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His father, John, was a [[Church of Scotland]] [[Minister of religion|minister]]. While at [[Kirkcaldy High School]] Brown did exceptionally well and entered the [[University of Edinburgh]] at the age of 16. While a student he suffered a [[retinal detachment|detached retina]] in a [[rugby union|rugby]] accident that left him [[blind]] in his left eye; for a time he faced the prospect of total blindness.<ref>[http://politics.guardian.co.uk/interviews/story/0,,1312621,00.html Will he? Won't he?], [[The Guardian]], [[26 September]], 2004</ref> Brown studied History at Edinburgh, graduating with [[First Class Honours]]. Brown stayed at [[Edinburgh]] to complete his [[Doctor of Philosophy|Doctorate]], titled ''The Labour Party and Political Change in Scotland 1918-29''. According to biographer [[Tom Bower]], Brown originally intended his thesis to cover the development of the [[Labour movement]] from the [[17th century|seventeenth century]] onwards, but evolved to more modestly describe "Labour's struggle to establish itself as the alternative to the [[Unionist Party (1912-1965)|Conservatives]] [in the early part of the 20th century]".
Before entering [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Parliament]] and while still a student, Brown was elected [[Rector]]<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4683799.stm Brown's first taste of power] [[BBC]] News 15 July 2005</ref> of [[Edinburgh University]] and Chairman of the [[University Court]]; he also edited ''The Red Paper on Scotland''.<ref>[http://www.redpaper.net/about.htm About The Red Paper on Scotland] Red Paper on Scotland website.</ref> Brown lectured at Edinburgh and then at [[Glasgow Caledonian University|Glasgow College of Technology]] before working as a journalist at [[Scottish Television]]. In the [[1979 UK general election|1979 general election]], Brown stood for the [[Edinburgh South (UK Parliament constituency)|Edinburgh South]] constituency, but lost to the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] candidate, [[Michael Ancram]].
==Election to parliament and opposition==
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