Born a bastard to a Welsh prostitute, Bran's life didn't start easy.​

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In and out of the poor house through most of his early life, by the age of 4 his mother had abandoned him and he was working long, dreary hour in the dangerous and deadly job of collecting lint under a textile machine.  He was one of the few who survived unmaimed, due to his light body and agile and dexterous nature.  When he grew too big to fit under the sweep, he was sold off to be  a breaker boy in a coal mine near Cardiff.

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