Editing Margaret Drabble (section)

==Early life==
Drabble was born in [[Sheffield]], the second daughter of the County Court judge and novelist [[John Drabble|John Frederick Drabble]] and the teacher Kathleen Marie (''née'' Bloor). Her elder sister was the novelist and critic [[A. S. Byatt]];<ref name="British Council: Literature"/> the youngest sister is [[art historian]] Helen Langdon, and their brother is the barrister Richard Drabble, [[King's Counsel|KC]]. Drabble's father participated in [[Jewish refugees from German-occupied Europe in the United Kingdom|the placement of Jewish refugees]] in Sheffield during the 1930s.<ref name="Art Thou Contented">{{cite news|url=https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/art-thou-contented-jew|title=Art Thou Contented, Jew? The British novelist on England, the Jews, and anti-Semitism today|work=[[Tablet (magazine)|Tablet]]|first=Margaret|last=Drabble|date=20 April 2010}}</ref> Her mother was a [[George Bernard Shaw|Shavian]] and her father a [[Quakers|Quaker]].<ref name="Art Thou Contented"/>

After attending [[The Mount School, York|The Mount School]], a Quaker boarding school at [[York]] where her mother was employed, Drabble received a scholarship to [[Newnham College, Cambridge]].<ref name="British Council: Literature"/> She studied English Literature whilst attending Cambridge.<ref name="The Paris Review"/> She joined the [[Royal Shakespeare Company]] at [[Stratford-upon-Avon]] in 1960, and, before leaving to pursue a career in literary studies and writing, served as an [[understudy]] for [[Vanessa Redgrave]] and [[Diana Rigg]].<ref name="British Council: Literature"/><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2020/sep/11/margaret-drabble-diana-rigg-understudy-royal-shakespeare-company|title=As Diana Rigg's understudy, I never tired of watching her — she was splendid|work=The Guardian|language=en|first=Margaret|last=Drabble|date=11 September 2020|access-date=5 November 2021}}</ref>