James Blunt educated at University of Bristol
Early life
Blunt was born James Hillier Blount on 22 February 1974 at Tidworth Camp military hospital in Hampshire, the first of three children born to Jane Ann Farran (née Amos) and Colonel Charles Blount. His mother started up a ski chalet company in the French Alpine resort of Méribel, while his father was a cavalry officer in the 13th/18th Royal Hussars and then a helicopter pilot, becoming Colonel of the Army Air Corps. The family has a long history of military service, dating back to the 10th-century arrival of their Danish ancestors in England.Blunt grew up primarily in St Mary Bourne, Hampshire, but moved every two years according to his father's military postings around England (Middle Wallop, Netheravon, and York) as well as Cyprus (Nicosia) and Germany (Soest). He also spent time in Cley-next-the-Sea, where his father owned the Cley Windmill. He was educated at Elstree School in Woolhampton and then Harrow School, Middlesex, gaining A-levels in physics, chemistry, and economics. He then went up to the University of Bristol, where he read aerospace manufacturing engineering and sociology, graduating in 1996 with a BSc (Hons). In March 2022 he was the subject of 'James Blunt: From A to Z', broadcast by Burst Radio, Bristol University's radio station. Like his father, Blunt is a pilot and gained his fixed-winged private pilot licence at age 16. He also developed a keen interest in motorbikes around this time.Personal life
Blunt primarily resides on the Spanish island of Ibiza. He also owns a chalet in the Swiss Alpine village of Verbier, where he has a ski lift named after him. In 2012, alongside motorcycle racer Carl Fogarty and rugby player Lawrence Dallaglio, he opened a restaurant at the top of the ski lift called La Vache. The same year, he was a victim of the News International phone hacking affair and filed for damages in a civil case.On 6 September 2014, Blunt married Sofia Wellesley, the granddaughter of Valerian Wellesley, 8th Duke of Wellington. Blunt and Wellesley have two sons; the godfather of their elder son is Ed Sheeran, and the godmother was Carrie Fisher.Blunt received the honorary degree of Doctor of Music (Hon DMus) from the University of Bristol in 2016.Blunt is an active user of Twitter with over two million followers and a feed notable for self-deprecating humour. In 2020, Constable published a compendium of his tweets as a book called How to Be a Complete and Utter Blunt: Diary of a Reluctant Social Media Sensation.
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