Mark Wallington (born 1953 in Swanage) is a writer, perhaps most famous for his humorous "Boogie" travelogues,"Travels with Boogie"(''500 Mile Walkies'' and ''Boogie up the River'') London, Random House(1986;89- reissued 2006) both serialised on

BBC Radio Four BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC's ...

. He was working as a gardener in North London in 1979 when he began his writing career working with Dick Fiddy, submitting sketches to ''

Not the Nine O'clock News ''Not the Nine O'Clock News'' is a British television sketch comedy show which was broadcast on BBC2 from 1979 to 1982. Originally shown as a comedy alternative to the '' Nine O'Clock News'' on BBC1, it features satirical sketches on then-cur ...

'' and '' Dave Allen at Large''. They later scripted the BBC sitcom ''All Night Long''. In 1982 Wallington walked the South West coast path with his urban dog, Boogie. He wrote up the journey in ''500 Mile Walkies'' which became a best seller. ''Boogie up the River'' followed in 1989. In 1991 Wallington published a novel, ''The Missing Postman'', and then scripted the TV series of the same name starring James Bolam. His second novel, ''Happy Birthday Shakespeare'' (1999), was also turned into a TV two-parter. Wallington's further TV work includes ''

Station Jim Slough railway station, in Slough, Berkshire, England, is on the Great Western Main Line, halfway between London Paddington and Reading. It is down the line from the zero point at Paddington and is situated between to the east and to the wes ...

'' (2001) and '' The Man Who Lost His Head'' (2007). In 2005 he published ''The Day Job'', an account of his gardening days, and in 2012 ''The Uke of Wallington'', the story of his journey through Britain with a

ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrumen ...

. He is married with two sons, Francis and Daniel.

References

1953 births Living people British travel writers British humorists British non-fiction outdoors writers Walkers of the United Kingdom {{UK-writer-stub