W .E. Bowman was an unassuming civil engineer who, though he enjoyed writing and wrote often, published little during his lifetime. He served in the RAF during the Second World War and from 1947 to 1950 worked for the International Voluntary Service helping to rebuild Germany. In 1950 he joined an engineering firm in London for which he designed bridges and power stations. He is best remembered for a parody of the Kon-Tiki Expedition by Thor Heyerdahl, The Cruise of the Talking Fish, but most especially for The Ascent of Rum Doodle.
