Elinor Goldschmied's life and work span much of the twentieth century. At the age of 95 she is still inspiring successive generations of parents and early years workers.
She was born in rural Gloucestershire, the fourth child of seven in a prosperous family. She remembers her early life in the countryside as full of wonderful opportunities for play - perhaps the basis of her intense feeling for nature.
Elinor's childhood was clouded by the early death of her mother and her favourite elder brother, aged eight. Her mother was never spoken of after her death and Elinor thinks some of her interest in communicating with children who don't yet speak is 'because we really didn't speak of deep things, painful things'. She was sent to live with her grandfather and attended Clifton High School, from where she went to train as a nursery teacher at the Froebel Institute in London.
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