Berlin was born and grew up in Sydenham, south-east London, in a conventional household for the time,[1] though he was obliged to leave school due to financial pressures at the age of twelve, pursuing a successful career as an adagio dancer until his mid-twenties, where he met his first wife, Helga.
In 1938 he moved to Cornwall to develop his artistic skills, and came under the influence of Dr Frank Turk, an Exeter University educationalist, and attended lectures on philosophy, ancient cultures and the arts.
In the Second World War Berlin registered as a conscientious objector, and worked in the market garden established by the art critic Adrian Stokes at Little Park Owles, Carbis Bay, outside St Ives, where he met fellow artists Ben Nicholson and Barbara Hepworth.
Berlin was a member of the burgeoning artistic community around St Ives on his return and met a local girl, Jacqueline Moran, with whom he moved into a cottage provided by the writer Mabel Lethbridge.
Berlin was able to paint, carve, cast bronze in his own foundry and write, exhibiting at shows including in London at Arthur Tooth and Son, and appearing on television and in newspapers.