Patricia Scobie

Patricia Scobie was born in England in 1939 and educated at Surbiton High School for Girls. She obtained a Diploma in Catering and Dietetics in 1960 and worked as a hospital dietitian before marrying her husband, Tony, and having their three children, Jane, Sarah and Claire. Patricia went on to teach Catering and Nutrition at Oxford Polytechnic (now Oxford Brookes University).

After studying in the evenings, she obtained a PhD in Nutrition and moved to the University of Surrey as a lecturer in the Department of Catering Management, where she worked for six years before leaving for Africa.

She has been a keen gardener, traveller and journal-writer all her life.

'A Baboon in the Bedroom' is her second book. Patricia wrote it with her daughter Claire Scobie, the award-winning author of 'Last Seen in Lhasa', a travel memoir classic, and 'The Pagoda Tree', a five-star Best Fiction Read.