Early Life
Massow was born Ivan Field in Brighton, East Sussex. His relationships with his father and subsequently his stepfather were not good; as a boy he ended up being cared for by social services, before being adopted as a pre-teenager by a Mr John Massow. Commenting on his life prior to his adoption, Massow has stated that "My life up to then is a bit of a blur. I had four different families, my name changed from Field to Mitchell to Massow, I was moved around for various reasons."
Massow is dyslexic and left school at 16 with one O-level in metalwork, with possibly others in photography and history, however on the subject of his early qualifications Massow has commented that "I lied about them so much, I can't remember what's actually true." He studied at Eastbourne for a BTEC in art and design, then moved to Bristol and was employed by an insurance firm. In 1990 Massow moved to London and started his own financial services business.
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