Editing Chris Patten (section)

== Early life and education ==
Patten was born in [[Thornton-Cleveleys]] in Lancashire, where his mother had fled to from [[Exeter]], which had recently been significantly damaged by the [[Baedeker raids]]. Patten grew up in an Irish Catholic family in west London, the son of an unsuccessful music publisher whose ancestors had come to England from [[County Roscommon]], Ireland.<ref>{{Cite news|first=Denis|last=Staunton|title=Brexit: 'Ideological crap about sovereignty and taking back control'|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/brexit-ideological-crap-about-sovereignty-and-taking-back-control-1.3162551|access-date=2021-09-30|newspaper=The Irish Times|language=en}}</ref> Patten's father, Frank, dropped out<ref name="bbc/news/hk/patten"/> of university to become a jazz-drummer, later, a popular-music publisher. Frank and his mother Joan sent him to a Catholic primary school, [[Our Lady of The Visitation Roman Catholic Primary School|Our Lady of the Visitation]], in [[Greenford]], and later awarded a scholarship<ref name="bbc/news/hk/patten"/><ref name="themilsource/who-patten">{{cite web |author1=krystalyang38 |title=Who is Lord Chris Patten? |url=https://themilsource.com/2020/09/22/who-is-lord-chris-patten/ |website=The Millennial Source Ltd. |access-date=28 March 2023 |language=en |date=22 September 2020}}</ref> to the independent [[St Benedict's School, Ealing|St Benedict's School]] in [[Ealing]], west London, where he won an exhibition<ref name="John Tepper Marlin Lord Patten">{{cite web |last1=Marlin |first1=John Tepper |author1-link=John Tepper Marlin |title=REUNION: Europe in Madrid – Lord Patten |url=https://theoxbridgepursuivant.blogspot.com/2013/04/oxford-madrid-reunion-dinner-at-posada.html |website=The Oxbridge Pursuivant |publisher=[[blogspot]] |access-date=28 March 2023 |date=28 April 2013|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230328040006/https://theoxbridgepursuivant.blogspot.com/2013/04/oxford-madrid-reunion-dinner-at-posada.html |archive-date=28 March 2023 }}</ref><ref name="sylviavetta/patten-interview">
*{{cite web |last1=Vetta |first1=Sylvia |title=Brilliant interview with Chris Patten – I enjoyed my interview with him . |url=https://www.sylviavetta.co.uk/2019/07/29/brilliant-interview-with-chris-patten-i-enjoyed-my-interview-with-him/ |website=Sylvia Vetta |access-date=28 March 2023 |date=29 July 2019}}
*{{cite web |last1=Vetta |first1=Sylvia |title=Chris Patten |url=https://www.sylviavetta.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Chris-patten.pdf |website=Sylvia Vetta |access-date=28 March 2023}}
</ref> to read Modern History at [[Balliol College, Oxford]].

After graduating with a second-class honours degree in 1965 and winning a William Coolidge Pathfinder Award<ref name="balliol.ox.ac.uk/pathfinders-awards">{{cite web |title=William Westerman Pathfinders awards to North America |url=https://www.balliol.ox.ac.uk/current-members/financial-support/william-westerman-pathfinders-awards |website=[[Balliol College]], University of Oxford |access-date=28 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230103133825/https://www.balliol.ox.ac.uk/current-members/financial-support/william-westerman-pathfinders-awards |archive-date=3 January 2023 |language=en |quote=The original Pathfinders programme at Balliol was started in 1955 by [[Bill Coolidge]] (Balliol 1924).}}</ref><ref name="europarl/dg3/com/patten">{{cite web |title=Chris Patten |url=https://www.europarl.europa.eu/dg3/com/en/patten.htm |website=Confirmation hearings |publisher=[[European Parliament]] |access-date=28 March 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Travel Grants |url=https://www.univ.ox.ac.uk/learn-at-univ/travel-grants/ |website=Grants & Scholarships |publisher=University College Oxford |access-date=28 March 2023}}</ref> travelling scholarship to the US,<ref name="bsg.ox.ac.uk/Patten-lecture">{{cite web |title=Patten Lecture: China and Europe in a less certain world |url=https://www.bsg.ox.ac.uk/events/public-lecture-china-and-europe-less-certain-world |website=[[Blavatnik School of Government]] |access-date=28 March 2023 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="encyclopedia/patten-chris-1944">{{cite web |title=Patten, Chris 1944– |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/patten-chris-1944 |website=[[Encyclopedia.com]] |access-date=28 March 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |quote=I only went to the Oxford Union once. What turned me on to politics was getting a travelling scholarship to the USA. In New York, I got involved in the mayoral campaign of John Lindsay, a liberal Republican who wound up a Democrat, and I got the bug |last1=Sale |first1=Jonathan |title=Passed/Failed: An Education in the Life of Lord Patten, last governor of Hong Kong and University Chancellor |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/passedfailed-an-education-in-the-life-of-lord-patten-last-governor-of-hong-kong-and-university-969102.html |newspaper=The Independent |access-date=19 July 2018}}</ref><ref name="cherwell/2012/03/01/travel-grant">{{cite news |last1=Gerretsen |first1=Isabelle |title=Travel grant offered to Eton students only |url=https://cherwell.org/2012/03/01/travel-grant-offered-to-eton-students-only/ |access-date=28 March 2023 |work=[[Cherwell (newspaper)|Cherwell]] |publisher=[[Oxford University]] |date=1 March 2012}}</ref> Patten worked for the campaign of then-Republican New York Mayor [[John Lindsay]], where he reported on the television performance of rival [[William F. Buckley Jr]].<ref>Hilton, Isabel, "Profile: For God and the right", ''The Independent'', 14 November 1993</ref> He worked for the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] from 1966,{{citation needed|date=March 2021}} first as desk officer and then director (from 1974 to 1979) of the [[Conservative Research Department]].<ref name="bbc/news/hk/patten">{{cite news |title=Chris Patten – Governor of Hong Kong |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/politics97/hk/patten.shtml |access-date=28 March 2023 |work=Politics 97 |publisher=bbc.co.uk}}</ref>