Diana Wynne Jones was born on 16th August, 1934 in London, where she had a chaotic and unsettled childhood against the background of World War II. The family moved around several times, eventually settling in rural Essex. As a child, Diana was deprived of a good, steady supply of books by her father, 'who could beat Scrooge in a meaness contest'. So, armed with a vivid imagination and an insatiable quest for good books to read, she decided that she would have to write them herself.