Gary Botting
| Gary Botting | |
|---|---|
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| Born |
Gary Norman Botting 19 July 1943 Frilford Heath, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom |
| Residence | Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada |
| Nationality | British and Canadian (dual) |
| Citizenship | Canadian |
| Education | Studied at Trent University (B.A.), Memorial University of Newfoundland (M.A.), University of Alberta (Ph.D., M.F.A.), University of Calgary (LL.B./J.D.), University of British Columbia (LL.M., Ph.D.) |
| Alma mater | Trent University |
| Occupation | Lawyer, legal scholar, journalist, playwright, novelist, poet |
| Years active | 1961– |
| Employer | South China Morning Post, Peterborough Examiner, University of Alberta, University of Calgary, Simon Fraser University, University of Washington, University of British Columbia |
| Known for | Appellate lawyer with expertise in extradition and dangerous offenders; critic of Jehovah's Witnesses; plays; poetry |
| Notable work | The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses, Fundamental Freedoms and Jehovah's Witnesses, Wrongful Conviction in Canadian Law, Extradition between Canada and the United States, Canadian Extradition Law Practice, Campbell's Kids (novel), Crazy Gran (novel) |
| Spouse(s) | Heather Harden (1966–2000); Virginia ("Ginny") Martin (2011–) |
| Children | 4 |
| Awards | U.S. National Science Fair – International; U.S. National Academy of Sciences; American Institute of Biological Sciences; Alberta Culture playwriting awards; University of British Columbia Paetzold Fellow; Canada Council postdoctoral fellowships (law); Trent University distinguished alumni award (2015) |
Gary Norman Arthur Botting (born 19 July 1943) is a Canadian legal scholar and criminal defense lawyer as well as a poet, playwright, novelist, and critic of literature and religion, in particular Jehovah's Witnesses. The author of 40 published books, he is one of the country's leading authorities on extradition law. He is said to have had "more experience in battling the extradition system than any other Canadian lawyer."
Botting was born in Oakley House near Royal Air Force Station Abingdon (RAF Abingdon) at Frilford Heath near Oxford, England on 19 July 1943. He was christened in the Church of England Parish Church of St. James the Great in Radley, Berkshire. His father, Pilot Officer Norman Arthur Botting DFC, a Dam Buster with 617 Squadron, was killed in action over Germany on 15 September 1943 when Gary was less than two months old—on his older sister Mavis' second birthday. Following the war, their mother Joan, a teacher, took up residence with Group Captain Leonard Cheshire VC, the father of their younger sister, Elizabeth, at Gumley Hall near Bedford Gardens, Market Harborough, Leicestershire and later she and the children moved with Cheshire to LeCourt, the name of the mansion he had acquired from his aunt in Hampshire. After witnessing the bombing of Nagasaki at the end of World War II, Cheshire, who had been raised high Anglican, began to examine various religions. Joan and he agreed about the nature of God as a person. Joan was baptized as a Jehovah's Witness in September 1948 and expected Cheshire to follow; when he converted to Roman Catholicism later that year instead, she moved with the children back to Radley.
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