Question: Which English county is one of the home counties and the birthplace of Clive Needle?

Context paragraphs:
Berkshire: Berkshire ( or , abbreviated Berks, in the 17th century sometimes spelled Barkeshire as it is pronounced) is a county in south east England, west of London and is one of the home counties.  It was recognised by the Queen as the Royal County of Berkshire in 1957 because of the presence of Windsor Castle, and letters patent were issued in 1974.  Berkshire is a county of historic origin and is a home county, a ceremonial county and a non-metropolitan county without a county council.  Berkshire County Council was the main county governance from 1889 to 1998 except for the separately administered County Borough of Reading.

Surrey: Surrey is a county in the South East England and is one of the home counties.  It shares borders with Kent to the east, East Sussex to the south-east, West Sussex to the south, Hampshire to the west and south-west, and Berkshire to the north-west and Greater London to the north-east.  The county town is Guildford.  Surrey County Council sits outside its jurisdiction in Kingston upon Thames, a town which has been administered as part of Greater London since 1965.  With a resident population of 1.1 million, Surrey is the most densely populated and third-most-populous county in the South East region.

Kent: Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties.  It borders Greater London to the north west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south west.  The county also shares borders with Essex along the estuary of the River Thames, and with the French department of Pas-de-Calais along the English Channel.  The county town is Maidstone.

County cricket: Inter-county cricket matches are known to have been played since the early 18th century, involving teams that are representative of the historic counties of England and Wales.  Since the late 19th century, there have been two county championship competitions played at different levels: the County Championship, a first-class competition which currently involves eighteen first-class county clubs; and the Minor Counties Championship, which currently involves nineteen English county clubs and one club that represents several Welsh counties.

Clive Needle: Clive Needle (born 22 September 1956 in Romford, Essex) is a former Labour Party Member of the European Parliament (MEP), having represented Norfolk, in the United Kingdom from 1994 to 1999.

1979–80 Combined Counties Football League: The 1979–80 Combined Counties Football League season was the second in the history of the Combined Counties Football League, a football competition in England, which operates at levels 9–10 of the English football league system.  This was the first season in which the "Combined Counties League" name was used after the inaugural season was held under the name of the "Home Counties League".

Home Counties Premier Cricket League: The Home Counties Premier Cricket League is the top level of competition for recreational club cricket in the Home Counties of England, and since 2000 has been a designated ECB Premier League.  It originally served Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Oxfordshire, although there are at present no Bedfordshire clubs in the league and all but one of the Hertfordshire clubs withdrew after the 2013 season.

1978–79 Home Counties League: The 1978–79 Home Counties League season was the first in the history of the Combined Counties Football League, a football competition in England, which operates at levels 9–10 of the English football league system.  This was the only season in which the "Home Counties League" name was used before the league was renamed as the Combined Counties League.

Surrey Senior League: The Surrey Senior League was an English regional football league for teams based in Surrey although teams from outside the county were often admitted as well.  The league existed from 1922 until 1978, when it was rebranded as the Home Counties League in an attempt to attract teams from a wider catchment area.  After one season the league changed its name once again to the Combined Counties League, under which name it continues to operate to the present day.

Essex: Essex is a county in the East of England immediately north-east of London and is one of the home counties.  It borders the counties of Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south and London to the south-west.  The county town is Chelmsford, which is the only city in the county.

Supporting paragraphs: Clive Needle Essex
Answer: Essex