Douglas Botting

Douglas Scott Botting (born 22 February 1934) is an English explorer, author, biographer and TV presenter and producer. He wrote biographies of naturalists Gavin Maxwell and Gerald Durrell (the former also being a personal friend). He was the inspiration behind and writer of the 1972 BBC comedy show The Black Safari, a role-reversal comedy show with Africans touring England. He has also featured in numerous other BBC programming, including Under London Expedition exploring the London sewerage system, as part of the BBC2 nature series The World About Us. He has written numerous World War II and early aviation books for Time Life Books. Botting took part in the first balloon flight over Africa, with Anthony Smith.

Botting was born in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, lived in and went to school in Worcester Park. Having witnessed the London Blitz first-hand, he went on to make documentaries and write historical records of World War II and aviation. Botting got an early flavour of travel when he worked as an infantry subaltern for the King's African Rifles in Kenya, as part of his National Service. He went on to study English at St Edmund Hall, Oxford University, during which time he undertook a pioneering exploration of the little-known island of Socotra in the Indian Ocean. His first book, Island of the Dragon's Blood, is an account of this trip.

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