Duff Hart-Davis


Peter Duff Hart-Davis, generally known as Duff Hart-Davis was a British biographer, naturalist and journalist, who wrote for The Independent. He was married to Phyllida Barstow and had one son and one daughter, the journalist Alice Hart-Davis. He lived at Owlpen, in Gloucestershire.

Life and career

Hart-Davis was born on 3 June 1936, as the eldest son of the publisher Rupert Hart-Davis, the nephew of the socialite Deirdre Hart-Davis, and the brother of television broadcaster and author Adam Hart-Davis and Bridget, the dowager Lady Silsoe. His biography of his godfather, the adventurer and writer Peter Fleming, entitled Peter Fleming: A Biography, was published in 1974. Hart-Davis died on 10 July 2025, at the age of 89.

Non-fiction

Novels

  • The Megacull
  • Gold of St. Matthew Published in the U.S. as Gold trackers
  • Spider in the Morning
  • The Heights of Rimring Republished in Mammoth book of spy thrillers, ed. John Winwood
  • Level Five
  • Fire Falcon
  • The Man-Eater of Jassapur
  • Horses of War
  • ''The Stalking Party''

As editor

  • End of an era : letters and journals of Sir Alan Lascelles, 1887–1920
  • In Royal Service: Letters and Journals of Sir Alan Lascelles, Vol. 2, 1920–36
  • Eileen Soper's Book of Badgers
  • Pavilions of Splendour: An Architectural History of Lord's
  • ''King's Counsellor Abdication and War: the Diaries of Sir Alan Lascelles''