Bernard John "Bernie" Taupin was born at home in Flatters Farm House, between the village of Anwick and the town of Sleaford in the southern part of Lincolnshire, England. His father was employed as a stockman by a large farm estate. Taupin and his older brother Tony attended Catholic school in Sleaford, continuing there after the family was relocated to the nearby village of Rowston, where they lived in Rowston Manor, a significant step up after a farmhouse with no electricity.