'No human being can take in a story that is truly and imaginatively told without being changed.'
The South African-born writer Sir Laurens van der Post was brought up on a farm in the Orange Free
State. When he first came to London at the age of 22 he had already, in 1926, visited Japan and learned Japanese. He has lived in Britain for over 50 years. His books about the Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert, about his three and a half years as a prisoner of the Japanese during the last war, and about his journey through
Russia in 1963 have made him a highly successful author, particularly appealing to those in search of more spiritual values in an increasingly materialistic age. In this film portrait he talks about his childhood and about South Africa where he returns regularly, remaining an outspoken critic of apartheid yet an opponent of sanctions. He tells of his early struggles as a writer, of his experiences in Japan, and above all of the importance to him of the bush and deserts of southern Africa and of its original people, the Bushmen. Research JUNE LEECH-GUINESS Film editor JO PAYNE
Written and produced by JONATHAN STEDALL BBC Bristol