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His Dark Materials inspiration to be left untouched
Plans to build a flats complex on the boatyard which inspired Philip Pullman’s best selling ‘His Dark Materials’ trilogy have been thrown out.
Philip Pullman biography, bibliography and book reviews
Oxford City Council turned down an application for 54 flats on the Castle Mill Boatyard in the Jericho area, triggering an appeal to the Planning Inspectorate by the developer Spring Residential.
Oxford refused the scheme on the grounds that it did not have enough affordable housing. Spring, which paid £4 million for the site in 2006, offered to include a small boat repair facility as well as some affordable housing. But the inspector rejected the amended plans as inadequate and said the minimal canal boat facilities were “unfortunate in an area where (the) canal and boating are important elements of its character”.
Philip Pullman’s first published work was a book entitled The Haunted Storm, written in 1972. It was in 1993 when the began the writing of His Dark Materials, a fantasy trilogy for young adults that was completed with the publication of The Amber Spyglass in the year 2000. Although His Dark Materials is categorised within the fantasy genre Pullman also believes that they should be classed as stark realism. Philip Pullman was awarded a CBE in the New Year’s Honours list in 2004.
Posted: October 14th, 2008
Author: Lee
Categories: Philip Pullman
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