Puffett grew up in the Cotswolds after losing both parents at the age of two. He left school at thirteen and trained in the food trades until he was eighteen, then joined the Royal Navy. Puffett participated in the Battle of the Atlantic and was recruited to the Special Operations Executive. At the end of the war he was in the Northern Territory and decided to settle in Australia. He took up a career in Wildlife Management, becoming Papua New Guinea's first Superintendent of Wildlife Management. After his retirement from the Northern Territory Public Service Puffett began writing a series of books about Nature Sprites and a smaller series of baby whale stories. He also wrote an autobiography.
