Philip Pullman was born 19th October, 1946 in Norwich (Norfolk, England) to Alfred Outram (an RAF pilot) and Audrey Evelyn Merrifield. With Alfred's transferable job, the family moved from place to place including to Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). His schooling began in Rhodesia. When Pullman was hardly seven, his father was killed in an accident in 1953. His mother's remarriage brought him to Australia where he discovered the world of comic books, a medium which he liked. From 1957 onwards, he was educated at Ysgol Ardudwy School in Harlech (Gwynedd), and spent time in Norfolk with his grandfather, a clergyman. He discovered Milton's Paradise Lost around this time - the book became a major influence for His Dark Materials. From 1963 Pullman attended Exeter College, Oxford, receiving a