Early Years
Born Denys Baker in Poppleton, York, North Riding of Yorkshire on 24 October 1917 where his father, Welsh born Valentine Henry Baker, was stationed as a pilot instructor during World War I. His mother was Dilys Eames, who was from Anglesey in North Wales and had played harp at the National Eisteddfod of 1901. He grew up in Sussex and eventually lived with his parents in Surbiton, then in Surrey, now in Greater London.
Denys was always proud of being of Celtic ancestry, and he considered himself to be more Welsh than English, and this was an influence in his writings.
A lifelong pacifist and vegetarian, he was secretary of a pacifist community in Camden Town. He registered as a conscientious objector in World War II, and carried out rescue work in London during the Blitz.
Read more about this topic: Denys Val Baker
Famous quotes containing the words early and/or years:
“The secret of heaven is kept from age to age. No imprudent, no sociable angel ever dropt an early syllable to answer the longings of saints, the fears of mortals. We should have listened on our knees to any favorite, who, by stricter obedience, had brought his thoughts into parallelism with the celestial currents, and could hint to human ears the scenery and circumstance of the newly parted soul.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“To be seventy years young is sometimes far more cheerful and hopeful than to be forty years old.”
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–1894)