Reviews

Tim Dinsdale was one-of-a-kind. A special man from a special generation. He combined a sense of adventure, incubated by his early travels and hardened by his wartime service, with an infectious curiosity about life and a bloody-minded determination to puncture establishment pomposity. In 1960 he found a focus for these instincts — and his long and determined quest at Loch Ness was launched.

I met Tim for the first time in 1970. That was the summer when he was running the Loch Ness Investigation Bureau site at Achnahannet. It was my first visit to the loch. I’d become intrigued by the mystery. Looking back, I realise these were the first stirrings of that journalistic instinct which was subsequently to take me to a working life with BBC News.

Loch Ness was such a good story. It had everything: romance, mystery, adventure and the prospect of a startling discovery. Tim was one of a band of wartime veterans who were drawn to it. I suspect they may have found civilian life a little dull. Loch Ness was a marvellous diversion – except that, for Tim, it became so much more.

He was a delightful man whose life took an extraordinary turn. It was a pleasure to have known him, his wife Wendy and his family and to have been able to re-live his great adventure through the pages of Angus Dinsdale’s absorbing biography.

Nick Witchell
BBC News, Royal Correspondent

Tim Dinsdale’s filming of a Loch Ness “monster” in 1960 set off more than two decades of intense searching and enormous publicity; this book recaptures the excitement of those years and reminds us of the wealth of solid evidence that Nessies are real creatures.

Through three decades of expeditions, Dinsdale kept a clear-headed, critical appreciation of that evidence despite the staggering frustration of not bettering the 1960 film. Tim’s integrity and  strength of character stand in stark contrast to the frustrated others who try to explain away the evidence as sturgeons, birds, otter-boards, etc., and who, saddest of all, claim that the 1960 film shows only a boat. Tim’s film is now available at this website, allowing everyone to see what nonsense this “boat” explanation is.

Tim was always clear about the importance of his quest and he took it with appropriate seriousness, but he never took himself seriously. He was a delightful companion, full of good humor, a wonderful exemplar of free spirit coupled to conscientious responsibility.

Tim’s dedication and integrity influenced innumerable lives. His work stimulated a career change for me, very much for the better; and I find myself still grappling with the conundrum that floored Tim 50 years ago: Why does science ignore so much that’s of such great interest?

Dr. Henry H. Bauer
Emeritus professor of chemistry and science studies
Virginia Polytechnic and State University