Tim Butcher
Encyclopedia
Tim Butcher is an English
journalist
, broadcaster and best-selling author
.
Born in Rugby, Warwickshire
, England
, he was educated at Rugby School
, and Magdalen College, Oxford University.
He is the author of Blood River and Chasing the Devil, travel books blending contemporary adventure with African history.
Blood River: A Journey to Africa's Broken Heart is an account of his 2004 journey through DR Congo
overland from Lake Tanganyika
and down the Congo River
, following the route of Henry Morton Stanley
's 1874–77 trans-Africa expedition. The book was published by Chatto & Windus, an imprint of Random House
, in 2007 and reached Number 1 in the Sunday Times bestseller list in March 2008. Translated into six languages, Blood River was the only non-fiction title in the Richard & Judy
Book Club 2008 and was shortlisted that year for a number of top British writing awards including the Samuel Johnson Prize
, the UK's most prestigious non-fiction literary award, the Dolman Best Travel Book Award
and the Writers' Guild of Great Britain
Best Book award. The book’s Polish version, Rzeka Krwi (Translated by Jakub Czernik and published in 2009 by Carta Blanca) was longlisted for the 2010 Ryszard Kapuściński
Prize, Poland’s top award for literary reportage.
Chasing the Devil: The Search for Africa’s Fighting Spirit, published by Chatto & Windus in 2010, describes a 350 mile trek he made through Sierra Leone and Liberia following a trail blazed by Graham Greene
, a trip immortalised in Greene's first travel book, Journey Without Maps
, published in 1936. Tim made a number of discoveries concerning Greene: establishing the identity, lost for decades, of the colonial officer libelled so seriously in Journey Without Maps
that the first edition of the book had to be pulped, finding numerous factual errors in Greene's writing and showing that Greene exaggerated significantly the duration of his trip. Chasing the Devil was released in September 2010 and was longlisted for the 2011 Orwell Prize
.
Between 1990 and 2009 Tim was on the staff of The Daily Telegraph
, holding a series of positions including leader writer
, war correspondent
, Africa
Bureau Chief and Middle East
Correspondent
. He is a regular contributor to the prestigious BBC radio programme From Our Own Correspondent
and has written for numerous British, US and international publications.
In 2009 Tim wrote a chapter for Because I Am a Girl, a charitable compilation of stories focusing on the plight of young women and girls in the developing world. Published in January 2010 by Vintage, an imprint of Random House
, the book was the brainchild of a Plan International, a leading children’s rights aid group. He also contributed a chapter to Ox Travels, another compilation, this time on behalf of Oxfam
, the international confederation working against poverty and injustice, which was released in May 2011.
In 2009, Tim was made a member of the Global Stewardship Group, a joint initiative between The Desmond Tutu Peace Centre and Humanity United, an American philanthropic society. In 2010 he was made Patron of Save The Congo, a British-based charity and in 2011 Patron of AMECA, a healthcare charity working in Africa. In 2011 he visited the United States as an ambassador for Merlin, Medical Emergency Relief International.
In February 2010 he received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Northampton
in the United Kingdom for service as a journalist and author. Tim lives in Cape Town with his family.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
, broadcaster and best-selling author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
.
Born in Rugby, Warwickshire
Rugby, Warwickshire
Rugby is a market town in Warwickshire, England, located on the River Avon. The town has a population of 61,988 making it the second largest town in the county...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, he was educated at Rugby School
Rugby School
Rugby School is a co-educational day and boarding school located in the town of Rugby, Warwickshire, England. It is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain.-History:...
, and Magdalen College, Oxford University.
He is the author of Blood River and Chasing the Devil, travel books blending contemporary adventure with African history.
Blood River: A Journey to Africa's Broken Heart is an account of his 2004 journey through DR Congo
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...
overland from Lake Tanganyika
Lake Tanganyika
Lake Tanganyika is an African Great Lake. It is estimated to be the second largest freshwater lake in the world by volume, and the second deepest, after Lake Baikal in Siberia; it is also the world's longest freshwater lake...
and down the Congo River
Congo River
The Congo River is a river in Africa, and is the deepest river in the world, with measured depths in excess of . It is the second largest river in the world by volume of water discharged, though it has only one-fifth the volume of the world's largest river, the Amazon...
, following the route of Henry Morton Stanley
Henry Morton Stanley
Sir Henry Morton Stanley, GCB, born John Rowlands , was a Welsh journalist and explorer famous for his exploration of Africa and his search for David Livingstone. Upon finding Livingstone, Stanley allegedly uttered the now-famous greeting, "Dr...
's 1874–77 trans-Africa expedition. The book was published by Chatto & Windus, an imprint of Random House
Random House
Random House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
, in 2007 and reached Number 1 in the Sunday Times bestseller list in March 2008. Translated into six languages, Blood River was the only non-fiction title in the Richard & Judy
Richard & Judy
Richard & Judy was a British magazine/chat show which was presented by married couple Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan. It originally aired on Channel 4 from 2001 to 2008 but later moved to digital channel Watch in October 2008. It featured the world's most famous stars, along with their Book Club...
