James McCarthy

James McCarthy who was born in Dundee, Scotland in 1936, completed military service in the Royal Marines, was commissioned in the Black Watch, and commanded a platoon of the King's African Rifles during the Mau Mau Campaign in Kenya in the mid 1950s. Following a degree in forestry, he carried out research on swamp forests in Uganda and subsequently forest exploration in Tanzania. Awarded several prestigious fellowships, he has travelled widely in North America and Australia. Following retirement in 1991 as Deputy Director (Scotland) of the Nature Conservancy Council he has written a number of books on the natural environment of Scotland. Subsequently he has concentrated on biographies of Scottish explorers, several of which have been presented at the Edinburgh International Book Festival and the Wigtown Book Festival. He is married and lives in Edinburgh, Scotland. He especially enjoys the business of finding the missing bits in the jigsaws of the lives of forgotten heroes from his native land, especially those who have contributed to scientific discovery.