page_title: David Kelly (weapons expert)
section_title: Early life, education and first jobs: 1944–1984
hierarchical_section_title: David Kelly (weapons expert) / Biography / Early life, education and first jobs: 1944–1984
caption_attribution_description: English: Linacre College Oxford Main Enterance (OC Tanner Building) on St Cross Road
context_page_description: David Christopher Kelly CMG was a Welsh scientist and authority on biological warfare. In July 2003 he had an off-the-record conversation with Andrew Gilligan, a BBC journalist; during their discussion they talked about the 2002 dossier on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, which stated that some of Iraq's chemical and biological weapons were deployable within 45 minutes. When Gilligan reported this on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he stated that the 45 minute claim was included at the insistence of Alastair Campbell, the Downing Street Director of Communications—something Kelly denied. The government complained to the BBC about the claim, but they refused to recant on the claim; political tumult between Downing Street and the BBC developed. Kelly informed his line managers in the MoD that he may have been the source, but did not think he was the only one, as Gilligan had reported points he had not mentioned. Kelly's name became known to the media, and he was called to appear on 15 July before the parliamentary Intelligence and Security and Foreign Affairs Select committees. Two days later Kelly was found dead near his home.
context_section_description: David Christopher Kelly was born in Llwynypia, Glamorgan, South Wales, on 14 May 1944. His parents were Thomas John Kelly and Margaret, née Williams; Thomas was a schoolteacher who was serving in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve as a signals officer during the Second World War. Thomas and Margaret divorced in 1951 and she took her young son and moved in with her parents in Pontypridd. From the age of eleven he attended the local grammar school. He was a keen sportsman and musician at school, and represented Wales in the youth cross-country running team; he played double bass in the National Youth Orchestra of Wales and played the saxophone to a high standard.
  In 1963 Kelly was admitted to the University of Leeds to study chemistry, botany and biophysics. His mother died two years later from an overdose of prescription barbiturates. Although the coroner's inquest gave an open verdict, Kelly believed she had killed herself. As a result of the death, Kelly suffered from insomnia and was prescribed sleeping pills; he was also given an extra year to complete his degree. Kelly graduated in 1967 with a BSc in bacteriology; he then obtained an MSc in virology from the University of Birmingham. Between his first and second degrees, on 15 July 1967, he married Janice Vawdrey, who was studying at Bingley Teacher Training College.
  Kelly joined the Insect Pathology Unit at the University of Oxford in 1968, while a student of Linacre College. In 1971 he received his doctorate in microbiology for his thesis "The Replication of Some Iridescent Viruses in Cell Cultures". In the early 1970s he undertook postdoctoral research at the University of Warwick, before moving back to Oxford in the mid-1970s to work at the Institute of Virology, where he rose to the position of Chief Scientific Officer. Much of his work was in the field of insect viruses.
caption: Linacre College, Oxford, where Kelly studied for his doctorate in microbiology
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