Rossland, British Columbia
Born in Rossland, British Columbia, Canada on 3 December 1925 to English parents from Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, Philip Turner was brought to England in 1926. He was educated at Hinckley Grammar School in Leicestershire and spent many school holidays exploring the East Anglian fens whilst staying with his grandparents. He served his National Service from 1943 to 1946 as a Sub-Lieutenant Mechanical Engineer in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, mostly during World War II. He then resumed his education at Worcester College, Oxford, whence he graduated in 1949. He married Margaret Diana Samson in 1950 with whom he had two sons and a daughter.