Editing Keith Floyd (section)

==Early life==
Floyd was born at Folly Farm, [[Sulhamstead]],<ref name="dnb">Paul Levy, "Floyd, Keith
(1943–2009)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, Jan 2013 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/101691 available online]. Retrieved 5 September 2020.</ref> near [[Reading, Berkshire|Reading]], [[Berkshire]], on 28 December 1943 to Sydney Albert Floyd (1915–1985) and Winifred Phyllis Lorraine, née Margetts.<ref>Stirred But Not Shaken, Keith Floyd, Pan Macmillan, 2010, p. 26</ref> His father, from a working-class background in [[Solihull]], [[West Midlands (county)|West Midlands]], studied electro-engineering at college until the outbreak of the [[Second World War]], when he joined the [[Royal Corps of Signals]]; unable to continue his studies, he became (by his son's recollection) "a tailor or something of that sort", then a meter repairman for the electricity board, going on to work at the [[Fawley Refinery|Fawley oil refinery]] on [[Southampton Water]]. He was also a lay preacher.<ref>Stirred But Not Shaken, Keith Floyd, Pan Macmillan, 2010, pp. 25–27</ref> Floyd was brought up in a council house in the small town of [[Wiveliscombe]] in [[Somerset]], where his mother grew up; he referred to his upbringing as "a very happy rural childhood".<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2009-09-14 |title=Keith Floyd |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/celebrity-obituaries/6192702/Keith-Floyd.html |access-date=2024-06-12 |website=The Telegraph |language=en}}</ref> His family made financial sacrifices to enable him to be educated privately at [[Wellington School, Somerset|Wellington School]], Somerset; popular and a good rugby player, he was forced to leave at 16 due to lack of money.<ref name=BEP /><ref name=":0" />

Floyd became a cub reporter on the ''[[Bristol Evening Post]]''. He claimed, perhaps jokingly, that he decided to join the [[British Army]] in 1963 after watching the film ''[[Zulu (1964 film)|Zulu]]'', although the film was not released until 1964.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/global/2009/sep/15/keith-floyd-obituary | location=London | work=The Guardian | first=Tom | last=Jaine | title=Keith Floyd obituary | date=15 September 2009}}</ref> Having turned down the [[11th Hussars]] he was commissioned as [[second lieutenant]] in the "less snooty" [[Royal Tank Regiment]]<ref name=":0" /> serving on [[Centurion (tank)|Centurion]] tanks, where he pestered the mess cook to produce gourmet dinners.<ref name=BEP /><ref name=IND>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/floyd-uncorked-a-vintage-encounter-with-tvs-booziest-foodie-394629.html|title=Floyd uncorked: A vintage encounter with TV's booziest |last=Rushton|first=Susie|date=11 October 2007|newspaper=[[The Independent]]|access-date=25 January 2009 | location=London}}</ref>

After three years, finding that he and the Army were "mutually incompatible", Floyd found employment in several catering-related jobs including barman, dishwasher and vegetable peeler.<ref name="heraldscotland"/>