Claim: Philip Mason, son of general practitioner Herbert Alfred Mason, was educated at Sedbergh School and Balliol College (one of the oldest colleges of the University of Oxford), taking a first-class degree in Modern Greats.
Evidence: Philip Mason was one of three children- two sons and a daughter- of Herbert Alfred Mason (1876–1968), a general practitioner at Duffield, Derbyshire, and his wife Ethel Addison (1880–1956), daughter of Herbert Addison Woodruff, an engineer and manager of a Cammell Laird steel factory. Mason was educated at Sedbergh School and Balliol College, Oxford, taking a first-class degree in Modern Greats. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a rich landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the foundation and endowment for the college.