ABSTRACT
This reprinted article was first published in Children’s Literature in Education volume 23 number 3, 1992. Philip Pullman charts how his ideas ‘come to rest in the part of the mind where stories grow’; the ‘Daddy’ of the title refers to a poem, on a picture postcard, that he discovered by chance. He explains why he is attracted to the Victorian period, the basis for his historical trilogy, saying that ‘there is much more material lying about’ including intriguing photographs. He reflects on the questions of authentic sounding dialogue, changed language use, the place of irony in tone, the thorny issue of originality and the inescapable presence of ideology.
