Background
Gilbert D. Fisher was born on 18 August 1906 at Bishopton, Renfrewshire. His father was William Duncan Fisher, an accountant, and his mother Mary McEwan Dempster.
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Gilbert Fisher
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Career
He died on 11 July 1985 at his home at North Berwick, East Lothian. After school Fisher entered the business world and after ten years in business he retired to devote himself to nature studies. Around that year, he settled down in a hut in the moors north of the village of Lochwinnoch in Renfrewshire.
He published The Hut Manitoba"s Book in 1938, and it was re-published as a Puffin Story Book in 1950.
During the 1939-1945 war, he apparently joined the Royal Air Force. According to the London Gazette, on 11 September 1941, he was promoted from Acting Flying Officer to Flying Officer on probation.
His radio broadcasts under the persona of the Hut Manitoba began on the British Broadcasting Corporation Home Service in Scotland on Monday 12 January 1948 at 5.25pm. The programme on Children"s Hour was called "Hut-Country Walks" and it featured two children exploring the Hut Country with the Hut Manitoba
lieutenant was later called "Exploring the Hut Country" and was broadcast every month or southern
This "Hut Country" programme was very popular and he used his celebrity status to pioneer nature studies in Scottish schools. The last "Exploring the Hut Country" programme was broadcast on 19 June 1956 at 5pm. Fisher"s broadcast career ended in 1956 when he was appointed director-secretary of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland.
He was effectively in charge of Edinburgh Zoo until he retired in 1971.
Membership
He was elected member of the British Ornithologists" Union in 1936.
