Eric Hosking OBE, Hon FRPS, was a pioneering wildlife photographer preceded in Britain by Richard and Cherry Kearton and one of the first professional photographers to make a living predominantly from photographing birds. He was born on 2 October 1909 in Chelsea, London. His family moved to Crouch End, north London, during World War I. Hosking loved London and, although he travelled greatly in Britain and abroad, he never moved away from his north London home, where he developed his natural history photographic business. Hosking died suddenly on 22 February 1991, aged 81, shortly after returning from a Kenyan safari.