Dennis Hamley was born in Kent and moved to Winslow, Bucks. He attended the Royal Latin School in Buckingham (1946-1954), and then the RAF National Service. Dennis went on to have a career in education (teacher, lecturer) before retiring early in 1992 to write full-time. His first novel was published in 1974 and he has written over sixty books, many for children. The idea for The Second Person from Porlock came from the discovery of a comment inserted in the text of Kubla Khan in the Old Library, Jesus College, Cambridge. Its provenance is still unknown.