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Figure caption, Watch: The life of legendary actor Sir Patrick Stewart

Patrick Hewes Stewart was born in Mirfield in the West Riding of Yorkshire on 13 July 1940.

His mother Gladys was a textile worker. She was active in amateur dramatics and encouraged her three sons to take part.

His father was a former Sergeant Major in the Parachute Regiment whose experience during the wartime evacuation of Dunkirk had shredded his mental health.

"My father was a very potent individual," Stewart later recalled. "It was said that when he strode on to the parade ground, birds stopped singing."

But Alfred Stewart had become a quick-tempered man, suffering from what would now be called post traumatic stress.

He was prone to drink and often took out his frustrations on his family - although Patrick himself was never the target of his fists.

Image source, Getty Images

Image caption, Patrick Stewart in the Royal Shakespeare Company's 1970 production of The Two Gentlemen of…