C S Lewis, the Irish author, who died 22 November, 1963, aged 64, is best known for his Chronicles of Narnia series of seven books which have sold over 100 million copies, translated into 41 languages and adapted for radio, stage, television and cinema.

He stands alongside his good friend, Lord of the Rings author J R R Tolkien , as one of the most influential and popular fantasy writers of all time.

His Narnian stories revolve around children transported via magical portals from England to the world of Narnia, inhabited by talking animals, evil witches, dragons, daring princes and tyrannical kings. The first book in the series, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, is the most well-known and was made into a feature film by Disney in 2005.

Clive Staples Lewis was born on 29 November, 1898, in Belfast to Albert James Lewis and Flora Augusta Hamilton Lewis. He had an older brother called Warren. At the age of four he declared that he was changing his name to Jack in honour of the family dog, Jacksie, who had been hit by a car. He was known as Jack to friends and family throughout his life.

In 1908 his mother died of cancer. Until that year he had been tutored privately but he then joined his brother at Wynyard School in Hertfordshire, England. Biographers believe Mr Lewis found the experience traumatising and that this fuelled some of his darker works later in life.

Wynyard’s vicious headmaster Robert "Oldie" Capron was committed to an insane asylum in 1910 and the school was closed. Mr Lewis transferred to Campbell College in Belfast but was only there for a few months as he began suffering from respiratory problems.

He was sent to the health-resort town of Malvern, Worcestershire, where he attended the preparatory school Cherbourg House. During this time he became an atheist and developed an interest in mythology and the occult. In his 30s he would rediscover Christianity, a process examined in his book The Pilgrim's Regress.

He began writing at an early age and, inspired by a love of Beatrix Potter, created his own illustrated animal stories. With brother Warren he created the animal world of Boxen, an early precursor to Narnia, later published posthumously.

He studied at the Malvern College and won a scholarship to University College, Oxford, in 1916. However, he also enrolled in the British Army and in 1917 was called up to the third Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry, with whom he fought on the frontline until wounded in 1918.

After resuming his studies he earned degrees in Greek and Latin Literature in 1920, Philosophy and Ancient History in 1922 and English in 1923. He then began a 29-year stint teaching English as a fellow at Magdalen College, Oxford. It was during this time he struck up his friendship with Tolkien and the pair were part of an informal Oxford literary group known as the "Inklings".

As well as a vast oeuvre of scholarly, non-fiction and biographical writing (and also some poetry), Lewis’ novels included the science fiction “Space Trilogy” and The Screwtape Letters which has also been adapted for the screen. His works often dealt with themes of religion, most notably Christianity but also drawing from British and Irish folk and fairy tales.

His legacy includes a statue of Digory from The Magician's Nephew in Belfast and his influence can be seen in modern children’s fantasy such as Harry Potter and Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series. There are also a number of songs based around his works and the band Sixpence None the Richer took their name from a passage in one of his books.