Douglas Botting

Douglas Scott Botting was an English explorer, author, biographer and TV presenter and producer. He wrote biographies of naturalists Gavin Maxwell and Gerald Durrell. Botting was the inspiration behind and writer of the 1972 film The Black Safari, a role-reversal parody of English explorers, with Africans touring England, shown in the BBC 2 documentary series The World About Us. He also featured in much other BBC programming, including Under London Expedition exploring the London sewerage system, as part of the BBC2 nature series The World About Us. He wrote numerous Second World War and early aviation books for Time Life Books. Botting took part, with Anthony Smith, in the first balloon flight over Africa.