Bill Deedes - Early Life and Career

Early Life and Career

Brought up in the family home of Saltwood Castle and educated at Harrow, he was denied a university career after his father suffered heavy financial losses from the Wall Street Crash of 1929. Deedes began his career as a reporter on the Morning Post in 1931, joining the Daily Telegraph when it took over the Post in 1937. Between 1931 and the beginning of the war in 1939, he shared a home in Bethnal Green, with his uncle Wyndham Deedes.

Deedes fought in World War II as an officer in the 2nd Battalion of The Queen's Westminsters, one of the territorial units of the King's Royal Rifle Corps, gaining the Military Cross near Hengelo, The Netherlands in April 1945. He was also the only officer to serve in the King's Royal Rifle Corps for the whole duration of the war.

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