Geoff Crowther (15 March 1944 – 13 April 2021) was a British travel writer who wrote for BIT and

Lonely Planet Lonely Planet is a travel guide book publisher. Founded in Australia in 1973, the company has printed over 150 million books. History 20th century Lonely Planet was founded by married couple Maureen Wheeler, Maureen and Tony Wheeler. In 19 ...

Life

Early life

Crowther was born in West Yorkshire on 15 March 1944. His parents worked in a cotton mill. He attended Calder High School, and began hitchhiking around Europe while still a teenager. At the

University of Liverpool The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a Public university, public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University (United Kingdom), Victoria University, it received Ro ...

, he studied

biochemistry Biochemistry, or biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology, a ...

, and considered staying on to undertake a doctorate, but in the end his desire to travel proved too great.

BIT and Lonely Planet

In 1972, he joined the alternative information service BIT, where he oversaw the production of ''Overland to India and Australia''. The guide impressed Tony and Maureen Wheeler, and in 1976 they invited him to join

Personal life

He met his first wife, Hyung Poon, whilst working on a guidebook in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

. They married in

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

in 1982, and their son, Ashley, was born in 1989. After their marriage ended, Crowther had a brief second marriage to a woman he met in

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

, but this also ended in divorce.

Final years

In 2005, he sustained a head injury in an accident and moved to a residential care facility. He died in

South East Queensland South East Queensland (SEQ) is a Bioregion, bio-geographical, Megalopolis, metropolitan and Statistics, statistical Regions of Queensland, region of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland in Australia, with a population of ...

on 13 April 2021, at the age of seventy-seven, as a result of complications arising from

dementia Dementia is a syndrome associated with many neurodegenerative diseases, characterized by a general decline in cognitive abilities that affects a person's ability to perform activities of daily living, everyday activities. This typically invo ...

Notable guidebooks

*''Africa on the Cheap'' (1977) *''South America on a Shoestring'' (1980) *''India: A Travel Survival Kit'' (1981) *''Malaysia, Singapore & Brunei: A Travel Survival Kit'' (1982) *''Korea & Taiwan: A Travel Survival Kit'' (1982) *''Africa on a Shoestring'' (1983) *''East Africa: A Travel Survival Kit'' (1987) *''Morocco, Algeria & Tunisia: A Travel Survival Kit'' (1989) *''Kenya: A Travel Survival Kit'' (1991)

Notes

References

External links

Interview
with Ashley Crowther in 2021, in which he talks about his father. {{DEFAULTSORT:Crowther, Geoff 1944 births 2021 deaths 20th-century British travel writers 21st-century British travel writers Alumni of the University of Liverpool British travel writers Deaths from dementia in Australia Lonely Planet People from West Yorkshire