A MAN CALLED LION: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JOHN HOWARD "PONDORO" TAYLOR. By Peter Hathaway Capstick.

(1994) later reprint. 8vo (160 x 241mm). Ppxxviii,260. B/w photographs, illustrations by Joseph Vance. Red cloth.

"John Taylor is well-known to just about anybody interested in ...African hunting. This is the firs complete biography of this ...controversial character. Written by Peter Hathaway Capstick with research by Brian Marsh, an old Taylor Acquaintance, this is the cumulation of over 10 years of work into the life of Pondoro. Taylor is well-known not only as the author of four popular books but also for his incredible knowledge of African ammunition and rifles and their use in the Africa bush. Taylor was born into a wealthy, distinguished Irish family, but was by most accounts a black sheep. In a desperate attempt to save their son from Sinn Fein [in 1921] Taylor's parents sent him to Canada, where he promptly got himself ...deported [for smuggling]. ...Taylor's parents sent him to Africa. After several years of wandering, he settled in southern Africa where he became one of the most notorious ivory poachers of that continent. Capstick traks the life of this controversial figure from his early days in Irelan to the day he left Nyasaland [Malawi] in disgrace some forty years later. Also included are his depressing final years in London. This is Capstick at his very best on one of Africa's most intriguing characters. Foreword by Alexander Maitland, Taylor's longtime friend from his London days."