Abstract
Leslie Henry Norman Cooper was born in Broadstairs on 17 June 1905, the son of Charles Herbert Cooper and Annie Cooper (née Silk). His father, Charles, had talents in drawing, painting, kitchen gardening and fishing but he had poor health and never had a full-time occupation. He was twice turned down as a volunteer for the army in World War I. The family lived frugally on income from inheritances from the Australian branch of the Cooper family. They moved to Conwy, North Wales, in 1915 because of the war threat. His father died in 1933. Leslie Cooper was educated at the John Bright Grammar School in Llandudno. From these early years he developed a deep affection for the countryside, and particularly for the mountains of North Wales, which was to remain with him for the rest of his life. He was an exceptional scholar and, on leaving school in 1921 at the early age of 16, he was awarded the Eyton Williams Scholarship, a State Scholarship and the Caernarvonshire County Exhibition, each of which was tenable for three years at University College North Wales, Bangor. There he met his future wife, Gwynedd Daloni Seth Hughes, a music student and a native of Bangor.