Editing Sefton Delmer (section)

==Early life==

Denis Sefton Delmer, known familiarly as "Tom", was born in Berlin as a British subject, as a son of [[Australia]]n parents living in Germany. His father, [[Frederick Sefton Delmer]], was British of Australian heritage, born in [[Hobart]], [[Tasmania]], who became Professor of English Literature at [[Berlin University]] and author of a standard textbook for German schools.<ref name ="Beowulf">{{Cite book |author=Frederick Sefton Delmer |title=English Literature from Beowulf to Bernard Shaw |publisher=Adamant Media Corporation |isbn=978-0-543-90834-6|date=2001}}</ref><ref name ="ODNB"/> 

On the outbreak of the [[World War I|First World War]] his father was interned in [[Ruhleben internment camp]], near Berlin, as an [[enemy alien]]. In 1917, the Delmer family was repatriated to England in a prisoner exchange between the British and German governments. He was brought up to speak only German until the age of five,<ref>Sefton Delmer: ''Trail Sinister'' [[Secker & Warburg]], London, 1961, p. 19.</ref> and as late as 1939 spoke English with a slight accent.<ref name="ODNB">{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-31024|title=Delmer, (Denis) Sefton|encyclopedia=[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]|date=2004|author=Richard Ingrams|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/31024|isbn=978-0-19-861412-8|accessdate=17 November 2022|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

Delmer was educated at the {{ill|Friedrichswerdersches Gymnasium|de}}, Berlin, [[St Paul's School, London]], and [[Lincoln College, Oxford]], where he obtained a second-class degree in modern languages.