Reviews

Wild Child

Non-fiction

Published 31st March 2019

Print: ISBN 978-1-906852-47-4

“Wild Child” completes Ian’s African Memoir series. He was an entertaining raconteur and writer who told his true life stories with great vigour and enthusiasm, captivating audiences with stories of his extraordinary life. Many of these adventures are recorded in his critically acclaimed African Memoirs series.

Wild Child is his “back” story: the people, places and experiences that made him who he was. It captures with insight, humour and love the boundless enthusiasm, curiosity and fascination Ian had for everyone and everything he encountered.

He had an unusual start in life by today’s standards. Born in Edinburgh, the second son of a Scottish officer, Ian began his lifelong love affair with Africa when his father was posted to Lusaka in Northern Rhodesia in 1951 to serve with the Northern Rhodesia Regiment.

Thanks to an amazing memory, he could recall the smallest details, even from his earliest years. From the scrub beyond the barracks to the wilds of the Kafue Game Reserve, the African bush became his playground. Its peoples were a source of infinite fascination. His playmates were the children of his father’s troops and from nearby villages. They attended the same mission school a few miles outside the town, played African games and absorbed African culture from within. The family made many excursions in the bush, including one memorable visit to Shiwa N’gandu, the famous home of Stewart “Chipembele” Gore-Brown.

When his father’s regiment was sent to Malaya, the family went too. Living in Penang, Ian attended a Chinese school in the mornings and spent afternoons playing mah-jongg with the local women, hiding his winnings in a cracked teapot under the wall of a snake temple for safe keeping.

British boarding schools and Ian did not in general get along. Flying out to Africa during the holidays was a brief respite. In his later school years, he put his bush knowledge to use in the English countryside and found outlets for his energy in sports and the school army cadet corps.

Ian was hooked on flying from an early age and joined the RAF as a pilot as soon as he could. However, defence cuts left him stuck on the ground with no prospect of further flying. It was a blessing in disguise: no sooner had he resigned his commission than he went back to Africa to work as a rural development officer, specialising in water resources and related projects, a path that later enabled him to roam the continent.

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