Short Biography
Botting was born in Kingston upon Thames, south London. 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.
During Oxford and post-Oxford years, he volunteered and worked in a variety of positions, including as a paramilitary ambulance unit member during the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, as a private tutor to the Crown Prince of Nepal, as a worker in a leper colony in Biafra, and as a trainer for ex-head-hunter tribes undergoing re-training in the Venezuelan rain forest.
However, Botting chose documentary filmmaking, and investigative journalism as his career. As a BBC Special Correspondent to the former USSR he reported news events like the first cosmonauts' homecoming, and Fidel Castro's state visit, and was the first person from West of the Iron Curtain since the Russian Revolution of 1917 to travel voluntarily among the nomadic reindeer tribes of Arctic Siberia and the Gulag. He went on to make documentary films for organisations like National Geographic, BBC, Time Life and Royal Geographical Society.
Among Botting's other occupations is that of writing - Botting wrote a series of Time Life Books on World War II, early aviation and maritime vessels. His foray into investigative journalism includes several other World War II books, including the best-selling Nazi Gold: The Story of the World's Greatest Robbery - And Its Aftermath. His back to back biographies of Gavin Maxwell and Gerald Durrell have also earned him praise.
He is the father of Anna Botting, newsreader. His former wife is the broadcaster and company director Louise Botting CBE.
Read more about this topic: Douglas Botting
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