Kenneth Charles Branagh was born in
Belfast on 10 December 1960,
[4] the son of working-class
Protestant parents Frances (
née Harper) and William Branagh. His father was a plumber and
joiner who ran a company that specialised in fitting partitions and suspended ceilings.
[5][6] He is the middle of three children, with an older brother and a younger sister, and lived in the
Tigers Bay area of Belfast. He was educated at Grove Primary School.
[7][8] In early 1970, at the age of nine, Branagh moved with his family to England to escape
the Troubles; they settled in
Berkshire, where Branagh grew up in
Reading[9][10] and attended Whiteknights Primary School and Meadway School in
Tilehurst.
[11][12] He appeared in school productions such as
Toad of Toad Hall[13] and
Oh, What a Lovely War![14]
At school, Branagh learned to speak with an
RP accent to avoid bullying. Discussing his identity, he later said, "I feel Irish. I don't think you can take Belfast out of the boy."