Editing Muriel Box (section)

==Early life ==
Violette Muriel Baker was born in Simla, Poplar Grove, [[New Malden]], Surrey, on 22 September 1905.<ref name="BFI" /> She was the third child of Caroline Beatrice (''née'' Doney) (1872–1961) and Charles Stephen Baker (''d''. 1945). Her mother had been a [[Pupil-teacher|pupil teacher]], a maid, and an assistant in a [[magic lantern]] shop. Her father worked as a clerk for the South Western Railway at Waterloo. Her family called young Muriel "Tiggy". She attended St Matthew's School, Tolworth, for her primary school years moving up to Holy Cross Convent in Wimbledon in 1915, but was expelled, mostly as she had not been baptised. She then transferred to [[Surbiton High School]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite ODNB |title=Box [née Baker], (Violette) Muriel [other married name (Violette) Muriel Gardiner, Lady Gardiner] (1905–1991), screenwriter and film director |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-49588 |access-date=2023-02-19 |date=2004 |language=en |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/49588}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Burnett |first1=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-mwtAQAAIAAJ&q=surbiton+high |title=The Autobiography of the Working Class: An Annotated, Critical Bibliography |last2=Vincent |first2=David |last3=Mayall |first3=David |date=2 March 1984 |publisher=Harvester Press |isbn=9780710809704 |via=Google Books}}</ref> Here she took ballet lessons and studied drama with Sir [[Ben Greet]]. In the 1920s, she met [[Joseph Grossman]] of [[Stoll Pictures]] which led to work as an extra in ''The Wandering Jew'' and in the thriller series ''[[The Old Man in the Corner]]''.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}}

In 1929, Baker left a typing job at Barcley Corsets in Welwyn Garden City, for the scenario department of British Instructional Pictures. As [[Sound film|talkies]] were introduced, Barker was given the task of reading unsolicited manuscripts which led to her developing story writing and dialogue skills. She landed a job as continuity clerk on [[Anthony Asquith]]'s ''[[Tell England (film)|Tell England]]'' (1931). She moved to [[Associated British Picture Corporation|British International Pictures]] at [[Elstree Studios|Elstree]], where she worked on Alfred Hitchcock's ''[[Number Seventeen]]'' (1932).<ref name=":0" />