Gavin Young

Gavin David Young (24 April 1928 – 18 January 2001) was a journalist and travel writer.

Early life

He was born in Bude, Cornwall, England. His father, Gavin Young, was a lieutenant colonel in the Welsh Guards. Daphne, his mother, was the daughter of Sir Charles Leolin Forestier-Walker, Bt, of Monmouthshire.^[1][2]

Young spent most of his youth in Cornwall and South Wales. He graduated from Oxford University, where he studied modern history.^[3]

Career

Young spent two years with the Ralli Brothers shipping company in Basra in Iraq before living with the Marsh Arabs of southern Iraq between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.^[4] He fashioned his experiences into a book, Return to the Marshes (1977). In 1960, from Tunis, he joined The Observer 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 and was a travel writer.^[1]

Personal life

Young died in London on 18 January 2001; he was 72 years old.^[1]

Selected works

• Return to the Marshes: Life with the Marsh Arabs of Iraq, 1977 - travels with the Marsh Arabs of Iraq (photographs by Nik Wheeler)
• Iraq: Land of Two Rivers, 1980 - travels in Mesopotamia
• Slow Boats to China, 1981 - travel round the world by water transport (part 1)
  • US edition: Halfway Around the World: An Improbable Journey, 1981
• Slow Boats Home, 1985 - travel round the world by water transport (part 2)
• 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, 1987
• In Search of Conrad, 1991 - retracing the travels of Joseph Conrad (Thomas Cook Travel Book Award)
• 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 - celebrating a lifetime of travel

See also

• Wilfred Thesiger
• Travel literature