Tony Harbourne was born in the smog of Wandsworth, London, in 1947 and at the age of six moved to a new housing estate in Dartford, Kent. In those days, it was still rural countryside, and this was where he became fascinated by the abundance of wildlife to be found there and with a particular interest in insects.
During his formative years, he shared a flat in Highgate with his old school chum, Ian, and every Sunday they would race their small hand carved wooden sailing boats across the boating pond at Parliament Hill. The boats were always at the mercy of the strength and direction of the breeze, snagging floating pond weed and inquisitive ducks.
He began to think how many more races his boat could win if it was manned by a miniature crew, which, along with his interest in insects, sowed the seeds for the creation of the Known Lands and the Green Empire in which tiny folk embark on daring adventures and dangerous quests set in our sized world against a backdrop of the early medieval period.
He now lives in Southeast London.