P.L. Travers, author of “Mary Poppins,” was born Helen Lyndon Goff on Aug. 9, 1899 in the city of Maryborough, in Queensland, Australia, (not in England, as many assume). She moved to England in 1924, and used the name P.L. Travers, an abbreviation of her pseudonym Pamela Lyndon Travers, which she used in her days as a dancer and Shakespearean actor on the Australian stage. Reportedly, her wealthy relatives did not approve of Travers performing, so, being independent-minded, she moved to England where she forged a career as a writer.