Earl Denman was born at Todd Inlet, Vancouver Island, British Columbia in 1914. He left Canada with his family in 1919 owing to the serious illness of his father. After the family finally settled in Sleaford, Lincolnshire, he served his five year apprenticeship as Electric Engineer with the Sleaford Electricity Works, followed by a further period as Mains Assistant. After working on a similar capacity with the Grimsby Corporation Electricity Department, he left for Africa, travelling the length of the continent by stages to settle finally in South Africa.

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At the end of the Second World War, he decided to quit Electrical Engineering for writing, but first took two years off for mountaineering, finishing with ihs lone attempt to climb Everest, which he believed could be climbed without oxygen.

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A keen amateur naturalist, his main interest in this field of study centred in the national parks and game reserves of Africa and the distribution of the larger African mammals. He was editor of the illustrated magazine "African Wild Life" for three and a half years,

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There was no need for him to act the part of a nature lover, for in all things her preferred the simple life. He was happiest when he could go scrambling in only a pair of old shorts in country where wild life still existed in freedom.

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There was thick bush surrounding the Eastern Province town in which he lived, and with his wife, Mary, he made frequent weekend excursions, combing the bush in all directions. He shared an artistic bent with Mary, sketching the incidents and scenes which appealed to him most of all.

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He then worked for a Canadian-sponsored firm of motor assemblers in Uitenhage, South Africa. When asked how his occupation tied up with his love of nature, he pointed to the fact that, fortunately for him, he was an ardent admirer of the little rear-engined, air-cooled cars of foreign manufacture assembled by his firm. He said " a motor-cycle type of engine in a lightweight chassis ... what could be more efficient or 'natural' than that? It fits with my leaning towards all things which are basically simple, whether in nature or in motor design."

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(Taken from the back cover of "Animal Africa" - Robert Hale Limited. Tense changed.

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