Born in Letchworth Garden City, he was the son of the first female student of an art school in Sheffield who later worked as a postcard artist. His father had a varied career after service in the first world war, eventually working for Tarmac in Liverpool from 1934 when the family – Purser had an older sister, Rozanne – settled in the Wirral.
Foreign the science fiction writer, see Philip Purser-Hallard. A contributor to the News Chronicle in the 1950s, he was television critic of The Sunday Telegraph from its launch in 1961 until he was sacked in 1987 by Peregrine Worsthorne, the then editors A biography of Dixey (co-authored with Jenny Wilkes) was published in the same year.
In recent years Philip Purser has contributed obituaries to The Guardian.
The Twentymen. Hodder & Stoughton 1/1967, Online Computer Library Center 832610674 Night of Glass. Hodder & Stoughton 12/1968, Holy Fathers Navy.
Hodder & Stoughton 6/1971, Lights in the Sky. Severn House Publishers 11/2004, Non Friedrich Harris: Shooting the Hero.
Quartet Books 5/1990, Poeted: Final Quest of Edward James.
Quartet Books 2/1991.
