Mark Wallington (born 1953) is an English writer, perhaps most famous for his humorous "Boogie" travelogues, both serialised on

BBC Radio Four BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of Talk radio, spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at B ...

. Born in

Swanage Swanage () is a coastal town and civil parish in the south east of Dorset, England. It is at the eastern end of the Isle of Purbeck and one of its two towns, approximately south of Poole and east of Dorchester, Dorset, Dorchester. In the Unit ...

, he was working as a gardener in north London in 1979 when he began his writing career working with Dick Fiddy, submitting sketches to ''

Not the Nine O'clock News ''Not the Nine O'Clock News'' is a British television sketch comedy show that was broadcast on BBC2 from 16 October 1979 to 8 March 1982. Originally shown as a comedy alternative to the '' Nine O'Clock News'' on BBC1, the show features satirical ...

'' and ''

Dave Allen at Large Dave may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Dave'' (film), a 1993 film starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver * ''Dave'' (musical), a 2018 stage musical adaptation of the 1993 film * ''Dave'' (TV series), a 2020 American comedy series * ...

''. They later scripted the BBC sitcom ''All Night Long''. In 1982 Wallington walked the

South West coast path The South West Coast Path is England's longest waymarked Long-distance footpaths in the UK, long-distance footpath and a National Trail. It stretches for , running from Minehead in Somerset, along the coasts of Devon and Cornwall, to Poole Harb ...

with his urban dog, Boogie. He wrote up the journey in ''500 Mile Walkies'' which became a best seller. ''Boogie up the River'' followed in 1989. In 1991 Wallington published a novel, ''The Missing Postman'', and then scripted the TV series of the same name starring James Bolam. His second novel, ''Happy Birthday Shakespeare'' (1999), was also turned into a TV two-parter. Wallington's further TV work includes ''

Station Jim Slough railway station, in Slough, Berkshire, England, is on the Great Western Main Line, halfway between London Paddington and Reading. It is down the line from the zero point at Paddington and is situated between to the east and to the wes ...

'' (2001) and ''

The Man Who Lost His Head ''The Man Who Lost His Head'' is a 2-hour comedy drama written by Mark Wallington and starring Martin Clunes about the theme of cultural repatriation. It was a joint production of TVNZ in New Zealand and ITV in the United Kingdom. Broadcas ...

'' (2007). In 2005 he published ''The Day Job'', an account of his gardening days, and in 2012 ''The Uke of Wallington'', the story of his journey through Britain with a

ukulele The ukulele ( ; ); also called a uke (informally), is a member of the lute (ancient guitar) family of instruments. The ukulele is of Portuguese origin and was popularized in Hawaii. The tone and volume of the instrument vary with size and con ...

. In 2013 his book ''The Auto Biography'' was published by

AA Publishing AA Limited, trading as The AA, is a British motoring association. Founded in 1905, it provides vehicle insurance, driving lessons, breakdown cover, loans, motoring advice, road maps and other services. The association demutualised in 1999, to ...

, a memoir telling the story of British motoring "from Golden Age to Gridlock". He is married with two sons, Francis and Daniel.

References

1953 births Living people British travel writers British humorists British non-fiction outdoors writers Walkers of the United Kingdom {{UK-writer-stub