1553&template=index/newspage.htm |title=Comedy Map of Britain |access-date=2 February 2007 |publisher=[[King Edward's School, Bath]] |year=2007 |work=News Events & Diary |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929195711/http://www.kesbath.com/cgi-local/artman/exec/search.cgi?cat=1&fields=art_num&keyword=1553&template=index%2Fnewspage.htm |archive-date=29 September 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref> where he was initially a highly academic pupil. At about the age of 15, he started to become distracted from school work when he realised the thrill of performance as a member of a school band called Behind Closed Doors, which played mostly original work. He is a classically trained musician and was the only pupil at his school to study [[GCE Advanced Level|A-level]] music, which he passed with an A grade. He also states he was good at sport and was the captain of the KES 2nd XI cricket team in 1982, which often surprised his teachers. He would often combine music and sport by leading the singing on the long coach trip back from away rugby fixtures. It was here that he was given the nickname Bill by his music teacher for being able to play the song "[[Won't You Come Home Bill Bailey]]" so well on the guitar.<ref name="DID BB"/>

Bailey started studies for an English degree at [[Westfield College]] of the [[University of London]], but left after a year.<ref>[https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/comedy/features/bill-bailey-people-are-obsessed-by-how-i-look-1027334.html "People are obsessed by how I look"], ''The Independent'', 21 November 2008.</ref> He received an Associate Diploma from the [[London College of Music]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.teachsecondary.com/music/view/what-i-learnt-at-school-bill-bailey|title=What I learnt at school: Bill Bailey|website=teachsecondary.com|date=8 January 2016|access-date=23 October 2019}}</ref> He was also made an honorary member of the Society of Crematorium Organists.<ref name="SOCO">{{cite web|url=http://www.societyofcrematoriumorganists.org.uk/members|title=The Society of Crematorium Organists|publisher=The Society of Crematorium Organists|access-date=20 October 2018}}</ref> He performed with a boy band called The Famous Five.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Yaqoob |first=Janine |date=2020-12-19 |title=Strictly Come Dancing winner Bill Bailey's bid for chart stardom in 80s boyband |url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/strictly-come-dancing-winner-bill-23194799 |access-date=2023-11-06 |website=The Mirror |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.billbailey.co.uk/biography/|title=Biography|author=Vanilla Storm Limited|work=billbailey.co.uk|access-date=2 December 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208050605/http://billbailey.co.uk/biography/|archive-date=8 December 2015|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Acting roles included a part in a [[Workers' Revolutionary Party (UK)|Workers' Revolutionary Party]] stage production called ''The Printers'' with [[Vanessa Redgrave]] and [[Frances de la Tour]].