Christo­pher Charl­ton was born in Lon­don in 1955. The sec­ond child of a Ger­man Jew­ish moth­er and Pol­ish Catholic father, he was influ­enced by their lib­er­al post-war atti­tudes. He was brought up in Bohemi­an Hamp­stead where the house was always full of ex-refugees, writ­ers, painters, singers, and actors. He moved to Frank­furt, Ger­many, in 1987 and made his home there.