 He was born in Kensington in London in 1934.His mother, Noel Margery Collette-Thomas, was the first of Rex Harrison's six wives; they divorced in 1942.Noel was raised together with his nephew Richard Michael Collette Thomas (later a Lt.-Col. who was KIA in France in 1944) during their early years by his grandparents (Major John Cyril Collette Thomas & Jessie Maud Scott-Brown) in Bude, North Cornwall.