Hugh John Lofting was born January 14, 1886, in Maidenhead, England, to parents of English and Irish heritage.

As a child, he developed a strong interest in animals and nature, which led him to keep a combination zoo and natural history museum in his mother's linen closet until it was discovered. He enjoyed telling stories to his brother and sister and, much like Tommy Stubbins at the beginning of The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle, dreamed of adventurous travel to unexplored lands.

At age eight Lofting was sent to a Jesuit boarding school in Derbyshire and from then on spent only short periods of time at home. In 1904 he came to America to study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology but returned to England in 1906 to complete his studies at London Polytechnic. After school he began working as an architect, but the desire to travel caused him...