The BBC Radio Wales documentary Philip Pullman and Enid Jones lifts the lid on their pupil-teacher relationship that began in the late 1950s at Ysgol Ardudwy, Harlech, and has now ripened into a friendship.

Despite the popularity of Philip Pullman's work spreading around the world, he still finds time to correspond with his former teacher: "Whenever a new book of mine comes out I send Enid a copy. I've always done it and now, for me, the publication process is not complete until I send a copy to Enid."

For Enid Jones of Harlech, it is a joy to read her former pupil's work and their correspondence gives her an opportunity to let him know about how she is keeping: "It's always lovely to hear from Enid ... she is the person who only knows me and the connection with the boy I used to be" says Pullman.

In the first recorded conversation between the two, for the BBC Radio Wales Special, Philip recalls Enid's teaching that provided him with the best that education could give.

"I defined what Enid did for me in the acknowledgements at the end of The Amber Spyglass [the third book in the trilogy, His Dark Materials]," he says. "It was a marriage of education and responsibility. It began in delight, the sheer pleasure, fun and exhilaration of reading something you loved out loud. And it moved onto responsibility, arising out of the responsibility to say clearly what you felt. That's what I learned from Enid."

In an intimate and revealing conversation, set in the heart of Harlech, the two talk about Philip's first day arriving in town as an 11-year-old and in particular his early attempts of storytelling in Enid's classroom.

"Every so often we were allowed to write a story, and I loved that. Enid used to read out my stories to the class. She was my first publisher," Pullman recalls.

"He was the best in the class at writing, I always knew how good he was," says Enid Jones

With Enid encouraging discussion in the classroom, the two discuss the craft of writing, school classroom memories: "Ideas were like people to us, you would fall in love with an idea, you'd be angry with an idea, you'd flirt with an idea," says Philip.

The programme's presenter, Colwyn Bay-born and Monty Python star Terry Jones, says: "For me it is a pleasure to have had this chance to pay tribute to the genius of Philip Pullman and Enid Jones which started on this dramatic stretch of Welsh coast. When I first read Philip Pullman's amazing trilogy His Dark Materials, I was staggered by his imagination and the power of his storytelling. It is for me one the great imaginative works in the English language."

Here are a few clips of Philip and Enid in conversation.

After a not-so-welcoming slap across the face for being English, things swiftly improved at Ysgol Ardudwy for Philip Pullman. Here, Enid recalls the lively class debates and Philip pinpoints what made his teachers so inspiring.
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Could Philip ever improve on the 8/10 mark his description of the view outside his Llandanwg window received from Enid? Here, they recall the magic and passion of poetry and how the less structured method of teaching the skills of writing set Philip on his way.
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Philip doesn't feel a new book is properly published until his old English teacher has received her copy. He explains how her teaching of the importance of delight and responsibility in being a writer has made him the author he is today.
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Why did the Meirionydd schoolboy dream of going to Oxford, the town which inspired so much of His Dark Materials?
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Just what makes Harlech's Morfa so magical - and why is it known as Good God corner?
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Enid reads out a few of Philip's letters as he keeps her up-to-date with his latest news.
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Terry Jones ponders what makes Philip Pullman's fantasy writing so great.
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