Growing up in Botswana in the 1930s & 40s

Spencer 'Ted' Nettelton grew up in Botswana during the 1930s and 40s when herds of wildebeest stretched across the horizon and locally shot game was part of the staple diet.

In Volume I of his memoirs, Ted describes the daily life of an adventurous boy living in the bush, and the impact on his family when caught in the spotlight of international events.

From the banishment of Botswana’s King Seretse Khama - later elected Botswana’s first president – to the birth of a new African nation - Lesotho - Ted and his family played integral roles.

Educated in Cape Town, Ted followed his father into the British Colonial Service, was posted to the mountains of Lesotho in the 1950s, organised the country’s Independence Celebrations a decade later, and then served as Secretary to Lesotho’s first democratically elected Prime Minister, Leabua Jonathan, with whom he enjoyed an enduring friendship. 

Ted Nettelton’s memoir is a fascinating account of an era that has vanished and a first-hand perspective of the momentous changes that took place in the southern part of the African continent during the twentieth century.