Early Life and Family Background
He was born in London, and educated at Eton College and Magdalen College, Oxford. Despite training as a barrister, he decided to become an English teacher at St Clement Danes Grammar School (later Burlington Danes School) in Shepherd's Bush, West London, in 1974.
Porritt is the son of The Rt. Hon. The Lord Porritt, 11th Governor-General of New Zealand. Lord Porritt, who served as a senior officer in the Royal Army Medical Corps during World War II, was also the bronze medalist in the Olympic Chariots of Fire 100 metres race. As well as receiving a non-hereditary life peerage, Lord Porritt had previously been awarded a baronetcy. Jonathon Porritt is entitled to claim the baronetcy, becoming The Hon. Sir Jonathon Porritt, 2nd Baronet, but has so far declined to do so. He has two daughters.
Read more about this topic: Jonathon Porritt
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