Douglas Botting

Douglas Botting (1934-2018) was an explorer, author, biographer, TV presenter and producer. He studied English at St Edmund Hall, matriculating in 1954.

He wrote many books, including biographies of Gavin Maxwell and Gerald Durrell and the best-selling Nazi Gold: The Story of the World’s Greatest Robbery – And Its Aftermath.

Douglas was the inspiration behind and writer of the BBC comedy show The Black Safari, a role reversal comedy show with Africans touring England. He has also featured in numerous other BBC programmes, including Under London Expedition exploring the London sewerage, as part of the BBC2 nature series The World About Us.

He took part in the first balloon flight over Africa with Anthony Smith.