Gavin David Young (24 April 1928 – 18 January 2001) was a journalist and travel writer. He was born in Bude,

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

, England. His father, Gavin Young, was a

lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

in the

Welsh Guards The Welsh Guards (WG; cy, Gwarchodlu Cymreig), part of the Guards Division, is one of the Foot Guards regiments of the British Army. It was founded in 1915 as a single-battalion regiment, during the First World War, by Royal Warrant of George V ...

. Daphne, his mother, was the daughter of Sir Charles Leolin Forestier-Walker, Bt, of

Monmouthshire Monmouthshire ( cy, Sir Fynwy) is a county in the south-east of Wales. The name derives from the historic county of the same name; the modern county covers the eastern three-fifths of the historic county. The largest town is Abergavenny, with ...

. Young spent most of his youth in Cornwall and South Wales. He graduated from Oxford University, where he studied modern history. Young spent two years with the

Ralli Brothers The five Ralli brothers, Zannis a.k.a. John (1785–1859), Augustus (1792–1878), Pandia a.k.a. Zeus (1793–1865), Toumazis (1799–1858), and Eustratios (1800–84), founded Ralli Brothers, perhaps the most successful expatriate Greek merchant ...

shipping company in Basra in Iraq before living with the

Marsh Arabs The Marsh Arabs ( ar, عرب الأهوار ''ʻArab al-Ahwār'' "Arabs of the Marshlands"), also referred to as the Maʻdān ( ar, معدان "dweller in the plains") or Shroog (Iraqi ar, شروق, "those from the east")—the latter two often ...

of southern Iraq between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. He fashioned his experiences into a book, ''Return to the Marshes'' (1977). In 1960, from Tunis, he joined ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'' of London as a foreign correspondent, and was the ''Observer'''s correspondent in Paris and New York. He had covered fifteen wars and revolutions throughout the world, and worked for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' and was a travel writer. Young died in London on 18 January 2001; he was 72 years old.

Selected works

*''Return to the Marshes: Life with the Marsh Arabs of Iraq'', 1977 - travels with the

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

(photographs by

Nik Wheeler Nik Wheeler (born 1939) is a British-born photographer, known for taking what for years was the only known photograph of Carlos the Jackal. He began his career as a photojournalist during the Vietnam War. Wheeler was born in Hitchin, England in ...

) *''Iraq: Land of Two Rivers'', 1980 - travels in

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...

*''Slow Boats to China'', 1981 - travel round the world by

water transport Maritime transport (or ocean transport) and hydraulic effluvial transport, or more generally waterborne transport, is the transport of people (passengers) or goods (cargo) via waterways. Freight transport by sea has been widely used throu ...

*''Halfway Around the World: An Improbable Journey'', 1983 *''Slow Boats Home'', 1985 - travel round the world by water transport *''Worlds Apart'', 1987 - a collection of journalistic articles *''Beyond Lion Rock'', 1987 - the story of Cathay Pacific Airways *"Introduction" to a new edition of ''Uttermost Part of the Earth'' by

Lucas Bridges Esteban Lucas Bridges (December 31, 1874, Ushuaia – April 4, 1949, Buenos Aires) was an Anglo-Argentine author, explorer, and rancher. After fighting for the British during World War I, he married and moved with his wife to South Africa, wher ...

, 1987 *''In Search of Conrad'', 1991 (

Thomas Cook Travel Book Award The Thomas Cook Travel Book Award originated as an initiative of Thomas Cook AG in 1980, with the aim of encouraging and rewarding the art of literary travel writing. The awards stopped in 2005 (2004 being the last year an award was given). As of 2 ...

) *''From Sea to Shining Sea: Present-day Journey into America's Past'', 1996 *''A Wavering Grace: A Vietnamese Family in War and Peace'', 1997 – a Vietnamese family in war and peace *''Eye on the World'', 1999

References

1928 births 2001 deaths British travel writers People from Bude {{UK-journalist-stub

Selected works

See also

References