Born in his homeland of Hungary, a few years after the end of the second world war, Csaba Méra (Woodenhorseboy), was raised by a nationally respected physician father and a talented mother, who left her successful acting and singing career to care for the family. At age two years, Csaba almost died of a disease yet unidentified at the time, later known as hemolytic uremic syndrome. At age seven, he escaped with his mother and younger brother, fleeing to Austria in the middle of the night, as the Soviets crushed the 1956 Hungarian revolution. His father had left earlier to prepare for what was to come. The family was reunited in Austria and were accepted on the British refugee quota in early 1957.
