Douglas James Livingstone was born of Scottish parents, Douglas Nicol Livingstone and Charlotte Anne McPhail Livingstone, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaya (today Malaysia), on 5 January 1932. His father, a colonial officer in the Malayan Police, was separated from the family for long periods before and during the Japanese invasion of Malaya in 1941. He was later taken prisoner of war. As a young child, Livingstone had personal experience of disruption and even violence in the war zone. For a brief period he was educated at a convent school. After a short time in Colombo, Ceylon (today Sri Lanka), Livingstone moved with his mother to the south coast of Natal province (now KwaZulu-Natal) in South Africa.

The young Livingstone was a pupil at government schools in Margate and Port Shepstone and developed early his love of the Indian Ocean littoral. After his father was reunited with the family, Livingstone was sent to...