Alan Mattingly was born in London in 1949.

He was educated at Latymer School, Edmonton (north London), and at Cambridge University, where he obtained a degree in Geography.

He was Director of the Ramblers' Association in Britain from 1974 to 1998.

He was an elected member of Newham Borough Council (London) from 1980 to 1986, and he was Deputy Leader of the Council for part of that time.

An honorary member of the Outdoor Writers and Photographers Guild, he received that organisation's Golden Eagle Award in 1998.

His publications include "Tackle Rambling" (1981), "Walking in the National Parks" (1982), "Walking in the Cathar Region" (Cicerone, 2005), and "The Cathar Way" (2006).

In 2003 he collaborated with Annie Gavila in preparing a translation into French of a short story by Rudyard Kipling, "Why snow falls at Vernet", for an article by Joseph Ribas in "Pyrénées, Bulletin Pyrénéen", number 214, 2003, p117.

He lives in Vernet-les-Bains, in the Pyrénées-Orientales, France. There, in a voluntary capacity, he teaches English, and undertakes translation work for a local tourist office.

He was a member of the town council of Vernet-les-Bains from 2008 to 2014.

Personal web page: www.alanmattingly.eu/

Contributions include:
     Ancestral Thames
     Finchley Gap
     Topography, geology and evolution of the Brent catchment area
     Goring Gap
     Les Aspres-Géologie et Les Aspres-Relief
     Wikimedia Commons - Uploads by Alan Mattingly