Tipton Froy

I grew up in Scotland, near Glasgow. My mother and I lived in a very large old house, on the top floor in a fairly spacious apartment. It was just the two of us, and she had to work, so consequently I had a lot of time on my own in that house. I didn't realise at first, but there were many secret passages; little doors or hidden panels that would start in one room and end up in another, somewhere else in the building. My mum freaked out one morning when I wasn't in my room - I had been exploring the passages and couldn't find my way back, so was in some other apartment. It sounds funny now, but I think it genuinely upset her. Of course, I was forbidden from going on any more expeditions of discovery...and promptly ignored those and eventually knew all the passages in the house, including those that led to the basement...

I was given a diary one year - I was probably around 9 or 10 - and I remember writing about my adventures (real or fantasy - it didn't matter) some days. I wasn't very good at keeping a diary; I didn't really write about things that happened to me on a specific day but rather ideas I had about things around me, or little stories that came into my head.