[1] He spent his early childhood with his mother, living on an aunt's farm in Chipstead, while his father, an engineer, contributed to the war effort.
Wiffen moved with his family to Canada at age 16, and became part of the burgeoning folk music scene, initially in Toronto.
Members of The Children included William Hawkins, Bruce Cockburn, Sneezy Waters and Richard Patterson.
He subsequently joined 3's a Crowd, whose initial members included Brent Titcomb, Donna Warner, Trevor Veitch and Richard Patterson.
[citation needed] Wiffen also cohosted a television variety series on Ottawa station CJOH with Ann Mortifee, which was produced for a period by William Hawkins.
By this time a number of his songs had been recorded by other musicians, including Harry Belafonte, Anne Murray and Tom Rush.
[8] Wiffen suffered a serious back injury on the job while moving a wheelchair, which required corrective surgery[8] and impeded any return to performing.
[15] "Smoke Rings" was covered by Hiss Golden Messenger on a Parallelogram LP also featuring Michael Chapman (singer) by Three Lobed Recordings released in December 2015.