- His ex-wife Joan Root was fatally shot in January 2006 by assailants who broke into her lake front farmhouse outside Nairobi. Authorities suspect the conservationist was attacked because she tried to prevent illegal fishing on the lake. A former employee and a poacher are being held in the killing police said.
- While filming footage for Gorillas in the Mist: The Story of Dian Fossey (1988), Root was bitten in the thigh by a charging gorilla, as he describes in TV documentary "Gorillas: Primal Contact."
On another occasion (in 1969) his left forefinger had to be amputated after he was bitten by a puff adder. - The Roots who made 10 movies together were considered pioneers for making nature films that woke up the genre of wildlife documentaries. A 1981 Times review called them "one of the world's greatest photographic teams."
- He was named an officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2008.
- His father moved the family from England to Kenya for a job at a corned-beef plant when Alan was 9.
- In December 1967, The Times readers were reminded that Alan Root is a Londoner, whose family emigrated to Kenya after the war. He became a self-taught naturalist, who learnt the filming side of the job from another naturalist-cameraman Des Bartlett.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content