Editing David Astor (section)

==Early life==
{{Further|Livingston family}}
David Astor was born in [[London]], England, the third child of American-born English parents, [[Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor]] (1879–1952), and [[Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor|Nancy Witcher Langhorne]] (1879–1964). The product of an immensely wealthy business dynasty, and raised in the grandeur of a great country estate where the political and intellectual elite gathered, he nevertheless showed compassion for the poor and those who were victims of destructive socioeconomic policies.<ref name="Campbell"/>

An extremely shy man, David Astor was greatly influenced by his father, but as a young man he rebelled against his strong-willed mother.<ref name="Lycett"/> After an education at [[West Downs School]] in [[Winchester]], Hampshire, followed by [[Eton College]] in Berkshire, he attended [[Balliol College, Oxford|Balliol College]], Oxford, where he suffered a nervous breakdown and left in 1933 without graduating.<ref name="Lycett">{{cite news|last1=Lycett|first1=Andrew|title=David Astor: the saintly, tormented man who remade the Observer|url=http://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/03/no-mere-observer-an-affectionate-portrait-of-david-astor/|accessdate=9 February 2017|work=[[The Spectator]]|date=5 March 2016}}</ref> He was psycho-analysed by [[Anna Freud]], and during [[World War II]], he served with distinction as a Royal Marines officer and was wounded in France. While at Balliol in 1931, he met a young anti-[[fascism|fascist]] German, named [[Adam von Trott zu Solz]], who was to become the most influential figure in his life.<ref name="NYTObit2001"/> Von Trott's involvement in the 1944 plot to assassinate [[Adolf Hitler]] led to his execution.<ref name=Observer>{{cite news|last=McCrum|first=Robert|title=Kim Philby, the Observer connection and the establishment world of spies|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/28/kim-philby-david-astor-observer|accessdate=29 July 2013|newspaper=The Observer|date=28 July 2013}}</ref>