Editing Nicholas Budgen (section)

==Early life and career==
Named after [[St Nicholas Church, Newport|St Nicholas Church]] in [[Newport, Shropshire]] of which his grandfather was a priest, Budgen was baptised at [[Lichfield Cathedral]] by his grandfather, who had also baptised [[Enoch Powell]], as well as marrying his parents. Thirty-seven years later Budgen would succeed Powell as the Conservative member of Parliament for [[Wolverhampton South West]].

Budgen was educated at [[St Edward's School, Oxford|St Edward's School]] in Oxford and [[Corpus Christi College, Cambridge]]. Budgen was raised by his grandfather after his father George had been killed during the [[Second World War]] at [[Axis capture of Tobruk|Tobruk]] on 16 June 1942,<ref>England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995</ref> one of his uncles having been killed during the [[First World War]] and another during the Second World War at [[Burma campaign|Burma]] in March 1945. 

As a member of Cambridge University Conservative Association, [[Peter Temple Morris]] a future Conservative MP, recalls that the first time [[Harold Macmillan]] used his famous quote "[[q:Harold Macmillan#Disputed|events, dear boy, events]]" was in response to a question Budgen had asked in a small group discussion ("Across the Floor: A life in dissenting politics", page 36, published 2015 - Peter Temple Morris).

During his [[national service]] he rose to the rank of [[Lieutenant (British Army and Royal Marines)|lieutenant]] in the [[North Staffordshire Regiment]], before transferring to the [[Staffordshire Yeomanry]] in 1959. He became a barrister at [[Gray's Inn]] in 1962. Bugden was also a very keen amateur rider under National Hunt rules and in the spring of 1971, won two steeplechases (at Market Rasen and Stratford) on his mare Jocelin, who later became the dam of the very useful steeplechaser Brown Chamberlin.