Rupert Giles was born circa 1955 in England. His family has worked within the Council of Watchers for at least three generations; both his father and grandmother, Edna Giles, were ... Watchers. Although as a child Giles dreamed of being either "a fighter pilot or possibly a greengrocer", being a Watcher is a calling, much as being a Slayer is, and Rupert's father explained his destiny to him when he was ten-years-old (revealed in "Never Kill a Boy on the First Date"). Although the Scooby Gang later joked that he wore tweed diapers as a child, Rupert was in fact a rebellious youth, rejecting his responsibility as a Watcher and dropping out of his history degree at Oxford University when he was twenty-one. He delved into dark magics and befriended a group of young people who delved into the dark arts for fun or money: Ethan Rayne, Philip Henry, Dierdre Page, Thomas Sutcliff, and Randall. Together, they summoned a particularly grotesque demon called Eyghon, who would eventually murder Randall.