Gavin Maxwell

Gavin Maxwell FRSL FZS FRGS (15 July 1914 – 7 September 1969) was a Scottish naturalist and author, best known for his non-fiction writing and his work with otters. He became most famous for Ring of Bright Water (1960) and its sequels, which described his experiences raising Iraqi and West African otters on the west coast of Scotland. One of his Iraqi otters was of a previously unknown sub-species which was subsequently named after Maxwell. Ring of Bright Water sold more than a million copies and was made into a film starring Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna in 1969. His other books described sharking in the Hebrides and his travels in Iraq, Morocco, and Algeria, as well as studies of recent history in Sicily and Morocco.