Tim Haveron Jones

Corrected entry: Austin Powers left school in 1959. He would have been 18 then. This means that the family holiday in Belgium, when he was a baby, would have been in 1941. Continental Europe would have been an odd choice for a family holiday that year, what with World War II going on and everything. Note: Lots of people seem to think that in England school leaving age is 16. It can be, but most stay on until 18, especially at a smart private school like Austin's. (01:16:10)

Correction: In the post-war years, the school leaving age in Britain was 15. It had been increased to that age by the Education Act of 1944, and wasn't raised again (to the current age of 16) until 1973. Assuming that Austin left school at 15, he would have been born in 1944 - and he would still have been a baby had his family's trip to Belgium taken place any time up to about the end of 1945. Given that Belgium was liberated from Nazi occupation within a few months of the D-Day landings in June 1944, it's fair to say that they could have visited that country in 1945 without too much fear of being shot at.

Tim Haveron Jones

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