Lean, David

David Lean was born in Croydon in 1908 into a Quaker family. His father, an accountant, came from a long line of distinguished Quaker schoolmasters, and was disappointed when his elder son showed a marked lack of academic ability, finding it difficult to learn to read and write. In 1922 David failed his Common Entrance examination but family connections gained him a place at Leighton Park, a Quaker school in Reading, where his interests in nature and photography were encouraged. The school also allowed David to visit the cinema, which had been forbidden at home.

In 1923 David Lean's parents separated and when he left school in 1926 he tried to study accountancy to please his mother. However an aunt pointed out that he had no aptitude for that work and an evident passion for cinema and suggested that he should be allowed to see whether he could make a living in film production. He started working at Gaumont in 1927, first as a tea boy and later as a clapperboy and messenger, before becoming an editor of newsreel footage in 1930 and of feature films in 1934.

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