Book Club 2008 and was shortlisted that year for a number of top British writing awards including the Samuel Johnson Prize
Samuel Johnson Prize
The Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction is one of the most prestigious prizes for non-fiction writing. It was founded in 1999 following the demise of the NCR Book Award and based on an anonymous donation. The prize is named after Samuel Johnson...
, the UK's most prestigious non-fiction literary award, the Dolman Best Travel Book Award
Dolman Best Travel Book Award
The Dolman Best Travel Book Award is one of the two principal annual travel book awards in Britain, and the only one that is open to all writers...
and the Writers' Guild of Great Britain
Writers' Guild of Great Britain
The Writers' Guild of Great Britain, established in 1959, is a trade union for professional writers. It is affiliated with both the Trades Union Congress and the International Affiliation of Writers Guilds .-Activities:...
Best Book award. The book’s Polish version, Rzeka Krwi (Translated by Jakub Czernik and published in 2009 by Carta Blanca) was longlisted for the 2010 Ryszard Kapuściński
Ryszard Kapuscinski
Ryszard Kapuściński was a Polish journalist and writer whose dispatches in book form brought him a global reputation. Also a photographer and poet, he was born in Pińsknow in Belarusin the Kresy Wschodnie or eastern borderlands of the second Polish Republic, into poverty: he would say later that...
Prize, Poland’s top award for literary reportage.
Chasing the Devil: The Search for Africa’s Fighting Spirit, published by Chatto & Windus in 2010, describes a 350 mile trek he made through Sierra Leone and Liberia following a trail blazed by Graham Greene
Graham Greene
Henry Graham Greene, OM, CH was an English author, playwright and literary critic. His works explore the ambivalent moral and political issues of the modern world...
, a trip immortalised in Greene's first travel book, Journey Without Maps
Journey Without Maps
Journey Without Maps is a travel account by Graham Greene, about a 350-mile, 4-week walk through the interior of Liberia in 1935. It was Greene's first trip outside of Europe. He hoped to leave civilization and find the "heart of darkness" in Africa...
, published in 1936. Tim made a number of discoveries concerning Greene: establishing the identity, lost for decades, of the colonial officer libelled so seriously in Journey Without Maps
Journey Without Maps
Journey Without Maps is a travel account by Graham Greene, about a 350-mile, 4-week walk through the interior of Liberia in 1935. It was Greene's first trip outside of Europe. He hoped to leave civilization and find the "heart of darkness" in Africa...
that the first edition of the book had to be pulped, finding numerous factual errors in Greene's writing and showing that Greene exaggerated significantly the duration of his trip. Chasing the Devil was released in September 2010 and was longlisted for the 2011 Orwell Prize
Orwell Prize
The Orwell Prize used to be regarded as the pre-eminent British prize for political writing.Three prizes are awarded each year: one for a book, one for journalism and another for blogging...
.
Between 1990 and 2009 Tim was on the staff of The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
, holding a series of positions including leader writer
Leader writer
A Leader Writer is a senior journalist in a British newspaper who is charged with writing the paper's editorial either in the absence of the editor or in cases where the editor chooses not to write editorials because their editorial skills may rest more in management of the company than in writing...
, war correspondent
War correspondent
A war correspondent is a journalist who covers stories firsthand from a war zone. In the 19th century they were also called Special Correspondents.-Methods:...
, Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
Bureau Chief and Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
Correspondent
Correspondent
A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is a journalist or commentator, or more general speaking, an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, location. A foreign correspondent is stationed in a foreign...
. He is a regular contributor to the prestigious BBC radio programme From Our Own Correspondent
From our own Correspondent
From Our Own Correspondent is a BBC radio programme in which BBC correspondents broadcast monologues on topical current events from countries outside the UK...
and has written for numerous British, US and international publications.
In 2009 Tim wrote a chapter for Because I Am a Girl, a charitable compilation of stories focusing on the plight of young women and girls in the developing world. Published in January 2010 by Vintage, an imprint of Random House
Random House
Random House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
, the book was the brainchild of a Plan International, a leading children’s rights aid group. He also contributed a chapter to Ox Travels, another compilation, this time on behalf of Oxfam
Oxfam
Oxfam is an international confederation of 15 organizations working in 98 countries worldwide to find lasting solutions to poverty and related injustice around the world. In all Oxfam’s actions, the ultimate goal is to enable people to exercise their rights and manage their own lives...
, the international confederation working against poverty and injustice, which was released in May 2011.
In 2009, Tim was made a member of the Global Stewardship Group, a joint initiative between The Desmond Tutu Peace Centre and Humanity United, an American philanthropic society. In 2010 he was made Patron of Save The Congo, a British-based charity and in 2011 Patron of AMECA, a healthcare charity working in Africa. In 2011 he visited the United States as an ambassador for Merlin, Medical Emergency Relief International.
In February 2010 he received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Northampton
University of Northampton
The University of Northampton is a university in Northampton, Northamptonshire, England.-History:In 1924, Northampton Technical College was opened at St George's Avenue, site of the current Avenue Campus. A new building for the college was formally opened by the then Duke and Duchess of York in 1932...
in the United Kingdom for service as a journalist and author. Tim lives in Cape Town with his family.